When Images Compete as Fiercely as Armies

[curtoid]

And we wonder why we're not being perceived as the good guys?

"Khouri illustrated the difference between the Arab and American coverage by
describing a horrifying picture, widely broadcast on the Arab channels, that was not
seen in the United States: a small Iraqi child who had died during an American attack,
with the back of the child's skull and head missing.

'The picture was as gut-wrenching and disgusting to Arabs as the pictures of the dead
Americans were to Americans,' he noted."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35269-2003Mar27.html


[KOP]

[A.J.]

Here's an image that the Marines found in Nasiriya, Iraq:

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/meast/03/26/sprj.irq.mural/vert.911.mural.jpg

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/26/sprj.irq.mural/index.html

<IMG SRC="http://www.silentspic.com/images/sighost/ajdcsig.jpg">

A Skidmark production.

99-44/100%

This message was edited by AJinDC on 3-27-03 @ 8:59 AM

[LiquidCourage]

I heard about that.
Unbelievable.
That mural just enraged me and reinvigorated my support for the troops.

[curtoid]

What's the context of the mural? Where / when and by whom was it painted? Lord
knows there are plenty of people here, from 2 year olds to 82 year olds, who
expressed their reaction to the WTC by paintings of the impact.

Interesting that a painting has such a reaction, and that the idea of images of a small
girl missing half her head gets no such response.

Maybe it's just me.

Because of what I do for a living, I worked for 6 weeks last year at "Fresh Kills" landfill,
and saw many horrible things that were actually in the buildings and planes, and not
once did the destruction bring up anger in me - if anything, it brought out sadness that
it happened, pride that the attacks didn't cripple us a country and awe that over
20,000 people actually got out of the buildings alive.

This was reinforced on September 1oth of this last year when I got the opportunity to
meet the survivors, rescue workers and the family members of the 3,000 people who
died.

Until this invasion of Iraq I never saw the United States as weak, but maybe I was
wrong. Especially if we let ourselves get so blind with rage because people from
half-way around the world might have showed glee in our misfortune - we are not
strong enough?

How compassionate have we been as a country over the years? Christ - how many
people have actually advocated nuking the "sand niggers" and destroying one of the
oldest cities in the world.

We are the Holy Roman Empire.

For the record (again) - our men and women have a job to do, and for the sake of the
future of this country they need to do it. The reasons they were put there are suspect,
and the way it has been excecuted has been a nightmare, but the only way our
soldiers are coming home is through Baghdad.

[KOP]















This message was edited by KOP on 3-27-03 @ 3:34 PM