De-naturing it - they want to publicise the awful symbolism. The moments before and after are what the perps want to stay in peoples’ heads; not the grisly middle. The middle is likely so repugnant that it would turn people off.
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I think this only ended when the organizers and marketers of said events realized that the suspension of disbelief was more powerful than they thought, and they could put just as many butts in seats with simulated and non-fatal violence (TV, movies, WWE, UFC etc…). This allowed them to re-use actors, and save on costs! Of course, we might choose to imagine it’s simple moral and spiritaul progress, but I’m sure some entertainment moguls still grumble privately that the PC police won’t let them have live animal maulings anymore.*
*Bullfighting aside, I suppose…
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You know, Walter, good on you for missing entirely the point of my post.
I’ll go take solace now in my “irresponsible privilege” and you can go sit down in front of your TV and “stay informed”.
However, I suggest you need to work on “respectful”. I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Which is a big part of the reason the US government does not ever pay ransom to free captives held by terrorists.
It’s fitting to memorialise him, and ensure we all clearly remember the circumstances of his death.
Because it doesn’t accomplish anything. Because it’s all too easy to torture the wrong guy. Because torturing is something you just shouldn’t do.
Because there are only four lights.
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You want a way to “separate” the “funny” content from the “informative” content. I’m saying that is “irresponsible”. You further imply that Boing Boing is trying to “sensationalize”, rather than “inform”. I am “responding” by telling you that your “accusation” is baseless.
With the deepest respect (or possibly “respect”),
Walter Plinge Esq.
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On a purely practical level, it probably wouldn’t dissuade them, anyway. Perhaps even the opposite.
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This. It doesn’t seem to have helped so far…
I’m inclined to view the Berghdahl case as an example of a POW exchanged for some other POWs. That’s a different situation than the one where civilians are grabbed for the express purpose of payment.
There aren’t any simple answers to the hostage problem as discussed in The Washington Post. Other countries have indirectly paid ransoms to ISIS and gotten their citizens back alive instead of as a headless corpse. However, that willingness to pay may also be the reason why France has more citizens held hostage than any other country. I would note that the last time the US tried paying for the release of a wave of hostages in the Middle East we ended up with Iran-Contra.
Foley’s captors were demanding $132.5 million (ETA: or €100 million), an amount high enough that they likely didn’t expect payment.
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Interesting points, HMSG. I must confess I keep wondering whether we will see a reversion to this taste for real rather than merely simulated barbarity. Maybe MMA cagefighting? Maybe people wanting to watch videos like the one we’re discussing? Of course dogfights and cockfights still go on in the background.
I think I would want to part company from you a little on the idea that virtual violence was originally responsible for the decline in the taste for actual violence. From what I have read, the Gladiatorial and bestial spectacles basically withered under the first Christian emperors. The major reforms regarding animal cruelty (at least in British colonies such as my own) were instigated by Victorian parliamentary evangelicals such as William Wilberforce.
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