Photography Changes the Face of Terrorism - Bruce Hoffman

Bruce Hoffman writes an essay briefly describing the effect that photography has had in shaping the public view of terrorists – specifically how we picture a “terrorist” when the word comes to mind. He begins by describing the iconic image of a man in a faceless mask, looking sinister and antagonizing, that came as a result of the terrorist attacks during the Olympics in 1972. Indeed, this image was so effective that it came to be the image of the 20^th century terrorist – one that is anonymous and perhaps even dehumanized, void of the facial features that so often indicate emotion and humanity.

Hoffman continues to describe how photography changed this image with the transition into the 21^st century, particularly with the terrorist events that occurred in the London Underground subway system. Due to surveillance photography and things like closed circuit television, the image of these terrorists was widely seen – and it was a strikingly and disturbingly normal and ordinary image. The terrorists were not wearing anything particularly unique as before, but rather were dressed in very typical gym shoes, baseball caps, etc. What this did for the public view, Hoffman said, was that it portrayed the terrorist as an enemy who is not alien but could be of the same appearance as a neighbor.

Now, I agree with Hoffman in his assertion and evidence on how the media, and particularly photography, play a large role in the portrayal of terrorists and the images associated with them. Yet, I wonder if he is writing specifically in the context of Europe, as the image of a terrorist in the United States seems to be something far different. I recently saw the film Reel Bad Arabs, and one of the particularly interesting and disturbing examples of the “Arab terrorist” stereotype came with the media coverage immediately following the Oklahoma City bombing, when coverage was very quick to assume that men of Middle Eastern descent were responsible for the event. Of course, as it turned out, the responsible man was not this, but that image was still very important. With the later events of September 11^th, I think that this image has been significantly reinforced, and one must only look at the “random” selections in airport security to see the consequences of this iconic image of a “Middle Eastern terrorist” in the United States. So, while Hoffman does highlight very well the effect of media and photography on the public interpretation and stereotype of terrorists, I think that a very significant image is ignored in the existing stereotype in the U.S.