Enthauptungsvideos, Cyberterror und Schaulust

--- Die Enthauptungsvideos wirken auf den westlichen Zuschauer überaus verstörend, das wird wohl jeder, der sich das Abschlachten schon einmal angeschaut hat, bestätigen. Die LA Times beackert heute das Thema und wirft dabei zahlreiche Aspekte in einen Topf: Die Rolle des Internet bei der Verbreitung, psychologische Apsekte (den Reiz, die Videos anzuschauen, und die Wirkung) sowie kurz auch die Sicht der Strafverfolger, wo etwas unvermittelt von neuen Formen des Cyberterrors gesprochen wird. Hier ein kleines Potpourri aus dem ziemlich unentschiedenen Artikel: It is impossible to say how many people have watched the videos over the Internet. But "Nick Berg" was the second most popular search request on Google in May, following "American Idol." Last week, the most popular search was for "Paul Johnson." FBI Supervisory Special Agent Kenneth McGuire, who oversees the cyber-crime squad in Los Angeles, says that disseminating video of such violent acts over the Internet is a new form of cyber-terrorism — one proving difficult to contain. ... the overwhelming online interest in such images belies the notion of viewer squeamishness. For reasons that may include a simple desire to keep up with the news, morbid curiosity or salaciousness, people are digging past the mainstream news sites to find the raw footage. Any news stories containing graphic violence — including the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and the attacks on four American civilians in Fallouja — prompt an "astronomical" spike in photo and video viewing online, says Michael Sims, news director for cbsnews.com. In recent months, he says, "we've really been forced to sit down and talk through the issues and decide for ourselves where the lines are. To tell the story, not sugarcoat it, but not be offensive." ... Not everyone buys the explanation, posted by one website, that it aims to "discourage" terrorists by showing how evil they are. Tom Kunkel, president of American Journalism Review, called the justification a "fig leaf." "Any news outlet — or any private individual, for that matter — who makes available footage of the actual beheadings is, to my mind, an accessory to the crime itself," says Kunkel, dean of journalism at the University of Maryland. "Those are the individuals who are essentially finishing the work of the terrorists, by delivering their grisly 'message.'" Some viewers have been hit hard. Psychologists say they're getting responses that vary from depression and feelings of vulnerability to outrage and the desire for revenge. Anschauen, oder nicht anschauen, das ist die Frage. Echte Einstellungsänderungen dürften die Terroristen mit dem online verfügbaren Video-Material aber generell wohl kaum auslösen: sowohl beim islamistischen als auch beim westlichen Publikum dürften wohl einfach die vorhandenen Gefühle und Ansichten höchstens noch verstärkt werden.