Absurd Quote by Philip Gourevitch
“The piled-up dead of political violence are a generic staple of our information diet these days, and according to the generic report all massacres are created equal: the dead are innocent, the killers monstrous, the surrounding politics insane or nonexistent...The anonymous dead and their anonymous killers become their own context. The horror becomes absurd.”
About This Quote
Source Book: "The Dark Side of the Dream: Political Violence in the Modern World", 2015
Political violence is presented as a repetitive, dehumanizing narrative where victims and perpetrators become abstract, making the horror feel absurd.
In simple terms: Violence is reduced to a generic, meaningless story.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and humanize each story of conflict.
Themes
politics
violence
media
dehumanization
absurdity
Mood
somber
critical
Type
analytical
reflective
When to use this quote
- news consumption
- policy analysis
- human rights advocacy
- conflict resolution
Key Concepts
information diet
narrative framing
ethical journalism
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we preserve individual stories in mass media?
- What responsibilities do journalists have to avoid abstraction?
A Different Perspective
The view may oversimplify complex causes of violence.
![“Just as a state's police swear to prevent and punish murder, so the signers of the Genocide Convention [in 1948] swore to police a brave new world order. The rhetoric of moral utopia is a peculiar response to genocide. But those were heady days, just after the trials at Nuremberg, when the full…” quote by Philip Gourevitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/41e/philip-gourevitch-17484_brave-new-world_just-as-a-state-s-police-swear-to-preven_403389.jpg)
