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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, January 20, 2006

Picture of the Day - 2 - and a question

That's his father.

I'm looking for a few opinions on the pictures of the day. Throughout my collecting, I have run across vast numbers of pictures showing, what I'll euphemistically call, the real face of the Iraq war.

It's a lot of blood. A lot of blood.

I don't want to put them up here, because I want this blog to focus more on politics and policy and I think if I put these pictures up here, it will turn off many people. (Quite frankly, I ran across a collection the other day that was so extreme that it has invaded my dreams the last couple of nights.)

So, the question is this how do I handle these photos? Do I drop links to existing collections? Do I start another blog with these grotesque images on it? What are the morals on that? Am I exploiting these people's suffering? Do I just pretend they aren't there?

I don't know what to do. I've been going back and forth on it for months with no resolution. So I'm looking for advice, thoughts, comments. If you have an opinion, it would be a great help.

(Light blogging today as real life has intruded on my preferred life. I'll probably get some stuff up tonight with the Friday document dump. - Mike)

9 Comments:

  • Well, these are the pictures that flag waving, ribbon sticker, Americans don't want to see.
    "Please God, sanitise this war so I do not see the horror I have wrought."

    By Blogger Yukkione, at 2:21 PM  

  • Tough call. I would say keep them for sure and I think need to be disseminated. People need to see the face of war as it were.

    I'd suggest posting links to them but not necessarily posting the really graphic photos directly. I like to be prepared before I look at a body with its head blown off.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:35 PM  

  • The pictures are not biased. They just are.

    I think to show nothing but the grotesque is editorially unfair. But to eliminate them is equally unfair.

    I say post them when they're relevant, meaning a part of the story of the day.

    By Blogger Greyhair, at 3:30 PM  

  • I agree with greyhair. It would be an honest approach to sensitive subject matter.

    By Blogger Yukkione, at 4:25 PM  

  • keep posting them, for pictures show us what words cannot convey

    By Blogger Bob Daktari, at 5:32 PM  

  • I too agree. Post links to these with warnings. But they should be available. It is very easy to support the war when you don't have to see what war really looks like. I have also posted a link to www.thenasea.com but with a warning. I think it is extremely important that the true face of war be exposed to the public.

    By Blogger expatbrian, at 7:26 PM  

  • You've done it again Mike. The pics you come up with are very moving

    By Blogger Graeme, at 1:03 AM  

  • Thanks a ton for the thoughtful responses. You really helped. I'll put up the next post on the solution.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 6:36 AM  

  • By Blogger chenmeinv0, at 3:34 AM  

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