WE LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND!

An interview with Peter Fuchs
By Marko Stamenković, 28 January 2008

So why does the mass media prefer to talk in terms of numbers of corpses, calculating them morbidly, with apparent disregard for the victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ...' status?

Let’s make a quick overview on what ‘victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... status’ is, who are stereotypical war crime victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ...? Defenseless, mostly rural inhabitants from a third world country, either fleeing from some unknown menace in masses with makeshift carts (conjuring up visual experiences we obtained from the footages of Vietnam War) or in hiding in a devastated urban area from some supreme power. They posses no weapons (those who do immediately lose the status of the “victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ...” and become “insurgents, freedom fighters, or even terrorists), and staring into the objective of the camera with much innocence and sorrow on their faces. These victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... are people we don’t know, so can’t define with a proper form of identity. They are victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., maybe the same victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... we saw in another conflict, maybe they are a tribe migrating from one conflict to another? They are not our friends, colleagues, but rather a faceless mass of people – please take note that victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., especially war crime victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., do not tend to dwell alone – since they have no identity, their main strength is in numbers, which somehow seems to reflect their magnitude of suffering. Lone victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... tend to be overlooked by the media after the initial stage of the conflict. Take the “San Francisco tiger attack” (http://www.google.hr/search?q=San+Francisco+tiger+attack) for example. We no longer care about the daily victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... of violence in Iraq unless their number seem to beat some morbid stake the global media has, but the same media engine goes crazy on the unfortunate passing away of a San Francisco teenager.

What you are describing is a serious stereotype, probably from Hollywood movies, but don’t you think that we have a much more complex, reflective view on the subject?

We could have, but since we have an extreme scarcity of actual, real life images taken of these people, either because they are hard to make or they are not as appealing to our idea of what it is to be a victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context .... Hence we accept those images that we think are the best representations of what it is to be a victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... of war, and these images exclusively come from the entertainment media, which are very well aware of this, and trying to produce even “better” images from any imaginary or real conflict we might be interested in.

But these movies are meant to be entertaining; they are not talking about genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ..., mass murder, but rather giving a simplified version of some stereotypical events, like some kind of clichés. News channels are giving us facts, numbers, locations. Or is there no difference between imaginary genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ...s on the screen and real ones?

Hollywood movies give really good, structured narratives in order to be easily understood by the audience. In these narratives, everything has its own place, as victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... do. But there are not many of them: yes, there are genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ...s, but the victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... of genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group ...s are minor characters – and they are avenged, an important, statutory twist in the narrative structure. In movies, all players have roles. The victimIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ...’s role is to be victimized, later rescued, or avenged. Their number is only relevant for showing how large the effort was to save/avenge them, for this, they do not need to be counted, just shown that they are numerous. I also have to add that those actors who have even a minor role in these movies, like the refugee father, his lost wife, or the nice old man slaughtered at the beginning of the movie to illustrate the cruelty of villains, are either becoming martyrsToday, it is an expression most commonly used to describe someone who has been killed for his/her religious beliefs ... or “rewards”. The same goes for friendly soldiers. They either die in glorious martyrdom (so allowing others to destroy the enemy encampment) or are sacrificeSacrifice is commonly known as the practice of offering food or the lives of animals or people to the gods as an act of propitiation or worship ...d just to show how skillful the enemy is. Neither way are they considered to be victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., rather predestined beings fulfilling a given role. Their numbers are not for terrifying the viewers, but rather to strengthen the narrative. A small band of highly professional western country soldiers are evacuating a scientist/journalist/civic worker from a “state of concern” in which mass killings are taking place: who are the victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... in this stereotypical plot? The villains are definitely not. They are faceless, countless entities waving Kalashnikov assault rifles and dying like flies, like German soldiers in old Yugoslavian partisan movies. The innocent local people? They seem to be well seasoned to the circumstances. The western personnel, who happened to be in the middle of the conflict? Yes, in a way, but he/she will inevitably be rescued, by the soldiers. The lesser actor, who is shot at the end of the movie by the second lieutenant of the evil warlord? Hardly, he/she offers glorious martyrdom for the cause, and he/she will be not left behind.

And what about the horror of images of victimization? How are we affected by the mere sight of dead bodies? Why is an image of a dead body meaningful in some societies while in other societies it loses its capacity to provoke anger or compassion, but rather serves to produce attitudes?

Actually, even the most realistic-looking action movies or war drama hides the dead bodies and casualities from our sight. Even if gruesome wounds are shown on the screen, they do not stay there for long, nor do the bodies of the deceased. Nevertheless, the dead bodies that remain on display only become sets, nice aesthetic objects that strengthen the realism of the movies and illustrate the noble efforts of the remaining fighters. That especially goes for contemporary war movies and video games, in which dead bodies become “objects”, which can no longer be touched, nor interacted with. These bodies have no identity as such, so they rely on numbers again. Unknown numbers. They are usually lying face down, becoming identical, unlike in reality, where victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... retain their personality either displayed on images or on narrative structures – I mean we distinguish them from each other.

Is it possible to “return” the identity to these victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ..., to outwit the stereotypical images and turn away from a neutral, aesthetic way of looking at victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ...?

Imagine a situation in which you give identity to these people, victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ... not by the numbers, but faces: assume that they are your friends in a social networking site like Myspace or Facebook. You know these people, they are your friends, relatives, former schoolmates, ex-lovers, drinking buddies, whatever. Usually you have about 400 of them: an act of violence happens in your neighborhood, for example, in your university (perhaps the Baghdad Mustansiriya University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustansiriya_University attack in the January of 2007). Many people die. You had close connections with via six of them via social networks or direct and active friendships. Six faces, people, not numbers. You might be well aware that Myspace users created a blog for other members who passed away –one of the most depressing things to browse for our generations. The entire life and deeds of the deceased are included with pictures, so we might feel that even our story could fit that sad list… What if the same would happen with war victimsIn different sciences the term victim has different meanings. The term is most often use in criminology, religion, psychotherapy and New Age context ...? What would happen if they all had faces, like Myspace dead have? Would that change anything or they would remain as distant and as prone to be appropriated by Hollywood as before, or would we have to rethink how we perceive images of war, images of suffering?