American Beheaded in Iraqi video

[derrida]

The snuff film as terrorism? I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes more prevalent in the years to come. A simple kidnapping of a non-V.I.P. is a common occurence even in the US, and is far more economical than bombings or conventional assasinations.

The effectiveness of a terrorist attack lies not in the extent of physical violence applied to a concrete target but in the occurence's successful transformation into narrative replicated by mass media.

The inherent theatricality of the act (combined with the in-sourcing of an on-location and all-knowing camera crew, so to speak) makes it an ideal candidate for the evening news, far moreso than "death tolls" and the images of burnt-out cars and urban architecture indistinguishable from thousands of other images of burnt-out cars and urban architecture that terrorism is currently using. Here, the site of violence is not reduced to an abstration of numbers and a pastiche of crumbling reinforced concrete and unidentifiable bloody gristle.