There is absolutely no reason this should be plastered all over the internet. Is there no shame left? No sense of decorum or decency? It’s appalling. All for clicks.
What image? I haven’t seen it.
It’s an image of a rescuer carrying the body of one of two young Syrian brothers who drowned off the coast of Turkey (their father, who was fleeing the violence in Syria with them, survived).
I’m not linking to it, because I’m furious that it takes the image of a drowned little boy being shoved in their faces by the tabloid media for many Europeans to get over their indifference to the horrific plight of refugees (or, in far too many cases, the outright bigotry and hatred towards the “brown hordes invading Europe” that said tabloid media has been pushing regarding the refugees).
But if you really want to see it for yourself, my description above should give you enough to Google it.
Earlier today all you had to do was click the Google News feed, and several images of it were displayed right at the top. Horrible. There’s another image which is basically dead body on the beach. It’s horrible.
Death happens. Horrible, unjust death happens.
You should not be immune.
The most used image is of the younger boy, aged 3, on the beach, with the water lapping about him. Grim stuff.
It is a powerful image however, and it seems to have spurred some of the godawful newspapers we have here in Britain to change their editorial line (in sickeningly hypocritical fashion) towards a call for action. In turn, this seems to be moving the government’s position, at the time of posting.
So, how does one weigh the two sides: dignity in death vs a spur to action? I honestly don’t know.
I’m too young to remember, but did the image of the young Vietnamese girl with the napalm burns change public opinion much?
220,000 dead Syrians is appalling.
Of course there’s a reason. There’s every reason. Photos of dead children are one of the few things that can break through our carefully-constructed walls that keep out the heart-rending pain of others.
There’s plenty of shame to go around, but it’s not on those who photographed the bodies or circulated them on the internet.
It astonishes me that anyone could react to these photos in this particular way.
It’s the job of photojournalists to document news, even news that’s hard to watch. They’ve documented atrocities of war. They documented the horror of 9/11. They document all sorts of events, actions, tragedies, pain and suffering. It’s what they do.
It’s real journalism. You want our media to just be full of nicely posed grip-and-grin ribbon cuttings and red carpet appearances? Fuck that. If we didn’t have journalists willing to document stuff like this, we’d never know it was going on.
So these pictures stirred emotions in you? Good. This is what journalism at its best does.
I have somewhat easily avoided seeing it.
You could too, just don’t click on it!
This powerful image appears to have moved a lot of persons and countries and organizations to demand more be done to help these desperate people. For this reason alone, though I have chosen not to view it, I completely support it being used in this fashion.
What exactly are you pitting here? Mass media? The Internet? The Photographer who took the picture? Middle East violence? Your own sheltered, naive sensitivities?
Well, if that’s what it takes… or would you rather they remained indifferent?
The photo is disturbing. And extremely important.
And if you see the photo, think about this: there are four million Syrians who have fled the country. Europe is being asked to do more, yes. But the U.S. has taken in less than 1,000 of those refugees. Could we do more ourselves?
Yes, there is a need for this photo.
We should not be shielded from the reality of what is happening, just because it makes us feel uncomfortable.
This is real. This is happening. And looking away will not make it disappear.
No, I’m glad that people seem to finally be waking up to the fact that something needs to be done to help the refugees.
But there have been thousands of refugee deaths already, including numerous boat capsizings, and, gruesomely, the discovery of 71 refugees (including children) found dead in a truck in Austria. Where was the horror and outrage then? Where were the tabloids feeling shamed for publishing shit like this and this and calling for more to be done about the refugee crisis, like they’re doing now?
Dude. This morning I thought I’d check the news, and clicked the Google News feed, next thing I know I’m looking at dead toddler lying facedown on the beach. If you could explain to me how I could have avoided that, aside from the obvious “Don’t check the news.” feel free to help me out. Use small words and maybe an itemized list.
I guess I’m pitting “Let’s generate ad revenue with dead baby pics.” I’m not in love with it being plastered all over the news for the sake of being edgy journalism, but whatever. What led to the pitting was me finding it in an ad next to “perfectly timed” photos when I was looking for info on a fucking drum kit. Drums! Yeah, I probably could have spelled that out up above, but for some reason I’m prone to brevity and expecting people to know what I mean.
It’s entirely possible that I’m sheltered and naïve. Although, having been deployed overseas, I’d be willing to bet my understanding of human tragedy runs a little deeper than that of your average internet badass, but you sure told me!
Also, I should probably point out that I have two boys under three and it’s likely I’m not reacting in a sane and rational manner.
I’m sure it’s the latter. Please don’t interrupt my precious perfectness with images of war, and reminding me that millions of people are suffering. It ruined my breakfast, for God’s sake!!
“The things that happened to us here, in the country where we took refuge to escape war in our homeland, we want the whole world to see this. We want the world’s attention on us, so that they can prevent the same from happening to others. Let this be the last.”
You know who said this? Any guesses? Oh come on. Take a guess. No? It was the boys’ grieving father. So these pics were just all for clicks you say? No decorum? No shame? Fuck that and fuck your delicate sensibilities. This wasn’t clickbait or “edgy journalism.” It’s fucking journalism. Period. And if news outlets happened to “generate ad revenue” this morning because people read about this tragedy, so be it. Quality journalists don’t work for free.
Oh, stationed overseas? You sure told us!
Well, yeah. You should NOT click on the news if you’re sensibilities are so delicate. There’s been a horrible civil war going on in Syria for something like 4 years now. Once in awhile we probably all need a good kick in the gut to be reminded of that.
It’s also possible to make a buck and get important info to people at the same time. If we always worried about profiting from tragedy, no one would ever report about tragedy.