George Floyd protests are changing minds about police brutality because they make great television

The Week

"Part of this "is because Americans have been alienated from the spectacle of conflict for years — and as a result, the scenes on our streets right now are exciting, dramatic, and captivating," says Jeva Lange. "But beyond entertainment, they are also an awakening to the experience of black Americans, for whom such shows of brutality from the police are all too familiar." Lange points out that conflict TV hasn't always been foreign to American viewers. Graphic coverage of the Vietnam War helped turn many Americans against the war. "But something else also happened during the 20th century: Governments wised up to the power that unchecked visual images have on citizens and foreign powers," says Lange. "After the public relations disaster of Vietnam, the U.S. military, anyway, learned its lesson." Beginning with the 1991 Gulf War, the Pentagon allowed members of the media sent on what amounted to "orchestrated press junkets." Lange adds: "In this moment of civil unrest, though, the calculation that has long kept Americans from seeing images of its agents in conflict is backfiring. Instead of being numb to the appearance of our own militarized police forces firing on peaceful protesters, the scenes on our TVs and social media feeds are intense and alarming. Part of this, to be sure, is because of the nature of the events and a common disbelief that 'something like this' can happen in the United States, when we're more used to seeing it play out in blurry cell phone videos shared from places like Hong Kong or Egypt. But with local reporters on the ground capturing the uncensored scenes unfolding on familiar blocks, there is a freshness to the material that makes it uncanny and disturbing — and gripping."