Are we perpetuating the humiliation?

The pictures, over and over and over, even in some people's sig lines, of human beings being tormented: they're getting to me.

Do we have to plaster Lynndie England and her victim(s) everywhere?

I understand, to a certain extent, that it's to remind us how reprehensible the treatment of the prisoners was, but I'm beginning to think there's an unhealthy preoccupation. Worse, I think there's a lingering insensitivity to the victims.

Everytime those pictures appear, they contain the images of the men who were abused, humiliated, tormented, tortured. As one interview with one of the victims pointed out, he had been released and was going home to see his family, but he couldn't stay with them because of the shame.

I don't want these pictures to lose their shock value. I think, as someone else posted a few days ago, those of us who have been fed (or fed ourselves) a steady diet of violence-as-entertainment may not be bothered by this, and maybe that's part of the reason why folks like England and Graner didn't see anything particularly wrong with what they were doing.

I think we owe the victims and their families and their country a little more respect.

Then again, maybe I'm just being self-righteous.

Tansy Gold

not cutesy and dont want it named like bush does with all his things. just doesnt belong with this. it isnt a partisan thing, and if it becomes that, we lose as much as the other side

broadcasts and other major media. They just love to show those photos every other minute, I guess it must get ratings. And I noticed the same here, there seems to be a ghoulish preoccupation with those photos by a few. Heck, some have even made it part of their sig lines.

It would be nice if we could, out of some modicum of respect for these poor people, stop parading around pictures of their torture. Of course, the argument on the other side is if the pics hadn't been out there, this would still be going on, so its good the pics are out there.

Since the damage has been done and the abuse will likely now slow down (or go underground where it won't be reported), further parading around of these pics is getting to be gratuitous.

Americans have an incredibly short attention span. This is why the charges put forth by Clarke and Dean and others are already forgotten. They are verbal charges that, when repeated over and over, make Americans' eyes glaze over.

But this stuff will never do that. This will bring down Bush because it cannot be forgotten.

The photos are a pin in the bubble of EVERY piece of propaganda that Bush has put forth:

we're bringing you freedom
we're bringing you democracy
etc etc etc

But is it really necessary to splash them in so many posts here on DU, where we're essentially preaching to the choir? It's not as if there aren't other venues for the unconverted to see them.

Remember, these aren't just pictures. They are representations of real human beings. Did we ever get their permission to take those pictures, much less broadcast them? And do we have to slap them in our sig lines, for crying out loud, when all any individual post may be is a "Kick n/t"?

I don't want the story to die, and I have no problem with the pictures being included with legitimate news stories. I just think some of us might have taken it a little too far.

That's all.

most of us at DU are already well aware of the story. So why show the photos over and over?

Showing on CNN, tho, accompanied (as you said) with the news story, I think is valid and important.

NOTE: how many times do you think FOX will show the photos?

Even if the story shown on CNN attracts sickos - it will still get the ratings, and get the message across, and it will help reveal the lie of "bringing freedom to the Iraqis."

has made us insensitive to ANY NOT REPEATED 12 TIMES BY TV
REPEATED 12 TIMES BY TV
REPEATED 12 TIMES BY TV
REPEATED 12 TIMES BY TV
REPEATED 12 TIMES BY TV

I agree. Consider that, Tansy_Gold.

Up next is photos of corpses.



War crimes leave self-righteousness aside.

Anything else is just wanting to bury our heads.

Until these photos came out DUers who said that there was torture going on in those prisons were poo-pooed by the pro-war & pro-occupation New Dems who have been complicit in this war from the beginning.

These photos should be plastered in every mall, super-market, fast-food joint and ice-cream parlor to make America realize what we have done, to make America realize "why do they hate us".

Not enough people are ashamed enough of what we have been doing in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq yet. That's the real shame, the real disrespect.

Until the day the majority of Americans are aware enough of this horror, that their mind boggles from pro-war/occupation to antiwar/occupation, then I don't believe we can plaster them enough. Not even here at DU where new people register everyday and googlers get linked to our stuff. Also, I particularly enjoy the effect they have on our very own war apologists who refuse to face their own complicit shame.

:thumbsup:

This war has been far to sanitized as it is by the American media Tansy Gold.

ItÕs kind of hard for them to remain indifferent now.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough.

I'm talking about the gratuitous display of these pictures here on DU, in sig lines, in non-pertinent posts.

If they aren't done in context, do they have any meaning at all? And if they're posted so often out of context, do they lose any meaning they might have had?

I think there's a point at which the effect is lost, and saturation is rapidly approaching. that's all.

Do I think the photos shouldn't have been shown at all? No, not on your life. Only a certain amount of shock will wake some people up. Ditto on the photos of the flag-draped coffins.

My concern is with the over-exposure, and the sometimes apparent lack of respect for the victims.

As I said when the photos came out, the value of a visual is incalculable, a value the mother of Emmet Till knew well half a century ago. I just think that the repeated, non-contextual posting of the images serves to further dehumanize the victims. They become only images.

I'm not seeking a ban or a moratorium. Just an open and rational discussion.