For Libyan college students, images of Moammar Gadhafi’s bloodied, severely beaten corpse meant victory, safety and the chance for a better future. For Fairfield students, the graphic pictures and video are far more disturbing than exciting.
Surprisingly, the majority of Fairfield students interviewed knew little about Gadhafi or the Libyan civil war, yet almost all knew that there were graphic, grisly images and video of Gadhafi’s capture and murder. To the average citizen, this should be extremely troubling.
As members of a constantly connected and technology dominated society, it can be easy to lose touch of the larger issues. Seemingly, students were more fascinated by pictures of a dead person than why he was killed or who he was, while others were primarily outraged that the disturbing images were on the web for anyone to see. A picture might speak 1000 words, but it can never tell the whole story.
By understanding who Gadhafi is and the political climate in Libya, one can make a more informed decision as to whether or not the multimedia available should have been made public and is a type of visual information is even okay to publicize.
Gadhafi and Libya
After 42 years of power in Libya, Muammar Gadhafi’s reign was officially ended on the 20th of October. Although his political career ended with negative sentiments and civil war, Gaddafi was not always so unpopular, according to a recent Huffington Post Article.
He gained power in 1969 through a non-violent overthrow of the Libyan government at the time. From then, Gadhafi preached anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist values, which he called “Islamic socialism,” stressing Islamic practices with government that was democratic in theory.
However, any time Gadhafi was challenged he met opposition with brutal violence, eliminating the democratic portion of his theoretical socialist reign. It was his response to challenge that added to increased widespread dislike.
Additionally, Gadhafi dragged Libya into several wars with neighboring states and is also believed to have blown up a civilian aircraft in a dispute in the ‘80s. Finally fed up with the Libyan government, civil war broke out in early 2011 and Gaddafi became the nation’s most hated individual. Because he was in danger, Gadhafi went into hiding but was discovered and killed this past month.
The future of Libya is uncertain. While the death of Gadhafi ensures that he cannot ever rule again, it also symbolizes a frightening beginning for post-Gadhafi Libya. It is important to note that the civil war was ended by the capture, abuse and ultimate murder of the old regime, rather than by a peaceful cease arms. The country is still in danger.
Murder and Publicity
Although not an innocent man, the brutal and graphic nature of the Libyan dictator’s death seems contrary to the goals of the Libyan people. After years of oppression followed by eight months of brutal civil war, one would think that Libyans would want peace and a nation that was more concerned with the needs of its people. But according to cellular phone images and video, violence is what drove these revolutionary forces.
The images of his murder are not merely a picture of a dead body. The multimedia provides video recordings from the moment Gadhafi was pulled from his hiding place in a sewer pipe to images of a severely beaten man pleading for mercy and finally a nearly unrecognizable corpse propped atop a Jeep driving throughout the surrounding city while onlookers cheered.
There are obviously human rights concerns regarding the inhumane way that Gadhafi was killed and the widespread fascination and publication of what is really a murder on video. Although Fairfield student Bob Wallum ’12 makes the point that “people have the right to the news,” was the release of this visual information taking this too far?
Think about it: a description of a 69 year old man who was hated by his country, forced to hide in a sewer pipe, discovered, sodomized, dragged, beaten, stripped, shot and then paraded around the city post-mortum would have been horrific enough. Exploiting video evidence might add a face to the story, but it makes our own ideological appearance bear striking resemblance.
Questioning Morals
Whether or not Gadhafi was guilty of many federal war crimes, no human deserves to be murdered and humiliated like he was and certainly should not be filmed while abused.
Watching an old man plead for his life as he is beaten to death is horrific; seeing the happiness and joy in his abusers’ faces is even more disturbing.
While Libya is rid of the Gadhafi regime, it leads me to wonder who the next violent regime in power will be. And I stress violence because that’s all there seems to be in the media and our minds.
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