Labelthis…

I say yes…and the more graphic the better.

In fact imagine if somehow  pictures could also capture the smell of blood,the terror,the grief and the sounds of young lives ebbing away.

Over the weekend, I was reading Susan D. Moeller’s essay on “Media and Democracy”and she pointed out that one of the paramount problems with the mainstream media is that they have failed to show the human costs of war.

From September 1, 2004 to February 28, 2005, 559 American soldiers and Western allies died but not a single picture got published in the seven elite U.S. newspapers. Among these elite: New York Times, Washington Post, Time and Newsweek.

Like the saying goes,only those who have experienced war truly know the horror and senselessness that is war.Indeed those who have experienced war are in most cases the last to call for war or promote war as a solution.

Times have changed. Life magazine published grim pictures of the Spanish Civil War in 1938 with these words:…..

“Once again Life prints grim pictures of War, well knowing that once again they will dismay and outrage thousands and thousands of readers. But today’s two great continuing news events are two wars — one in China, one in Spain… Obviously Life cannot ignore not suppress these two great news events in pictures. As events, they have an authority far more potent than any editors’ policy or readers’ squeamishness. But Life could conceivably choose to show pictures of these events that make them look attractive. They are not, however, attractive events… Americans’ noble and sensible dislike of war is largely based on ignorance of what modern war really is… The love of peace has no meaning or no stamina unless it is based on a knowledge of war’s terrors… Dead men have indeed died in vain if live men refuse to look at them..

Read more,’Young Men Dead‘