Ukraine, ‘ginisa sa sariling mantika’
ISPENT one morning a week or so ago watching Anderson Cooper’s show on CNN tackle the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was unmistakably a poverty porn extravaganza.
Amy Martin reminds us that the roots of poverty porn traces back to the utilization of still photography to sensationalize topics such as war. In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, for instance, lurid photos of the dead were splattered in print media and books with the intent of swaying public opinion surrounding the American Civil War.
Poverty porn drew inspiration from graphic war photography, similarly endeavoring to manipulate public sentiment, this time using videography, for the purpose of soliciting contributions and donations from the guilt- or pity-ridden public. Videography is the preferred medium because it seems more “authentic” and “natural” than photography. The purpose, in both cases, is the same. Skye Davey explains the “voyeuristic” function of poverty porn (and war photography): “[It] captures human beings in vulnerable, deeply personal moments, and packages that trauma [and humiliation] for consumption.”
Watch the Ukraine coverage of Anderson Cooper and CNN to understand what Davey is talking about. Ukrainians are captured in their most vulnerable and personal moments: husbands, fathers and sons saying emotional goodbyes to their wives, children and parents who are on their way to a dramatic exodus from their hometown as the former stays put to defend their homeland against the invaders.
CNN is not alone in doing this. Western media that I have watched are wont to provide somber background music and grim narration to accompany their heartbreaking video. Their poverty porn-style presentation capitalizes on emotion, hoping to drown out the cold hard facts of the war. For instance, sources across the board talk about the millions of displaced Ukrainians who are able to safely evacuate from the danger zones. CNN itself reports daily the thousands of evacuees who ride the train to safety.
Displacement is a sad consequence of war, but Western media never mentions that Russia has left the Ukrainian railway system largely intact to make evacuation possible. It is easy to imagine this as a willful Russian decision.
I also saw a report saying that Russia has launched tens of thousands of missiles into Ukraine. Yet, the official civilian casualty count when I watched Anderson Cooper’s show some time back was about 400. It is reasonable to expect collateral damage in a conflict of this magnitude, but 400 is such a low civilian casualty count vis-àvis the number of missile attacks. Again, we can fairly conclude from the statistics that Russia is trying its best to avoid hitting civilians.
Western media, however, has never pointed that out. I don’t expect them to.
Anderson Cooper, in particular, played on loop a video of a Russian missile exploding in a residential area and hitting an armed militia member. I surmise the clip was chosen because of its graphic nature and its shock value for viewers of the show; this is consistent with the grisly demands of poverty porn.
I certainly understand why Western media is doing it. As partisans in the conflict — yes, they are partisans, especially the anchors at CNN — they are trying to rally support globally for Ukraine and at the same time, vilifying Russia and President Vladimir Putin. For that purpose, poverty porn is the best way to go.
Personally, I blame the United States for pushing Ukraine and Russia into this bloody conflict. Washington emboldened and enabled Kyiv to disastrously challenge Moscow, just as the United States tirelessly egged our country to foolishly bait China in the West Philippine Sea dispute. Just like what happened in Ukraine, albeit in a less catastrophic fashion, the United States famously abandoned us when China confronted us in the so-called Scarborough
Shoal Standoff of 2012.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not learn from our Philippine experience against China. Washington will constantly agitate but in the end refuse to enter the confrontation militarily when push comes to shove. Zelenskyy, in fact, has dramatically bemoaned the fact that Ukraine was left alone to face the wrath of Russia.
That said, Western media has their Russia-baiting and poverty porn style reportage in overdrive, as if pouring more gasoline into the fire. They endeavor to brainwash the rest of the world that Putin can be pressured to abandon Russia’s core national strategic interests vis-à-vis Ukraine.
Either way, Ukraine and Russia are the ones sharing all the losses, in human lives and economic costs. Adding insult to injury, the West ramps up poverty porn to capitalize on Ukrainian suffering. Both Ukraine and Russia have very little to gain here; it is the West that is investing so little in this conflict but stands to gain the most.
This is called