Introduction
The Iraq war has brought much destruction to the world. Properties and cities have been destroyed in every instance that a bullet or bomb is fired. However, probably the biggest casualty of death in society, specifically the American and Iraqi society. War has destroyed the concept of life and living especially among Iraqis. Americans for their part have experienced a change in their outlook on life and death. Much of their ideologies on death are the products of what they hear and see in the news. The new serve as their eyes and ears in the field of war. Thus, such news greatly influences their culture that pervades American society, most especially their view on death.
Medias’ effect on war news
Media is the primary source of information for the American viewing public. It is through news agencies, shows, and channels that the public is made aware of the occurrences in the war. Through the use of cinematographic techniques, an attempt is made to reduce the horror associated with the Iraq war. However, at the same time, media outlets tend to take advantage of the events of the war, whether good or bad, to entice their viewers and keep them watching and monitoring the war. Indeed the war is a major event not just for Iraqis but for Americans as well. Each year, thousands of American soldiers are sent out to the streets and fields of Iraq supposedly to protect the American nation from terrorism and its enemies. Sadly, many of these American heroes end up not coming back home to reap the fruits of their labor. As such, the war on Iraq has greatly changed and brought into light the concept of death. Now Americans are more conscious of death not just of themselves but of their loved ones as well. Somehow, watching the news allows them to be with their loved ones, the American soldiers, as they do battle on the fields of the Middle East. How the Iraq war has been presented by the news is the use of cinematographic techniques to reduce the horror of war to a consumable and entertaining phenomenon. The focus of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, or Fox News is on the real and graphic animation of US military technology, the three-dimensional image of the battlefields.
The phenomenon of death
It is a fact that the most prominent and evident aspect of the war is the phenomenon of death. Such phenomenon as depicted in the various information disseminated through different forms of media has the strong potential to arouse the emotions of people. This is because with the war exists a very excruciating fact that with the war comes the horror of demise. Furthermore, the war brings about the painful realization that death is indeed extremely powerful at the same time it is full of the anguish of finite existence and the threat of destruction.
In as much as death is commonly associated with painful emotions, there are certain cases when such reactions can differ. The reactions of people to the thought of death depend on how death is represented through the various forms of media and communication. For instance, when a person is told of the death of another person in a very casual manner, the person might not take it seriously and may take the occurrence for granted. However, when the same person receives a call from someone that is crying over the death of another individual, it can be expected that grief, shock, and utter sadness will dominate the said individual’s emotions.
Furthermore, as explained by Rahimi (2003): “Ritualized action, like rites of commemoration or funeral ceremonies, have traditionally represented death in ways in which emotions are coordinated, sentiments are shaped, and, although not entirely beyond one’s ability of empathy, attitudes towards individual death are sustained in stabilizing manner.”
Emotions and beliefs commonly vary and depend on the cultural context and situation. However, the representations of death are usually dictated by hidden and subtle collective experiences. According to Rahimi (2003), this can be called and considered as the process of social death. Rahimi further explained social death by saying:
“In broad terms, by social death we mean how individuals experience a transformation of the biological process of death, as a process of birth, maturing, aging, and dying. Death appears to be no longer a matter of individual extinction, but a collective renewal, a social regeneration, and a communal creative power. In other words, death, in its collective representation, is no longer a matter of annihilation, but rather regeneration, a form of renewal that ultimately affirms belief in immortality.”
What this means is that the concept of the notion of death is no longer purely biological. People no longer consider death as the final stage in the biological process of life. Instead, death becomes a rallying point of society. It begins to serve as a reminder that things must change. Whatever it is that causes much death must be altered, reformed, or completely discarded.
The death of a large number of people serves as an eye-opener to the reality that certain things must be changed. For instance, in the Philippines, the death of Benigno Aquino in 1983 served as the rallying point for Filipinos to stand up against the Marcos dictatorship and enforce a change back to the democratic way of governance. Another example is the thousands of deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina. The overflowing number of dead people and the multitude of homeless citizens of New Orleans was used as a battle cry to implement change in the manner by which the government handles emergencies and disasters. Lastly, the thousands of deaths caused by the tsunami in 2004 that swept through various parts of Asia was used to call for change in caring for the environment. Simply put, collective death becomes the focal point of calls to change or reform a reality, primarily to avoid death to happen again. This death is social.
Social death. Meaning
In the case of the US-led war in Iraq, the television media has become a vital and extremely valuable tool to inform people about death, particularly social death. The various scenes and events that are shown on television each share in the promulgation of social death in society. Every time the concept of death is shown on television, people react and their concept of death is somehow altered. For instance, the mere sight of soldiers holding weapons that can cause death can bring about emotions that are related to death. Reports regarding the deaths among Iraqis, whether rebels or government soldiers, show the harsh effect of the war in the country, primarily because of the deaths that the war has caused. Every picture and every story that depicts the concept of death including stories about civilian deaths, wounded soldiers, unidentified corpses, suicide bombings, and simple pictures of bleeding people affect how people view death in society. The influence of media on the conception and representation of death in today’s culture is quite vast that any news channel, whether local or international, that reports on the incidents of the Iraq war greatly alter the concept of death turning it from mere biological foundations to social death. (Field and Walter). As Ramahi (2003) explains:
“Whether considering the Al-Jazerah news channel, where images of both civilian and military causalities and fatalities are displayed on the screen, or the near-silent reports about the human costs of the US-led war on Fox cable news, the diverse programs use contrasting ways to put on view the various representations of death by targeting the particular viewers that they aim to entertain.”
The conception of death
Studying the cultural and social opinions and sentiments of people are bound to provide vital and valuable information. However, to truly understand how death is understood and accepted in society, one must consider the various cultural aspects that influence the conception of death. At the forefront of such analysis is a study of how media depicts death about war and how such representation affects the mindset of Americans.
In the various American channels that cover the Iraq war, it is quite evident that particular focus is given on certain attitudes and sentiments with regards to death within the realms of the Iraq war. As earlier mentioned, there is an effort on the part of media entities to lessen the horror associated with the war to a more consumable and entertaining phenomenon through the use of cinematographic techniques. For instance, media news channels such as CNN, MSNBC, ABC, or Fox News, use the real and graphic animation of US military technology, the three-dimensional image of the battlefields as the focal point of their coverage. Also, such channels utilize various military officials to comment on the events unfolding in the war. These images are combined with, “An extensive flow of information about the high-tech use of weaponry, and in particular, its precision discursively frames their effectiveness and power by bracketing out their destructive force and their function to cause the loss of human life.” (Ramahi, 2003) The focus on high-tech weaponry is somehow used to show viewers that there is little damage and loss to human life. More importantly, it tries to make the viewing public understand that the military exerts much effort to avoid any casualties, particularly civilians. What such depiction covers up is the damage that such weapons and the war can cause most especially the loss of human life. “Smart bombs” are often credited as the weapon of choice of the military. Very rare it is shown that such “Smart Bombs” do also err and cannot guarantee completely zero or no casualty. In a way, reporters who join the soldiers on the field as they engage the enemies to invoke sheer emotion and pride in the viewers by making them feel as if they are alongside the people who are willing to lay down their lives for the American people and the nation. Also, such images help lessen the fear and horror that commonly comes with the thought of war. “The television screen itself becomes a medium that unites the audiences with the coalition soldiers attacking the faceless “enemy” in the battlefield without feeling fear for the loss of life caused by fighting.”
Depiction of enemy forces
Another important consideration when analyzing the war in Iraq and its effect on how death is depicted and viewed in the American culture is the depiction of enemy forces as objects of conquests primarily through their death. According to Ramahi (2003), “Social death is about reversing the biological process of death into something transcendental, something permanent. But that relates only to a member of one’s community; in the case of others from an invading or invaded community, matters change.” What this means is that when one considers the sentiments of the invaders with regards to the death of their enemy, death is taken for granted. For instance, when Iraqi forces are killed by their American counterparts, the number of deaths remains to be just that, numbers. Such numbers simply are injected in reports and serve as mere statistical data that highlight achievement and accomplishment reports of American forces. Little is said with regards to the “enemy forces” or the Iraqi forces brought to death. There is no report about how and where they were killed, and certainly no show of their bodies. Iraqi soldiers, for the most part, remain faceless, nameless, placeless, and, therefore, unknown to the audiences. Ramahi (2003) explains such occurrence by saying:
“This can be partly explained due to a strict pattern of self-censorship in the US media against showing dead bodies. Although the practice of self-censorship requires a separate study altogether, for the most part, this deliberate technique in representing the annihilated faceless “enemy” requires the basic assumption about the polluting effect it may have on the audiences.”
What Ramahi means by pollution is that showing dead enemies can somehow endanger the perception of the American people as one living collective body. Since Americans are supposed to be supportive of the war effort in Iraq, showing a dead Iraqi’s body may alter his view on life which is supposedly devoid of degeneration and annihilation, even if that involves an outsider’s death.
Changes in reports of the Iraq war
It must be noted though that, the reports with regards to the events of the Iraq war have somehow changed in recent times. At the beginning of the war, much of the reporting focused on the high-tech weaponry utilized by American forces and the various triumphs it has made in the war. As earlier mentioned such depiction invoked the pride of the Americans and made them feel patriotic and proud to be from America. However, media news reports have slightly altered in terms of what they focus on. Nowadays, as the war drags along, the focus has somehow shifted on the loss of life that America is facing as it continues in the war. Many new reports provide details regarding the rising causalities on the side of Americans and their allies. At the same time, news reports are now more open to showing the number of Iraqi civilians who fall victim to the war. (Grier, 2004) The reasons behind such a shift may be well beyond the coverage of this essay. However, the effect of such a change of media focal point on the cultural view of the death of the Americans is still very much a part of this essay. Discussing such change will allow us to understand how various forms of reporting in media shape the mindset of Americans in terms of the death and its relation to the War in Iraq. Due to the constant onset of news regarding the increasing number of deaths on the American side and the probability that America may be losing, Americans now see the Iraq war in a different light. More importantly, they see death in the Iraq war from a different perspective now. At this point, death in the Iraq War is viewed as a signal that the Iraq war must be put to an end. (Mayes, 2003) Furthermore, the number of deaths of American soldiers serves as a constant reminder to the American people that the war in Iraq is not doing the country any good. The war may be putting the country to shame as Americans are losing more than they are gaining. The loss of American life in the war is utilized as proof that American forces should leave Iraq. Americans are now beginning to believe that the war will bring the country to a losing end by losing more money, and more importantly more lives.
It is important to remember that, in this regard, despite the change in the focal point, the media still shows death as more than an end to biological life. Death through the depiction discussed supersedes mere loss of life. It remains to be social death in that the collective representations still serve as the foundation to a great cause of purpose. The only difference is that the purpose has changed. If in the beginning, death, particularly among the ranks of the enemy brought about pride in the Americans, now that media shows the increasing number of deaths among American soldiers, people now see the war as a catastrophe. People now realize that the death of the American soldiers is not worth it and therefore, an end to the Iraq war must be sought.
Summary
The points stated above can find historical foundation and roots for there seemingly exists a deep tendency in Western societies not to consider biological foundations of life in reality. What this means is that Westerners tend to disregard the fact that life is biologically rooted in that life is brought on by birth or conception and life comes to an end with death. According to Philippe Aries (1974), the French and English people of today’s modern society lack the emotional response commonly associated with death due to the onset of modern science and medicine. However, people still express sympathy for children no matter what country, race, or religious belief they belong to. Even though Americans are used to observe Iraqi and American interactions on screen, the viewing of violently killed children still arouses a desperate desire to end a war. News reports, showing the dead bodies of little children are oriented on a specific auditorium. It thrills and scares. It makes people open their eyes and understand the war is taking place. Grown-up specially taught and mature soldiers are not the only ones to be killed out there. Innocent children are being set to death without blame. It is outlined after a war children’s death rate increased from two to three points.
Also, Americans are to face the dreadful truth of their loved ones going to war. Mass media reveals the fact of money-making from war, deriving benefit from soldiers’ death. No wonder this aspect of death may strike people as just a completely wrong thing to do.
There are cases of US detainee deaths in Iraq which is also shown to an average American viewer. Usually, it arouses fury and indignation as the detainees should have been under medical treatment, but were not provided with one. Since the proper medical care was not provided, the thought of death as an unfair dead-end occurs in Americans’ minds.
As modern medicine and science developed, medical practices took over from religion as a response mechanism to death. People turn to the medical sciences for an outlet of grievance. Since death has moved from within the confines of one’s own home to the hospital, people have learned to control and lessen their emotions concerning death and dying. (Kselman, 1987).
In America, death is no longer felt at home. It no longer has representation in the daily lives of the people whose loved ones die. Death is seemingly an incident in the hospital. It no longer serves as the identifier by which one associates the home with the time of birth their demise in the natural process of life.
In this light, one can see that the Iraq war brings about new emotional attitudes as displayed and featured on television. The war is primarily about conquest. Thus, it is expected that the fear and denial of the fragility of one’s life is replaced by the philosophy of triumph and success brought on by the sacrifice of military soldiers which in turn, translates to victory over death or the end of one’s life. When a soldier dies, it is not the death associate with the demise of life in the hospital. Instead, it happens on the battlefield where one’s existence is endangered voluntarily due to the many risks that the soldier faces in battle. As such, the war can dramatically define the collective experience of death not just as simply annihilation or an end to the natural process of life but instead, the media coverage of the war can represent it as an event that can postpone the said process. Moreover, how the media reports on deaths on the battlefield, by calling the “heroes of the nation,” allows people to accept the dead soldiers back into reality.
Basically, through cinematographic techniques, the media helps to shape the American view of death in the war as a passage unto immortality. Soldiers and fighters who die in the war are elevated to the status not merely of heroes, but of immortals who see not death in the eyes of the public. The coverage of the media aids in transforming the horror of death into an event that requires celebration for the collective body, in this case, the American nation. Death is conquered when the rebirth of the deceased occurs in death rites displayed on the television. But, more importantly, regeneration is brought about by reports on “sacrifice” that occurs at the battlefields and is reproduced through the television screen.
References
Aries, P. (1974). Western Attitudes to Death. London.
Field, D. & Walter, T. (2003). “Death and the media.” Mortality, Virtual Themed Issue. Web.
Gibson, M. (2001). Death Scenes: ethics of the face and cinematic death. Mortality, 6, 306 – 320.
Grandstrand, G. (1986) Redefining Death. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Grier, P. (2004). “How public views rising death toll.” The Christian Science Monitor. Web.
Kselman, T. (1987). “Death in historical perspective.” Sociological Forum, 2, 3, pp. 591-597.
Mayes, I. (2003). “A closer view of death.” Guardian Unlimited. Web.
Rahimi, B. (2003). Social Death and War: US Media Representations of Sacrifice in the Iraq War. Web.
Walter, T., Pickering, M. & Littlewood, J. (1995). Death in the News: the public invigilation of private emotion. Sociology, 29(4), 579 – 596.