The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Dear Fay, like you, i used to bother myself about the ethical validity of publishing terrifying images like these. sometimes i think that it is unethical since the images are so terrifying and ugly, and at least i probably have to get permission first from the victims or their families. sometimes i talk to myself that "no no no...it's not unethical at all. on the contrary, it's just plain hypocritical of people to remove the horror in reality simply by removing the horrific pictures from tv screen or newspapers." i still have no definite answer to this dilemma, and my own ambivalence prevents me from accusing any individual person of being hypocritical or inconsiderate. but i do think that it is disgustingly hypocritical of any media or person who claims to be civilized by insisting that it is morally wrong to circulate war images like these when he or she, explicitly or implicitly, favours the war. i feel very sad when i saw these photos; how can we claim to be civilized when we treat human beings like this? isn't it TOO civilized to shield ourselves from the horrific reality by closing our eyes or deleting disturbing scenes from tv screen? it seems to me that things that are too civilized not only take away from the reality that many actually live in but also take away our humanity. we are TOO civilized; as a so-called educated man or woman, we've been taught to mask our despair and rage, to deny the disturbing reality that we actually face in our lives. having said these, i am not encouraging people to circulate photos like these; i just want to say it is not necessarily wrong to do so. i've already done it but i don't think i am wrong. just a few thoughts and would like to share them with you all. regards, emir chen ====================== ----- Original Message ----- 寄件者: "F.Dowker" <f.dowker@qmul.ac.uk> 收件者: <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> 傳送日期: 2003年3月31日 PM 08:12 主旨: Re: [casi] Images from Iraq.. Dear All, I think care needs to be taken with images of death and injury. They may be dehumanising and counterproductive. These are images of people in extremis, in hell on earth. We need to make the connection between the people of Iraq and ourselves in every way. And we want people to engage with us, not turn away in horror. I have been inconsistent with this myself: I have a picture of a little girl killed in 1999 by a US bomb in Basra on my website. It is a haunting image --she is recognisably a dear little human child, perfect in her grave of dust -- but I'm going to take it off because I can't bear it any longer, because I don't have permission from her bereaved parents and because I don't want to shock anyone any more or make them angry. There are images available, from the Iraq Peace Team for example, which have been taken so as to give human faces to the suffering of Iraqi people. They aim not to shock but to elicit compassion. best wishes, Fay ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++ + Fay Dowker Physics Department + + Queen Mary, University of London + + E-mail: f.dowker@qmul.ac.uk Mile End Road, + + Phone: +44-(0)20-7882-5047 London E1 4NS. + + Fax: +44-(0)20-8981-9465 + + Homepage: http://monopole.ph.qmw.ac.uk/~dowker/home.html + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++ _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk