Whose Pain Goes Viral? Economies of Empathy After Paris
In this illustrated talk, Len Findlay, Distinguished University Professor, Department of English, University of Saskatchewan, will examine the historical interplay of fame and infamy, information and authority, to help frame the current notion of “going viral” and how suffering overpowers “cute.” This will be pursued in and beyond mainstream coverage of the deaths of innocent people coming from or connectable to events in the Middle East. The goal is to assess economic, political, and affective determinants of the axiom that “if it bleeds, it leads.” It will then reflect on how these determinants might be both intensified and resisted in social and traditional media in order that justice go viral, starting in Canada.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Rogers Communications Centre, Ryerson University
Room 103, 80 Gould St. (corner of Church St.)