Schlock and Awe: What Saddam Hussein's Execution Video Means
A Brazilian raver with a face stud told me Saddam Hussein was dead. We were in a hotel in Amsterdam. It was Monday and he already had the video on his mobile phone. He flipped the screen sideways so I could have a better view. "Look at this man, you can hear the shouting."
Absent politics, the video is brutal. With politics, the video is brutally strategic. Its distribution -- allegedly from the mobile phone of Iraq's national security advisor -- is a fifth column within both the news and government. It gives the lie to the muted presentations our new channels showed us. It also gives the lie to an American view of justice. It has sparked unrest in Iraq. It is a disruption to say the least.
To say more: Saddam's execution is, in a way, the third act in a postmodern story of hyper-visualization. The story began with an exploding skyscraper on national television, an event which some philosophers called the most significant symbolic act since the crucification of Christ.
The second act we called "shock and awe," a visual bombing exercise meant to be a demonstration of undeniable power. And now we have the video denouement which, had it not been posted online, would have summarized our triumph; a sanitized version of a sanitized war, a scripted drama portraying America the victor and the justice bringer. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Instead, the video and its out-of-bounds distribution remind us of our inability to control neither the news nor a warring nation. This may or may not be a good thing. We began this war with one media, and it will end -- if it ends -- with an entirely different media, one supplemented by the contributions of freelance citizens.
Of course, the inescapable irony of all these images is their lightness of being. They are empty containers waiting to be filled with meaning. We use images of our warplanes to evoke patriotism. Our enemies use those same images to evoke rage. The video of Saddam's execution is by nature en situ, yet it is also surprisingly unencumbered by context. There is a man being hanged. There are vicious cries for his death. Do with this what you will. I'm sure the political groups in the Middle East will, too.
At the root of this proliferation of video is the fact that our ability to react emotionally to them is far outpaced by the rate of technological change. There is a gulf of misunderstanding between Mecca and Main Street. Does anyone think this video will lessen the gap? Increase it?
The world needs explaining. One could argue you need more explanations and analysis in a world where uncensored footage is loosed. I dunno: What was it that Yeats said about a blood-dimmed tide?
