Pointing at the tree

Abstract

Since its inception, the new media have been celebrated as a way of democratizing the circulation of information. In overcoming what Guy Debord denominated separation of the spectacle, they horizontalize the flow of communication, allowing the spectator to be also a producer. In this sense, the internet would also break the monopoly of the denouncement, turning denunciation into one of the main functions of the social digital media. However – and despite the speed of the proliferation and circulation of images that show barbarism –, one cannot state that they achieve the intended effect which is, among other things, to raise awareness of what is denounced. Actually,  it's  quite the opposite. This paper seeks to reflect, from the structural changes that give shape to the new media, the paradoxical relationship between complaint and indifference.