Friday, July 12, 2013

"Regarding the Pain of Others"

Questions
1.     1. Should there be restrictions on photography of war?
2.    2.   How does the public react to these grueling photographs of war?
3.     3.  Should photographers be allowed to take a picture of the victim before they die and after their death?

Response

            For my response I will focus on my first question. Should there be restrictions on photography of war? I believe that there should be restriction on the photography of war. I think there are certain benefits and negative aspects to the photography of war. There should be restrictions on photography because a lot of the photos that are released to the public are extremely grueling and grotesque. Most of these war pictures are very shocking. Imagine hearing one of your relatives stepped on a bomb in Iraq and a few days later, you saw a picture of it. That only makes it that much worse.  Like Sontag addressed, these pictures cause anxiety. The public should be aware of what is happening, like the World Trade Center plane crash, but sometimes pictures can be a little bit too much for the public to where it causes anxiety. There is a certain point where those kinds of pictures should not be shared, especially if it is about another country. There is also the concern that many of these pictures can be staged, like Sontag explained in her article. This is basically like propaganda, but doing it through photography. These kinds of pictures should be restricted because it is sending our country the wrong message. Although I believe that there should be restrictions, I am not sure that any will ever be made. The media does a good job at making other countries look bad and the United States look good. Pictures say a lot and get a message across quite quickly, whether it is real or not. 

1 comment:

  1. I agree, pictures from war should have restrictions. Pictures from war help people see the reality and understand what is going on, yet the gory gruesome pictures should have a certain criteria before showing the nation. When you said for us to imagine how horrible it would be to see a picture of the aftermath of a relative at war who stepped on a bomb, it is so true no one would ever want to see a picture like that. I also do not think there will ever be restrictions passed on the gruesome pictures being shown, so we all have to accept the reality of what happens in the world.

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