American movies are full of killing and desensitize Americans to killing, making it easy for the US government to commit atrocities in wars
Op-ed by Hafez Al-Barghouti, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “The killing”
“During the first Intifada (i.e., the Stone Intifada between 1987 and 1993, in which the Palestinians mostly threw stones, used car bombs, knifings, and some shooting), my camera photographed dozens of bleeding sights, and when I looked at them [the photographs], I lost a part of my sensitivity, because the more a person looks at blood-filled photos and videos, the more he becomes accustomed to them, and they seem like an ordinary thing to him. We know, for example, that American movies focus on killing and bloodshed, and invent barbaric, imaginary methods of killing which cause Americans to become accustomed to killing and incidents of killing. This made it easier for the [American] administrations to drag the Americans into wars in which they committed atrocities, and many [Americans] often commit murders just for the love of killing. Although the law is strict, this does not prevent murders, on the contrary – they multiply due to the daily flow of killing-movies.”
Headline: “The killing”
“During the first Intifada (i.e., the Stone Intifada between 1987 and 1993, in which the Palestinians mostly threw stones, used car bombs, knifings, and some shooting), my camera photographed dozens of bleeding sights, and when I looked at them [the photographs], I lost a part of my sensitivity, because the more a person looks at blood-filled photos and videos, the more he becomes accustomed to them, and they seem like an ordinary thing to him. We know, for example, that American movies focus on killing and bloodshed, and invent barbaric, imaginary methods of killing which cause Americans to become accustomed to killing and incidents of killing. This made it easier for the [American] administrations to drag the Americans into wars in which they committed atrocities, and many [Americans] often commit murders just for the love of killing. Although the law is strict, this does not prevent murders, on the contrary – they multiply due to the daily flow of killing-movies.”