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So, today, in L&T, we talked about Abu Ghraib, and 'cultural consent.' I wonder about this. When a book or a movie trivializes torture or death -- am I responsible for something like Abu Ghraib if I see it?
And no, it isn't enough to say, "That's the way things are. You aren't responsible if you don't do it. You have the right to see or read anything you want." Because movies/books where such things are used as casual plot devices -- not ones where it is implied that they are okay, mind you -- don't they give the impression, don't they foster the opinion that they're normal? That they're no worse than, oh, anything else, lying, stealing, that they can be rationalized away.
This the danger of romanticizing Death Eaters, I think. Of romanticizing Darth Vader (iharthdarth notwithstanding). Possibly, I shall write an essay about this. On the other hand, I don't think that the perpetrators at Abu Ghraib were the obsessive HP or SW fans who go around rationalizing that kind of stuff.
And no, it isn't enough to say, "That's the way things are. You aren't responsible if you don't do it. You have the right to see or read anything you want." Because movies/books where such things are used as casual plot devices -- not ones where it is implied that they are okay, mind you -- don't they give the impression, don't they foster the opinion that they're normal? That they're no worse than, oh, anything else, lying, stealing, that they can be rationalized away.
This the danger of romanticizing Death Eaters, I think. Of romanticizing Darth Vader (iharthdarth notwithstanding). Possibly, I shall write an essay about this. On the other hand, I don't think that the perpetrators at Abu Ghraib were the obsessive HP or SW fans who go around rationalizing that kind of stuff.
