Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Are Videos of Black Men Being Killed by America's Police the New Snuff Films?

My dear friend Bill the Lizard, he who is a fellow Star Wars aficionado and occasional conversation partner on The Chauncey DeVega Show, called me yesterday.

He explained that "I had a dream that you were shot by the police like Walter Scott in that horrible video".

Dreams do often portend the future. As is evident by my non-poltergeist act of answering the telephone, it would seem that I am okay.

Bill the Lizard also sent me a picture of "Herbert the Pervert" to confirm my safety. Friends of many years develop their own language with which to communicate with one another. I will leave the origins of our Herbert the Pervert inside joke suitably unstated.

He and I both agreed that viewing killed by cop videos such as those featuring Walter Scott, Eric Harris, and Eric Garner have a negative impact on one's soul and psyche.

But, this conclusion does not explain why the video-recorded images of black Americans being shot, killed, and otherwise abused by the police are captivating to (what would seem to be) so many in the global viewing public.

The corporate news media shows those images of horrific and spectacular violence against the black body because they garner ratings. Ratings equal cash.

But again, why would someone who is not paid or otherwise materially compensated view such a thing?

Writing at Medium, Jade Davis offers the following insight:
Black men being the first to die in horror movies, and being lined up for execution on death row is the norm — but that is for fun, or behind closed doors. These killings of regular black men, however — in public, dying on camera and reproduced on the Internet — speaks to the same kind of forbidden desire that Girls Gone Wild tapped into. The ability to easily capture and distribute video of overly horny co-eds out to have a good time fed the desires of overly horny people who wanted to experience the thrill of barely legal girls submitting to the lens. 
Now, instead of barely legal porn, these actual snuff films, not like those staged versions from the 1970s, are the forbidden jouissance of the moment. The black man’s death is repeated, reproduced, shared, and celebrated in a macabre way specific to the snuff genre. These films and activities have always existed, but in the past people didn’t consume them so publicly, or so proudly outside of public executions and lynchings.
She continues:
It might seem that the difference between these snuff films and Girls Gone Wild is that people paid cash to watch the women perform for them. But that is merely a sign of the times. The Internet eventually won when the audience decided to pay with clicks instead of cash: The places that brought Girls Gone Wild to an end still have age disclaimers for mature content, and can be blocked by enabling parental controls. 
But, when the most explicit imagery of the violence enacted against black bodies can be at the top of The New York Times and the Daily Mail, it says that these are the images that sell in a world where clicks equal cash, and there’s no warning necessary. 
This is content everyone should see! Don’t miss this amazing new footage of a black man dying. Warning, graphic content, but the screen capture really sells the tale. The distribution channel isn’t the same as those videos of gyrating youngsters, but it is distributed and monetized just the same.
It is not for me to say, but I believe that the late great Stuart Hall would likely be in agreement with Davis's analysis. On matters of race, representation, and semiotics I can think of no higher complement to give.

Are the video-recorded killings of black men by police and their allies the next iteration of snuff films?

A type of fantasy wish fulfillment for some of the most deranged and racist in the audience (example: those white people who donated money to Darren Wilson's "defense" fund) while also simultaneously serving as a non-therapeutic exterior projection of the fears and worries that black Americans carry within themselves about police violence and America's history of committing extra-judicial murder against them?

In a society where the lie of "reality television" is believed to be real by the mass public, the carceral society (with all of its anti-black violence) is popularized by shows such as Cops, The First 48, and Lockup, and the Culture of Cruelty extends along the colorline, the killings of unarmed black people by America's police may simply be the dystopian near future vision offered by the 1980's classic movie The Running Man made real.

Technology is a means for the circulation of white supremacist racial ideologies.

Lynching photographs were one of America's most popular forms of mass culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Now, in the 21st and late 20th centuries, digital media circulates images of violence against the black body by America's police to a global super public.

Are you not entertained?

21 comments:

INDYOO7 said...

I'd put Americas latest fad in more simple terms. These recordings are a validation of how fear based this society is. How else do you explain video after video on the supposed threatening negro in a juxtaposition with the true threats to social order; fearful white males. All these videos prove is that white men are the true agents of social disorder. Americas history is the history of white male fear. Every social movement or counter movement can be traced to white males and their perceived fears. How many innocents have died at the alter of satiating white male fear? White men need to get over their fear. They will continue to attract more of what they fear into their lives until it consumes them. When it does, who will come to protect them?

chauncey devega said...

As we know "riots" and "terrorism" in America have historically been by white as a group against people of color. The power of America's mass delusion is demonstrated by how so few people understand that basic fact. Moreover, by how many would be enraged by such a suggestion--the lie of White Racial Innocence is one of the most powerful in the modern age.

Veri1138 said...

Racism is defined as discrimination by nationality. In America, racism has come to represent skin color. Racism is not only evident in skin color due to slavery, but in White nationalities against other White nationalities. Hence jokes directed at Italians, Polish, and other European nationalities evident in America in years past, in conjunction with slavery.


Indeed, traveling about the world, nationalities and sub-groups are quite racist toward each other. In the American village in which I am currently staying, there are stereotypes - most evident as jokes - about another American village not too far away. This in a county that is about 96% White and mostly Conservative. Personally, I find Conservatives much more racist.


Not unusual for the human state of mind: tribalism. People are vicious when it comes to "outsiders". America is no different, except perhaps in its vicious nature. The whole of the group is also judged by those who act in bad ways, that are part of that group. Individually, mileage may vary.

kokanee said...

I'm not entertained.

I've seen the video once, only once. Any more than that is detrimental to one's health and psyche. Images are more powerful than words. Watching a man treated like garbage normalizes that action. You see this on the local news. It just goes from black criminal to black criminal as to make everyone racist and fearful. That's the first thing I notice when I moved to NYC from Canada —that the news wasn't news. I stopped watching it then and there. And that was well before I became politically aware.

Black girl lives matter too:
http://www.blackagendareport.com/node/4402

chauncey devega said...

I appreciate the extended and thoughtful comments. But, we have to be careful with definitions and concepts as they can lead us astray from a proper and correct analysis of the facts on the ground and their broader context.

Racism, prejudice, ethnocentrism, ingroup vs. outgroup animus, resource group conflicts, etc. are not all the same thing. They may overlap on a occasion and be interconnected. But when we start conflating prejudice, racism, and ethnocentrism for example we can run into real problems.

Racism is not hostility based on "nationality". Racism is power plus prejudice. What you are describing between "white" groups is likely some mix of prejudice and ethnocentrism. Now, can those "white" groups be racialized. Yup--see Jews in Europe or the Roma.

You also wrote about white hostility towards black people moving into "their neighborhoods".


One of the great and ugly contradictions that lies at the heart of the American racist project is that blacks are the most "American" of all peoples. America's music, culture, food, and even politics is heavily influenced by the presence of black Americans.


The vast majority of black Americans were in this country well before the first great waves of European immigration in the 19th and early 20th century. Black Americans are "old" American stock, next to First Nations people, and the original white settlers in Jamestown, Florida, and Massachusetts.

You said, "Those Mexicans are dirtying up the neighborhood." (in regards to certain practices that they brought from their country or countries)."



Black Americans are American. They have the same cultural, political, and cultural practices as "white" Americans. They are not "Mexicans" or other "outsiders" as in your story.


The other funny thing about white anxieties about blacks "moving into their neighborhood" was that in many cases those black people have more money and resources than the white folks already living there because of how housing segregation, block busting, and other racist practices worked. Those black strivers, doctors, and new professionals couldn't get handouts from Uncle Sam to buy a house after World War 2 after all.

chauncey devega said...

It really is a joke. Yes, it has worked in some areas in terms of keeping cops on their feet. The cameras need to be on all the time period. The cameras need to be outside of the cops' control. The signal should be sent to a publicly elected and appointed group where it is stored and monitored. The cops are also making sure they can get the software to gimmick and edit the footage and feeds too.

Ronald Pires said...

I'd hate to think of these videos as being of some carnal pleasure among the haters, but they probably are, As for why a black man would want to view them, I'd imagine as some form of self-protection training; trying to figure out how to avoid the same fate, and that would certainly give the videos a macabre value.

As an aside, I spent several months in a county jail back in the early 90s, and of course my fellow inmates were majority black. The favorite show on TV (and they got to pick because they had the numbers)? Cops. They just delighted to the program. It seemed almost a form of comedy among them, probably because good comedy always strikes close to home, and has a sense of the tragic to it.

joe manning said...

The airing of horrific images is right out of Goebbels' handbook. The only recent exception to such "snuff" video over-saturation was the video of the World Trade Center towers falling, which they stopped showing in short order, because it undermined "they're" projection of "invincible" power.

joe manning said...

Ethnocentrism is often used as a euphemism to cover up a multitude of sins.

Veri1138 said...

That's the problem with language. We may use words in different ways, expecting the same meaning. It's also a forum post :) which is much like the spoken language as compared to academic language.


You're welcome and thanks for the informative writing.

Veri1138 said...

Black American was used as a descriptor for Denis. It is illustrative, only. If only using American or simply using his name, the context is lost. As for the 'white hostility', there are many reasons. The happenstance is that Denis used those words and those words where, in turn, used to make a point. Again, circumstances. The story of Denis is not being used to define racism or any other matter... it is simply what happened. There are many reasons why racism, etc... are justified.


Quite frankly, it was a chance occurrence and opportunity. Denis is American, period. Physical description does not equal citizenship. Everyone born or naturalized in America is an American citizen.

OldPolarBear said...

You have certainly raised some very disturbing points, and I am thinking about my own reactions. I watched the Walter Scott and Tamir Rice videos. Once each. Also the Kajieme Powell one. I'm not sure if I watched the Eric Garner video, or just saw stills. I'm pretty sure it was not for any kind of pleasure or excitement in seeing them. It seemed kind of like an obligation or something to watch. Maybe that is the wrong word; it's kind of hard to explain. Once, though, not over and over. The people who are doing that probably have different reasons. Maybe for some it's compulsive and they feel they can't help themselves. I'm afraid that there are others who get some kind of sick thrill from it.

This also kind of makes me think about the Islamic State beheading videos. I have not sought out and watched those. That is just a line I haven't wanted to cross. Maybe that is inconsistent? Not sure why the difference, but I'm pretty sure it's not because of the races of the respective victims. Maybe it's because I know that the IS videos were deliberately staged and filmed in an effort to try and make me afraid, and I refuse to participate. OTOH, the shooting videos were more accidental capturings of bad actions of members of our society, and I feel a responsibility to participate in witnessing them.

OldPolarBear said...

You have certainly raised some very disturbing points, and I am thinking about my own reactions. I watched the Walter Scott and Tamir Rice videos. Once each. Also the Kajieme Powell one. I'm not sure if I watched the Eric Garner video, or just saw still photos. I'm pretty sure it was not for any kind of pleasure or excitement in seeing them. It seemed kind of like an obligation or something to watch. Maybe that is the wrong word; it's kind of hard to explain. Once, though, not over and over. The people who are doing that probably have different reasons. Maybe for some it's compulsive and they feel they can't help themselves. I'm afraid that there are others who get some kind of sick thrill from it.

This also kind of makes me think about the Islamic State beheading videos. I have not sought out and watched those. That is just a line I haven't wanted to cross. Maybe that is inconsistent? Not sure why the difference, but I'm pretty sure it's not because of the races of the respective victims. Maybe it's because I know that the IS videos were deliberately staged and filmed in an effort to try and make me afraid, and I refuse to participate. OTOH, the shooting videos were more accidental capturings of bad actions of members of our society, and I feel a responsibility to participate in witnessing them.

Gable1111 said...

I saw the Garner and Scott murder videos. Both were horrific but the Garner video was sad and infuriating. To watch his slow, tortuous death brought tears to my eyes, the sheer inhumanity of it. That such a video of an obvious murder exists, depicting the killers using an outlawed choke hold no less, could not move a jury to return charges makes me wonder about the souls of such people. Is hatred of a people so ingrained in society such that they could see that killing on tape and not feel the need for justice? Apparently so.

chauncey devega said...

Thank you for chiming in. But language is so important. It is not a matter of "academic" vs. other types of writing. Language is essential for truth claims and these matters demand precision. One of the problems with fighting social inequality and racism in the U.S. is how sloppily language used. Much of this is a function of how so many Americans think they are "experts" on the topic and no very little. Thus the paradox: matters of the colorline are commonsense; matters of the colorline are not commonsense.

Myshkin the Idiot said...

On facebook, my white friends who share videos like these are usually more liberal, though I suspect many of them lean toward libertarianism. They do seem to have a shock about them or a kind of amazement and pleasure at viewing them. I don't like these videos being shared, especially when there is an autoplay feature.


Another thing white people tend to share are videos of black people getting beat by cops, their parents, or their peers. They really like it when they are getting beat for doing something bad, like smoking weed or having sex.


Conservatives will loudly exclaim this is the only way to make bad kids good. Since they are 'colorblind' they say it's good for ANY bad kids, but since they are racist as f*ck they will share these stories during protests in NYC supporting Eric Garner.

Veri1138 said...

Language is important. Yet, when when language becomes too specialized, you exclude people who are not well versed in that particular jargon. That is why slogans work so well on some. A simplification of a very complex problem to the point where it is understood, that plays upon preconceived notions and fears. Very effective.


Say, you wouldn't happen to have a page that explains all the jargon in simple terms for most?


I worked as a translator. I am very familiar with the problems that arise in language and interpretation. Metaphors were especially troublesome while there were even some words that took a paragraph to convey meaning.

chauncey devega said...

This is helpful:

http://racialequitytools.org/glossary#racism

Veri1138 said...

Thanks.

john fremont said...

I also recall in the years after 9/11 the sniper videos that a lot of my buddies were forwarding. The videos I saw were from Canadian special forces in Afghanistan shooting Afghan guerillas from long distances. Teaching those Middle Easterners not to mess with the US! I asked some of my NRA buddies, so why do you think you stand a chance against a government that can employ people with skills like this? Are your skills with your AR15 that good? Conservatives sure like being entertained by demonstrations of power as long as it ain't coming at them.

john fremont said...

Agreed. The thing of it is hiring a better caliber of public servants like police officers requires more money, as in tax dollars. With middle class and working poor incomes flatlining or dropping over the last 25 years, Americans have been slowly feeling the pinch and more taxes is the last thing people want to hear. Hence, the anti-government anti-tax message has found very fertile ground to take root in, but as I tell friends and colleagues, Ya get what Ya pay for. If you want improved roads, teachers, Cops etc, you've got to pay for it. Most people respond, I can't afford more taxes!