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War & Peace Quote by Alex Cox

"It's interesting actually, what's gone on with that footage, and also what happened with the footage from the war in Afghanistan, is that our news reporting is pretty much along the lines of pornography now"

About this Quote

Cox’s barb lands because it’s not really about sex; it’s about consumption. By comparing war footage (and the controversy around “that footage”) to pornography, he’s pointing at a media ecosystem that treats images less as evidence and more as stimuli: something to click, binge, and move on from. Porn is the charged metaphor because it implies a viewer relationship built on arousal, repetition, and a kind of isolation. You’re not meant to act; you’re meant to watch.

The line also smuggles in an indictment of distance and control. Afghanistan coverage, especially in the early 2000s, was filtered through embeds, official briefings, and carefully rationed visuals. When images did break through unmediated - the messy, unflattering kind - the story often became the image itself: whether it was “appropriate,” whether it was “too much,” whether it should be shown. That’s the pornography parallel: not just explicitness, but the way the frame turns suffering into a commodity, abstracted from politics and consequence.

Cox’s phrasing, “pretty much along the lines,” is doing work too. It’s casual, almost offhand, as if he’s describing an obvious slide everyone can see but few want to name. Coming from a director, the critique doubles as a warning about visual language: when news adopts the logic of spectacle, it starts rewarding shock over understanding, and viewers learn to crave intensity instead of clarity.

Quote Details

TopicEthics & Morality
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Cox, Alex. (2026, January 18). It's interesting actually, what's gone on with that footage, and also what happened with the footage from the war in Afghanistan, is that our news reporting is pretty much along the lines of pornography now. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-interesting-actually-whats-gone-on-with-that-21980/

Chicago Style
Cox, Alex. "It's interesting actually, what's gone on with that footage, and also what happened with the footage from the war in Afghanistan, is that our news reporting is pretty much along the lines of pornography now." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-interesting-actually-whats-gone-on-with-that-21980/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's interesting actually, what's gone on with that footage, and also what happened with the footage from the war in Afghanistan, is that our news reporting is pretty much along the lines of pornography now." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-interesting-actually-whats-gone-on-with-that-21980/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Alex Cox (born December 15, 1954) is a Director from United Kingdom.

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