Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The power of images, revisited

The German newspaper Der Spiegel is reporting on a series of gruesome photographs taken by US Army soldiers. The soldiers apparently killed Afghani civilians and then took photos of the dead bodies in contorted positions, being held up by their hair or twisted and battered. You can read the story and look at the images here (warning: graphic content).

This only further underscores the power of images to shape our understanding of political events. If these images get published in the Muslim world, there could be a backlash like the one that happened after the Abu Ghraib revelations.

7 comments:

  1. We saw something similar with the release of the photos from the massacre in Itamar. Those photos got around and evoked a sense of anger among Israelis and Jews all over the world. It is very possible that these photos will evoke a similar anger among Muslims in the Middle East and across the globe.

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  2. I think it's important to note that these soldiers have been court marshaled and at least one of them is being accused of murder by the US Army.

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  3. Even though the soldiers are being put to justice by the US army, I don't think it will have much of an effect at calming the wrath that these photos will likely incite in the Muslim world. Many Muslims living in Muslim countries already believe that the US army is evil and hates Muslims, and thus according to the idea of confirmation bias they will simply ignore the evidence that says that these were social deviants and will only look at the fact that here is yet another example of Americans being brutal to innocent Muslims.

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  4. I Agree with David that the images will absolutely evoke emotion but I think that showing images like those of the massacre in Israel goes beyond just agitating the people that sympathize with Israel. They are meant to call attention to the extent of the situation. Similarly those who published these photos seem to be out to tell the world about the evils wrought on their people etc.
    I think this is one of the most useful tactics the media uses because in most people's mind you can't argue with a picture. (Until someone proves that it's been edited of course)

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  5. Though I do think that these pictures differ from the Itamar ones. While the Itamar pictures were to show the brutality of the murders, the pictures of the soldiers, I feel, were more Focused on the insensitivity of the soldiers. Like Noah mentioned, they aren't focused on the innocence of who was killed, though they were stated as being "citizens" and not affiliates of any terrorists group, but rather the pictures are more about the reaction of the soldiers and that is what the Muslim world is so upset about, with reason.

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  6. These pictures are a perfect example of the watchdog function of the press. They bring to light the wrongdoings of soldiers, effectively checking their power and bringing them to justice. Now the question that remains is if they fall into Muslim hands and undoubtedly cause tremendous damage, will this watchdog function be worth it?

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  7. So now were back to that old question, do we sacrifice our freedom of speech for national security, or not? Which no one, not even the federal justices, can agree on.

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