Why is it necessary to post the graphic war pictures?

[Mia62]

I realize that HeavyStick is great about posting a warning in the title of his threads...BUT why do people want to look at those pictures?

Is it not enough that we all sympathize with the death toll as it is? Do we really need to have the graphic visuals posted?

Sure, go ahead and say...Don't look if you don't want to. I already use that option. I just feel that death is such a personal issue that it is intruding on those victims and their families to be posting such images.

I hate it already when the news reports show them. I think it is even worse here.

 

[Blindinthedark]

I realize that HeavyStick is great about posting a warning in the title of his threads...BUT why do people want to look at those pictures?

Is it not enough that we all sympathize with the death toll as it is? Do we really need to have the graphic visuals posted?

Sure, go ahead and say...Don't look if you don't want to. I already use that option. I just feel that death is such a personal issue that it is intruding on those victims and their families to be posting such images.

I hate it already when the news reports show them. I think it is even worse here.

I think we need to see it to remind us how horrible war is.
People need to be reminded that this is not a game and people are dying.

 

[Olivianna]

Some people need to face such images in order to fully come to terms with how real death and war is.

Also, death isn't necessarily a personal issue for most people - far from it in fact. I mean, the dead body doesn't have to signify private and hidden tragedy. Go somewhere like Varanasi, India - where burning skulls pop and ooze all out in the open for everyone to see.

 

[Mia62]

I understand that this is not a game. Don't you feel like a vulture every time you look at the pictures of death?

I went to Auschwitz (sp?) many years after the Jews had been annhilated and the pictures even that many years later had me in tears.

I think it is horrible to have the graphic pictures every time you turn around. Kids are more than capable of opening up a newspaper when the parents are out of the room. How many children all over the world are having nightmares because of the visuals?

 

[Mia62]

Go somewhere like Varanasi, India - where burning skulls pop and ooze all out in the open for everyone to see.

Is this because it is part of their culture to celebrate death?

Most of the world does not celebrate death in that manner.

 

[sexy-girl]

the fact is that its being done in our name ... even yours mia being that this is a western war

having said that im not sure if i see a need to post them on lit

 

[Mia62]

I am sure that I do NOT need to see a thread with them here...or on the front page of my morning paper OR on the news constantly. It is almost as tho teh reporters are going for the most graphic pictures they can find.

Sure, right now it is mostly about the Iraqi deaths...but what happens when your cousin, brother, sister, neighbour has their picture splashed around for the world to see?

Will it make the death MORE private and personal then??

 

[Blindinthedark]

I feel a little like a vulture. I admit.
But I also think that it's important to have these images.

Take your Auschwitz (spelling buddy says OK), if you didn't see the pics you'd never know how horrible it was.

As for kids, I'd never show those kind of pics to kids. They're not ready for that kind of burden.

We need these pics lest we demeen or forget the sacrifice of those that died.

 

[Olivianna]

Is this because it is part of their culture to celebrate death?

Most of the world does not celebrate death in that manner.

It isn't really necessary to bring Hinduism into this discussion - even though Hinduism accounts for millions of inhabitants on this planet. I just offered an example of how death isn't necessarily a private and personal/familial issue in all so-called "cultures." Anyway, I wouldn't say that death is celebrated exactly in Hinduism - it is a far more complex picture. To put it simply, the human body isn't held in as much reverence and fear as it is in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

 

[Mia62]

Take your Auschwitz (spelling buddy says OK), if you didn't see the pics you'd never know how horrible it was.

As for kids, I'd never show those kind of pics to kids. They're not ready for that kind of burden.

I beg to differ in that I was able...even as a youngster...to read The Diary of Anne Frank and any encyclopedia article on Hitler and I KNEW how horrible it was...even without pictures.

How do you protect the kids when they could be changing channels on their TV and stop at a news show? When CNN gets broadcast on EVERY channel and interrupts the NONviolent show the kids were watching? When they are turning page by page in the paper to find the comics...

Do you really think they won't look?? Think again.

 

[Mia62]

It isn't really necessary to bring Hinduism into this discussion - even though Hinduism accounts for millions of inhabitants on this planet. I just offered an example of how death isn't necessarily a private and personal/familial issue in all so-called "cultures." Anyway, I wouldn't say that death is celebrated exactly in Hinduism - it is a far more complex picture. To put it simply, the human body isn't held in as much reverence and fear as it is in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

I was simply asking a question of which I did not know the answer. I had no idea about that custom until you mentioned it. Thus...when I do not know...i will ask.

I was only speaking of war graphics...

 

[Olivianna]

In terms of kids, I don't know. I suspect being straight up with them is one way to start. The pictures are going to be there - they're going to hear the discussions - include them then. Make them aware that yes, war is occuring and that death results from war. Be pro-active in the indoctrination of your children to 21st-century media culture.

My 8-yr-old nephew is so scared of war that he won't go outside without his gas mask.

 

[Blindinthedark]

I beg to differ in that I was able...even as a youngster...to read The Diary of Anne Frank and any encyclopedia article on Hitler and I KNEW how horrible it was...even without pictures.

How do you protect the kids when they could be changing channels on their TV and stop at a news show? When CNN gets broadcast on EVERY channel and interrupts the NONviolent show the kids were watching? When they are turning page by page in the paper to find the comics...

Do you really think they won't look?? Think again.

What I meant was that I'd never take a pic and stick it under the nose of a child.

Yes they're going to see it and will need to have it explained to them. But the new has done a good job of keeping most of the really horrific pic off. You can't isolate a child from the horror but you can make it easier for them to understand.

Finally, you can read all the discriptions you want but you never full know what war looks like until you're there or until you seen the pictures. Books and discriptions are great but it will never compare to the power of a picture.

 

[plasticman33]

Of course kids will look, I did as a child, I remember pictures of bodies stacked like cord wood at German concentration camps, pictures of lynchings in the south. It's tragic, but it's part of life unfortunately. I do agree there is a time and a place for this type of graphic imagery. HeavyStick did provide a warning and as a matter of free choice whether someone wanted to look or not.

 

[Olivianna]

I was simply asking a question of which I did not know the answer. I had no idea about that custom until you mentioned it. Thus...when I do not know...i will ask.

I was only speaking of war graphics...

The implication, though, is how we understand/deal with death and images of death. My point was only that not eveyone views death as private and personal. That's all.

 

[Guest]

Heavy's warning was enough for me not to proceed.

 

[Lancecastor]

How do you protect the kids when they could be changing channels on their TV and stop at a news show?

Why would you want to "protect' your kids from learning about the one thing that everyone everywhere is talking about?

Would you rather they learn about it from someone else on the street?

 

[plasticman33]

Why would you want to "protect' your kids from learning about the one thing that everyone everywhere is talking about?

Would you rather they learn about it from someone else on the street?

Hmmm, that could be anything from sex to war!

 

[Mia62]

The implication, though, is how we understand/deal with death and images of death. My point was only that not eveyone views death as private and personal. That's all.

Ok...I understand that. The previous statement made it sound as tho I was the one that brought Hinduism into the conversation and I took offence to that.

I do understand that other cultures have a more relaxed way of dealing with death.

I still find the pictures of very young children with half their face blown off or pictures of POWs beaten to a pulp...highly inflammatory and disturbing.

*sigh*

 

[Mia62]

Why would you want to "protect' your kids from learning about the one thing that everyone everywhere is talking about?

Would you rather they learn about it from someone else on the street?

I cannot "protect" - meaning hide them from it - nor would I want to. I CAN stop them from looking at the graphic visuals while they are in my house tho. That is my job as a mother to protect them from that part. I am more than willing to discuss - in WORDS - any part of this war. I am NOT willing to allow them to see the pictures.

 

[Mia62]

By the way...I asked a question earlier in this thread...

How would you feel if one of those pictures of the dead was a relative or a friend? Would you still want it shown all over the world? Would you still be feeling "casual" about the deaths?


The YOU in this question is asked of each and every person...not to one in particular.

 

[Lancecastor]

It's like being a NASA astronaut or a cop...every time you go out the door, you might not come back in one piece.

 

[HeavyStick]

I realize that HeavyStick is great about posting a warning in the title of his threads...BUT why do people want to look at those pictures?

I didn't post a single picture.

Your poorly worded post insinuates I did.


I posted a brief, modest descirption of some controversial footage.

 

[HeavyStick]

HeavyStick did provide a warning and as a matter of free choice whether someone wanted to look or not.

Again no pics.

 

[just pet]

Ok...I understand that. The previous statement made it sound as tho I was the one that brought Hinduism into the conversation and I took offence to that.

I do understand that other cultures have a more relaxed way of dealing with death.

I still find the pictures of very young children with half their face blown off or pictures of POWs beaten to a pulp...highly inflammatory and disturbing.

*sigh*

You are so right, Mia
But it is even more disturbing to the very young children with half their face blown off or pictures of POWs beaten to a pulp
War in the abstract solves problems
War in reality hurts like hell