Sometimes the whip tears the skin, sometimes the reputation.
Today, identities are being forged, not skins.
With the whip in the hands of the media, the fault of the powerful is once again placed on the back of the other
(footage of drinking at the graveside) It is not clear whether there was a will or not; there may or may not have been a will. It is not known if what happened really happened, what the context was. But uncertainty is not used to search for the truth, it is used to fabricate crimes. A situation in which we don't even know if it was a personal choice is suddenly presented as if it is the “nature” of an entire culture, a faith, a community. Even when the family denies it, the narrative does not change, because the aim is not to understand the truth, but to exonerate the political elites. And the easiest expenditure in this endeavor is again the other It's happening.
Do we think that this scene today, where the other is beaten with the whip of the media to protect the powerful and the political elite, is new? No. What we see in the headlines today is actually a very old habit of history. Only the whip has changed, the method has changed; the direction has always remained the same.
Ancient Rome The Master is Innocent, the Slave is Guilty
In 61 AD, a senator in Rome (Lucius Pedanius Secundus) was murdered by his slave. In accordance with Roman law, the 400 slaves in his house were executed without any investigation.
Why?
Because the crime was not individual; slaves were already “potential criminals”. “the crime was not investigated; a body suitable for the crime was chosen.”
The Scapegoat Ritual: The oldest and best known way to clear a crime
In ancient Jewish tradition there is the ritual of the “Azazel goat”. The sins of the community are symbolically placed on a goat, which is then driven into the desert. Over time this ritual became politicized. Society was relieved because the crime was now invisible. The goat was gone.
Middle Ages: Kings Sin, Witches Burn
In the Middle Ages, when there were epidemics, famines, wars, who was to blame?
No kings, no church, no feudal order.
Those who were declared witches...
Who were they?
Poor women.
They are lonely.
Those who are excluded from society.
So the others...
The church and the government created tales of “collaboration with the devil” to hide their own failure. Thousands of women were burned, but the epidemics did not end.
Slavery Period: Those Responsible for Violence Are Declared Slaves
In the American system of slavery, slave uprisings were portrayed as “savagery”.
But the savagery was in the one wearing the chain.
The order of violence established by the master was not questioned; the slave's anger was criminalized.
It was not the system that produced violence, but the body that was subjected to violence that was guilty.
Frantz Fanon has a sentence that fits right here:
“The colonial order tries to justify its violence with the reaction of the oppressed.”
Totalitarian Regimes: The State does not make mistakes, the enemy does
Whose fault was the economic crisis, unemployment and war defeats in Nazi Germany?
Jews.
Novels.
People with disabilities.
Opponents.
As Hannah Arendt says, in totalitarian systems, crime is not individual; it belongs to predetermined identities.
“A crime is a role that is decided before it is committed.”
The Modern Media Age: The Whip is the Headline
Today there seem to be no slaves, no witches, no goats.
But there's a headline.
There is a label.
There is a lynching.
The media is a modern whip in the hands of politics.
Blame is placed on the easiest target so that the powerful are not contaminated.
A photograph, a glass, a grave head...
Individual mistakes or crimes are blamed on a group, a faith, a culture, most often the “other”, and political elites are exonerated...