- Do you think victims of the past have more special status in media society than those happening today?
Economist and media analyst Edward Herman has made a distinction between "worthy victims" and "unworthy victims." Worthy victims, who merit lavish attention and concern, are those whose fate can be attributed to someone else, preferably an official enemy. Unworthy victims, whose fate is ignored or denied, are those for whose suffering or slaughter we are responsible. The criterion holds remarkably closely, past and present. He and others (myself included) have documented the matter quite extensively.
- What is, by your opinion, reason why victims are measured in numbers and are those numbers making any difference?
Some reasons are understandable. Slaughtering 1 million people is a worse crime than slaughtering 1000. But this consideration is overwhelmed by the worthy-unworthy distinction, as again has been documented extensively.
- From where comes the need of media society to confront to distant trauma (both in time and space)?
Sometimes it is real and genune concern. All too often, however, traumas that are "distant" -- in the sense that crimes can be attributed to others -- are quite popular for ugly reasons of power and prestige, while those that are "close" -- in that we share responsibility and can do a lot about them -- are unwelcome. Again, very strong tendencies that are well documented.
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More info on Noam Chomsky
Upcoming interview with Columbian artist Carlos Motta
Before the official start of the Victims' symptom, planned for early 2008, a serial of interviews will be published on this blog. Besides commenting, you can send your proposals with questions or full interviews that would shape the upcoming discussion.
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