Page A4
December 19, 2001
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Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views
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Video Images Galvanize Public Opinion
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Like others in history, Osama bin Laden videotape brings reality home to Americans
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T he A ssociated P ress
From the grainy, black-and-w hite footage
o f President K en n ed y ’s assassination to
President Clinton’s videotaped grilling about
his affair with M onica Lew insky, the pow er
o f the visual im age has often brought reality
hom e to A m ericans.
N ow , the governm ent has released a tape
o f O sam a bin Laden that Bush administration
officials say helps fill out a disturbing portrait
o f the m an they believe instigated the Sept.
11 attacks.
The tape show ed bin L aden, gathered
with com panions for a m eal, taking satisfac
tion at the extent o f the death and destruction
w rought by the terrorists.
It was a frightening glimpse into bin Laden’s
persona, said Sen. R on W yden, D -O re.,
w ho saw it before its release T hursday.
“T his video w ill open a lot o f ey es,” he
said. “The w orld will see that you are dealing
with the level o f pathology... that is very, very
tw isted and sick.”
V isual im ages often have had a profound
im pact on the public.
“T h e re ’s som ething about the com bina
tion o f sight and sound that m akes the infor
m ation seem more real,” said Robert Lichter,
president o f the nonpartisan C enter for M e
dia and Public Affairs.
W hen the video o f C linton’s four hours o f
testim ony to a federal grand ju ry in 1998 was
m ade public, after the release o f the tran
script, it gave A m ericans a firsthand look at
the way he had parried with prosecutors and
dodged questions w ith legalism s.
“I think it was his crucifixion, because you
saw w hat he w as d o in g ,” said D r. S tuart
Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden
(left) is shown in this frame grab from
a videotape released by the
Department o f Defense. (AP Photo)
I
This video will open a
lot o f eyes...The world will
see that you are dealing
with the level o f pathology
... that is very, very twisted
and sick.
—Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
___________ I
F ischoff, a Los A ngeles psychologist and
expert on m edia psychology. “It’s one thing
to hear about Slick W illie; it’squite another to
see him in operation.”
W hen Rodney K ing’s beating by Los A n
geles police w as captured on video in 1991,
the jo ltin g im ages tu rned w hat m ight have
been ju st another rep o rt o f brutality into a
cause celebre.
Racism and police brutality were captured
on a $300 video cam era, M ilton G rim es, one
o f K ing’s attorneys, later said. “W e’ve spent
millions o f dollars trying to prove it exists, and
here w e ’ve captured it on tape.”
Y et even th at footage w as open to inter
pretation. W hen four officers were acquitted
at trial, Los A ngeles erupted in riots. T w o o f •
the officers w ere later found guilty in federal
court o f violating K ing’s civil rights.
In m any cases, the way som eone interprets
w hat they see “b eco m es an ink b lo t,” said
Fischoff. “People will interpret things in ways
that are c o n sisten t w ith w h at they w ant to
believe.”
W hen O .J. S im pson m ade his oft-tele-
vised flight from the law in his white B ronco .
in 1994, m any people con clu d ed “he w as
clearly eluding justice and he must have some
thing to hide,” F isch o ff said. A nd yet others- *
on his escape route stood and cheered sym
pathetically, unsw ayed from their belief in his •
innocence.
In the tape show n T hursday, bin L aden
discussed som e o f the planning that led to the
attacks on the W orld T rad e C enter and
recalled hearing the results on radio b ro ad
casts.
“W e calculated in advance the num ber o f
casualties w ho w ould be killed based on the
positio n o f the to w e r,” he said, but the d e
struction exceeded even his “optim istic” ex
pectations.
Experts said in advance that the pow er o f the
tape could be dim inished by the fact that it is in
Arabic and needed translation. As it turned out,
it was difficult to m atch the translated words
with the im ages then on the screen.
“ I f y o u c o u ld sim p ly liste n and u n d e r
sta n d it d ire c tly , it w o u ld be fa r m ore
e m o tio n a l,” F is c h o ff sa id . S till, he said,
“V isual im ages tap into the far m ore prim i
tiv e p a rt o f th e b ra in , an d h a v e a fa r m ore
prim itive reaction.”
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