My first memorable media experience was in 1989.It was execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife. I was about 10 years old. I did not really know what was going on. I had no idea who was right or wrong. I was eating dinner wiht my family and watching TV as I remember. My father was talking about Romania and what was going on there. He went on and on againg how horrible he was and said they will kill him today and we are going to watch him!!It sounded little scary but also interesting as well.
The program started (of course execution was done already and it was a TV coverage) and explained what was going on in the country. The program talked about his carrer and how he became the president of the country.The program talked about the dictator and his life and his family. This guy who I never saw and never heard became part of my life in five minutes. I actually was sad that he was killed even though I have never seen this guy in my life. The program showed their dead bodies after execution. There were a lot of blood on the ground and it was disgusting. This little experience changed my whole perspective about people.For the first time i realized that actually people kill eachother for no reason(of course it was "for no reason" to a 10 year-old-boy)
Then Program went on talking about what this guy did to Romanian people and how horrible he was. I did not even have no idea where Romania before but with this program I feel like I know everything about Romania its people and how horrible their life was. It was so funny that one televised event changed and thought so much.
It was the first time I realized that there are other people in the planet. They live in other countries and they lead lives different then ours. It was the first time I saw people talking in other languages and don’t look like us.
I've seen all kinds of horrible things on the Internet, and that video stills disturbs me. It's weird to watch, knowing that these are the last moments of these people's lives. It makes me wonder what was going through their heads at the time, they must have been so scared.
ReplyDeleteAlso, like you did at the time, watching the video, I felt bad for Nicolae even though I didn't know him because I knew they had killed him. It's weird to sympathize with a cruel dictator that caused the deaths of thousands of people, but I guess he's a person, too.
One thing that really hit me, though, was the fact that both him and his wife were sentenced to death. I wonder if she even did anything or if they just executed her too because she was married to him?
The woman who commented about how they showed the same scene over and over again illustrated exactly what I felt about 9/11. Those images were shown so much that it was basically burned into my memory. Did that happen to you with this video?
Also, I was wondering where you're from? It's amazing that they showed this on TV. Thanks for sharing this, I never knew that this even happened.
Sorry for the long comment. I talk too much.
I'm from Turkey.This images were on TV for like a month as I remember .It's been more than 20 yard and I still remember that TV coverage that was cruel to a 10 year old .
ReplyDeleteCeausescu was a dictator.
ReplyDeletead.Vernisa Donaldson - his wife was in charge for the most of him movements (my major is POLSC, but still without international tribunal they should not decide...other question is a Romanian revolution - most bloodiest revolution out of all EX COMMUNIST BLOCK...
as well - there was no Romanian media, because it was fight of a military structure of the old government against of new one...no one know who kill whom..
i watch this video year ago, I wasn't 9, but 27 and I still was shocked...
I was also watching this event on the TV, when it happened, and it was very disturbing. Yes, I felt sorry for them too in a weird way, even though I heard all the time what horrible things Ceausescu did in his own country against his people. Still the images from the film seemed to transform them into helpless victims. That was probably not the intension of the court, but the set up of the characters, the place, and the amateurish shooting of the video conveyed this feeling. The dictator and his wife sitting in the corner of the room surrounded by mean looking military officials. It was also shocking how rushed the whole thing was, considering they were trying their former leader. I believe the trial took one hour and then they executed them. I guess during a revolution chaos and fear can make people do irrational things. We discussed this event in my high school, and my professor pointed out that the people who sentenced Ceausescu to death were also active participants for his regime. But during the revolution they have to turn their loyalties away from the dictator and save their own skin by eliminating Ceausescu, who could incriminate them.
ReplyDeleteI think we reacted to the killing of Ceausescu in similar ways because in a way the TV brought it so close to us. It brought it into our living rooms; they showed the dead bodies like it is a normal thing for everyone to see such thing every day. But it is not. It is not normal to kill anyone, no matter what they did. Yes, he was a dictator, but I felt that a small part of me was sending him and his wife to the gallows as well, just because I was watching him through the TV. I felt uneasy then, but especially now, looking back. Punishing him and his family for life sentence in a prison would have been the right thing to do, but not murder.
They are in the news this week. Ceauşescu and his wife's bodies are being exhumed. CNN's article abou it: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/21/romania.dictator.exhumed/
ReplyDelete