So I didn't see the live Chinese television prisoner execution special this week, but I did read an account of it in the New York Times. It's China, so this can easily be interpreted as the powerful state putting its state power on display. And it's worth remembering that the regime has a history of public executions.
There are other factors here too. One is that people in many cultures like lurid television. NBC's Dateline, in case you didn't know, has gradually transformed from a newsmagazine into a program that focuses almost exclusively on the drama of men killing their wives.
Another factor is nationalism. The Times story describes the executed (who were convicted of murdering Chinese sailors) as representative of the safety threat that Chinese professionals face when working overseas. In that context, the program was, while both lurid and an exhibit of state power, also a demonstration that threats to the nation and its people are being dealt with, and perpetrators punished. That is not totally dissimilar to live broadcasts on U.S. TV of bombs raining down on Iraq in 2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment