engines in the days following the original Berg video being posted on a militant Islamic website and subsequently appearing on television. (24) Many bulletin boards carried links to footage of these decapitations, justified by claiming that “we” need to see “what we are up against”, together with incredibly detailed analyses by members highlighting any potentially incongruous elements with a view to uncovering a conspiracy. (25) The internet viewer who cannot quite fully accept the reality of this raw, mediated horror is thus distracted, in denial of their complicity in the perpetration of the act; nevertheless, they are one member of an enormous target audience serving to lend weight to the phenomenon, and provide proof of its effectiveness as a propaganda tool or time-wasting device.
“As to old women, and the mob of newspaper readers, they are pleased with anything, provided it is bloody enough. But the mind of sensibility requires something more.” (Thomas de Quincey, ‘On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts’)
Such disturbing images do not necessarily strengthen the resolve of anyone who formerly supported a policy of “intervention” in the Middle East to continue doing so. Some people may consciously search out this material purely for a perverse adrenaline rush based on sexual deviance, but misdirected curiosity by others can also result in acceptance of these tragic scenes as symbolic focal points for understandable dissent at an occupying force. Although Tony Blair would like us to believe that there is a “new conflict” in Iraq,
being “the crucible in which the future of this global terrorism will be decided”, knowledge of – never mind exposure to - beheading videos drives home the terrible reality of the desperate measures deemed necessary to counter what is perceived as another “Crusade”. (26) Whether exposure to grisly images triggers greater “western” public discontent with the coalition, or simply deepens their complacency is yet to be seen. While British television may be comfortable with showing a freshly blood-spattered pavement after the latest suicide bombing in Iraq, it is considered unacceptable for Al-Jazeera to screen pictures of maimed or dying casualties of war. However, mainstream media attempts to sanitise the relentlessly gruesome reality underlying the coalition’s “liberation” of Iraq are ironically acting as a catalyst for viewers to actively seek out the actual horror of what is happening.
For nearly 30 years, the legendary existence of “snuff” films has plagued the public consciousness, largely as a result of clever publicity achieved by hoaxers and the willingness of certain sections of the media to entertain the myth. (27)
Accidental death caught on camera has been included on exploitative videos which are still available today, but killing intentionally captured on film for commercial purposes has never been proven to exist. Executions of hostages circulated online are a free gift to those who would desire to witness real “snuff”, not as originally defined, not driven by marketing potential but by realisation of political ends. Video of Nick Berg’s beheading followed soon after the revelation of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal pictures, providing a marked and illuminating contrast between the use of technology and the motivations of extremists at either end of the struggle for Iraq: one was created expressly for the purpose of worldwide distribution and maximum political effect, and the other originally documented for the personal enjoyment of a sick minority. The common factor between the two is the spiralling web of disinformation that surrounds any attempt to come to terms with such abhorrent acts.

major news programmes were forced to rely heavily on minority internet outlets to provide substance to their reports. By teasing with censored and incomplete passages from these horrific low quality videos, the mainstream media helped to create greater public interest in the phenomenon, and effectively provided the impetus for anyone to search out the material they would be prevented from broadcasting. This is borne out by the sheer number of requests received by various search

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.GUY VEALE - "Voyeurism, Vaccum, Death", 2004 (page 8)
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