“This violence isn’t random; it is purposive and has reasons and goals, even though it can be incredibly intense and extreme.”
This is a quote that Dr. Zizek gave about the French Revolution a few weeks ago, yet when trying to find a topic to draw on for this post, I couldn’t seem to ignore how well it fits into the contemporary context of the history we are living through right now. Seeing the current situation in America has suddenly made the “hypothetical” decision making activities and historical ideologies that we discussed in week 8 more tangible than I ever thought could be possible in such a short period of time. As it stands, many people have been very vocal in criticizing the manner in which the protests are being carried out. However, the skewed values we see from these people do not seem to do anything but stress the fact that it isn’t the rioting that they really have a problem with, but the cause.
Police kneeling seen as a PR stunt
I’ve always found it fascinating (and more than a little disturbing) just how much people can twist certain stories to suit their needs and still feel they are in the right. There have been stories upon stories over just the past week of undercover police officers instigating violence among peaceful protestors to create the situation that better fits their narrative. We also know that the direct aftermath of all the “moving” photos of police kneeling alongside protesters is tear gas and rubber bullets.
It seems like all of these kinds of warped news stories are serving the function that outright propaganda used to serve. People can’t really get away with the in-your-face racism of the propagandic/political cartoons from the 19th and 20th century, so they have to resort to sneakier tactics in order to get across the story that they want the public to see.
Building on what Dr. Zizek said, I believe a big part of this “corruption of the narrative” is people’s need to somehow justify the barbaric actions they are taking against people who have been explicitly, unwaveringly peaceful. It has been psychologically proven that soldiers need to dehumanize the enemy in order to continue doing what they do; nazi executioners needed to be swapped out every few weeks because the human psyche simply cannot handle that level of inhumanness for extended periods of time. The police officers who are getting away with these acts of violence and murder are not showing psychopathic tendencies, which only leads to the explanation that they have dehumanized black and brown people past the point of any reason.
Greensboro sit-ins, 1960
Black people in America have mastered peaceful protest over the hundreds of years of institutionalized racism that they have had to deal with, whether they are participating in sit-ins, boycotting, marching, or just kneeling, the opposing side has always found a way to escalate the situation and bring violence to a group who are only trying to end the oppression of their people.
References:
Blinderman, Dave. “For defenders of the system, there’s no right way to protest.” Redflag, 3/6/2020, https://redflag.org.au/node/7209.
Waxman, Olivia B. “How the US got its Police Force.” Time, 18/5/2017, https://time.com/4779112/police-history-origins/.
Really great post Midori. I think it’s evident from this that we need to take everything we see online with a pinch of salt.
It is so interesting that you mentioned the riot critics have managed to mask their distaste for the cause with the distaste for violence instead. I wonder where we can see aspects of this ‘story twisting’ reflected in Aotearoa/New Zealand history?
Your comment on dehumanizing black and brown people past the point of any reason drew connotations for me to the dehumanizing of Jews in WWII. Dehumanization, it seems, is fundamental to the justification of violent acts of racism. If you haven’t already, I would recommend watching ’13th’ on Netflix – it unpacks the institutionalized racism that has been built into America and provides some really interesting insights for the future.
“Riot is the language of the unheard” (Martin Luther King Jr) but the news-coverage seems to be tone deaf. You’re right- our media is failing us.
Violence has always been an effective tool of the crowd. But it feels like the media (or more specifically; the news) suggests that violent protests, like the French and American Revolutions, are archaic and no longer “necessary” in our civilised and modern world. However it really wasn’t so long ago that the gay liberation movement was propelled into motion by the Stonewall riots. Queer rights were literally founded in violent protests against the police only 50 years ago. Not only that but the place that BIPOC and trans women like Marsh P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera had in the movement is almost completely wiped from social consciousness. It is appalling.
The demonisation of the protesters as a violent and angry mob is not only completely incorrect but it fails to recognise the intelligence of choosing a route that has (historically) been very successful.
As you pointed out, the media’s portrayal of the ongoing events in America is dodgy to say the least. The complete neglect for the context of both recent and historic (violent) revolutions and the facts of these protests- the police brutality, who is actually doing the looting and how most protests are completely peaceful. The narrative is just getting so twisted, and what’s worse is that people who do not critically consume media are swallowing it. I just don’t know how we get out of this echo-chamber and attack the news itself. It’s supposed to be something we can trust but it honestly doesn’t seem like it is actually telling the truth anymore.
I feel like our news should take the same path as our governments. In the past, we had some central authority, like a feudal lord, king or a church. We couldn’t trust those systems, and now we use democracy. In the past we’ve centralised media our media sources into companies — news networks, printing presses, etc — and are finding they distort things.
Maybe the solution is to make everyone a news source, like how democracy gives everyone some small effect on a country’s governance. It’s an imperfect solution (like democracy) in that most people have no journalistic training, but that sort of argument is reminiscent of arguments against democracy. Aristocrats would claim that the people couldn’t be trusted to lead themselves, yet democracy is still better than an oligarchy.
For practicality, I suggest giving everyone the means to share their own news stories. Oh, wait, we already have social media. Unfortunately social media in its current form is rife with centralised authorities and shady practices, the kind of things that would make it an atrocious choice for basing an election on. If we can improve fairness and representation in our social media, maybe we can improve our news.
Such a great post! Time and time again it is proven that history has a habit of repeating itself in various ways and it’s both terrifying and intriguing to be seeing such repetition occur so blatantly in our own lives. I always tend to think of revolutions as events that happened in the past, but as you’ve pointed out, black people in America have fighting the same revolution for years, and just now are we seeing another escalation of it.
The fact that cops have been recorded purposefully instigating violence amongst protesters is truly terrifying. It seems to be getting harder and harder when it comes to working out the truth in all events. Of course, history is always slightly skewed and it’s thought that it is almost impossible to know what truly happened unless you’re there, but with the tactics that the cops are using, now its seems as though even being there means people won’t have an exact idea of what is happening. It’s clear that people will do anything to portray themselves as the ‘good guy’, even if it means hurting countless people in the process. Once again, Twitter is proving itself to be a more reliable news source than some legitimate ones, how ironic.
Thank you so much for writing this, it’s definitely given me a lot to think about!
You make a terrific and terrifying point about how the police pretend to kneel with the protesters, only to turn around and attack them when they think the cameras are off. Even more terrifying when considering some attack people with cameras. It is some strange irony that those in charge in America try to use ‘fake news’ as a defence against their actions, yet stay silent when actual fake news is being propagated for their own images.
Media is a powerful asset when used with dignity and respect for the truth, though it is hard to say that either of those are entirely applicable to any form of modern media outlet. Even though Twitter is trying to finally fact check Trump, it may be too little too late.
You also make a fantastic point about how African Americans have mastered peaceful protesting, even in the face of equally twisted stories. This comic strip from the 1960s (https://medium.com/the-nib/perceptions-sure-do-change-a8ba13bde909) is only one example of how the media used to be able to twist things up.
You’ve straightened out a lot of good thoughts into a succinct piece, well done!
I just read your post. Very insightful and well written!
It’s so hard to find “good” news sources, and so easy to be bombarded by people’s agenda. I think the targetting of “news” stories on social media is another example where things are getting out of control. Just like automated trading on Wall Street, automated news feeding has also made it easier than ever to instantly spread whatever message one wants.