Knowing war: moving images and the politics of erasure in the post 9/11 world

Abstract

How do we–scholars and residents in Western countries–know the wars that have been and continue to be fought in the name of the ‘war on terror’in different corners of the world? Following events from a safe distance, war becomes a mediated phenomenon, increasingly observed and experienced through images online, on our phones, computers, televisions and cinema screens. Indeed, at no other point in time have distant locations and peoples seemed so instantly accessible, via the click of a button. From the live reporting of embedded reporters in Iraq to the live tweeting of the Arab Spring, front line experiences are delivered to audiences in Europe, the United States and beyond with apparently unfettered immediacy. Echoing the above cited words of James Der Derian, in this highly interconnected environment, images rather than words drive both ‘knowledge’and response. A single picture of Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach had the power to drive home the humanitarian tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis. Conversely, the absence of photographic evidence depicting Osama bin Laden’s body fuelled a number of competing theories over the nature and circumstances of his death.

Keywords Terror ,Western countries, Safe distance, Death,9/11 world.