A Message To America Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to display the aspects of war, conflict, and peace through social media and other media in their ability to influence viewers in a matter of minutes. In the example illustrated by Friis, an American journalist, James Foley, was executed by a ISIS insurgent dressed in a black-clad who in a four-minute video posted to an account on a social networking platform, was executed in a video titled, “A message to America”. In the video the ISIS insurgent condemns the American government’s actions in Iraq and announces that the execution of Foley is in retaliation for the Air Strikes ordered by President Barrack Obama. (pg. 1) While the original video was scrubbed and removed by social media corporations on their websites, screen shots were captured and the image of “Jihad John” (as he would come to be known) and …show more content…
Friis later argues, “the role of ISIS’s beheading videos in the UK and US is a crucial demonstration of how visual imagery, and the way in which the violence of war is made visible, shape what come to be perceived as the ‘realities’ and ‘facts’ of war, and thereby which political responses will appear sensible and legitimate. (pg. 3) In a time where America has led the war on terror over the last few year and the public fluctuates from supporting the war to wanting to end the war, the media and its ability to reach a widespread audience plays a part in both constructive and destructive usage throughout the war on terror. Figure1. "A Message to America"
The usage of social media has expanded from its original concept and now includes an ability to play a strategic role in contemporary warfare by visual imagery and visual media. In the article the author examines how the videos function as a strategic