When the West Lost Its Shame - The Day Civility Died on Television - From Justice to Nonces.

When the West Lost Its Shame - The Day Civility Died on Television - From Justice to Nonces.

I’ve thought about this for years, honestly.
And it didn’t start with Libya.

Before that, there was Iraq.
Actually, there were two Iraqs.
Two Bushes. Two invasions. So war itself wasn’t shocking anymore. That part had already been normalised.

What stuck with me was something else.

When Saddam was caught, the image that went everywhere wasn’t a courtroom, or a statement, or even a photo. It was soldiers forcing his mouth open on camera. Hands inside his face. Checking his teeth like he was an animal.

I remember watching that and thinking…
this feels different.

Not angry. Not even surprised. Just… off.

Because it wasn’t necessary. Everyone already knew who he was. The cameras didn’t need to be that close. That moment wasn’t really about identification anymore. It was about showing something.

People always bring up Ceausescu at this point. And yeah, he and his wife were executed, and some of that footage was shown. But it was quick. A few seconds on the news. Then it moved on.

Different place. Different history. Different tone.

What came later didn’t feel like that at all.

By the time Libya happened, it was obvious something had shifted.

When Gaddafi was captured, the footage wasn’t just messy or chaotic. It was brutal in a very personal way. Beatings. Humiliation. Sexual assault. And none of it was treated like something to handle carefully.

It just ran.
All day.
On major Western channels.

No warnings. No softening. Just looped, over and over.

And people noticed. Even back then. You’d hear it on the street: they’re doing this on purpose. They want people to see it. It’s a message.

That’s when it really landed for me.

Because the West always used to pretend there were lines. Even when showing horrible things, there was usually some sense of restraint. 

A warning. A pause. An acknowledgment that certain images carry weight.

With this, that hesitation was gone.

And this was under Obama, which matters. It showed it wasn’t about right or left. Something bigger had changed. A comfort with the display itself.

Once you see that, you start recognising the same energy elsewhere. You see it now with ICE. The public handling. The way people are processed in full view, like the visibility is part of the point.

Over time, it starts to feel familiar.

When power stops caring how it looks, it usually means it doesn’t feel checked anymore. And when the strongest country behaves that way, it sets a tone whether it admits it or not.

That’s the part that bothers me.

Because for all its hypocrisy, America still acted as one force among others. There were tensions, rival powers, limits. That balance mattered. It gave the rest of the world options.

When that balance weakens, things don’t open up. They tighten.

Standards drop. Then they spread. Then they come back home wearing different uniforms.

That’s why these moments matter to me. Not because of who those men were, but because of what people got used to watching.

Something shifted in plain sight.
A lot of people felt it.
And once you see it, it’s hard to unsee.