Dead Bodies on TV (wage, enemy, serial killers, 9/11)
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It's thought to be demoralizing for us to show our dead soldiers and the coffins coming home. During the Vietnam war we did show them on TV and when the more recent wars came along the administration in power forbid cameras being around when the coffins come home.
I think if the news showed dead bodies more often, we would benefit as a society. Most of us can use some sobering of thought, and seeing real dead bodies definitely brings a sense of sobriety and realism along with the images (or at least it does to me).
I just watched some footage from Haiti that'll stay with me for awhile. It puts things in perspective. Like that we, as a nation, need to stop bickering so much. There's plenty to agree on.
I don't recall any of the US news networks showing many bodies after Katrina. A few photos in news magazines but nothing off the top of my head was shown on TV.
Showing the dead bodies in Haiti will probably encourage more people to donate. Showing dead bodies in Katrina would result in a flurry of lawsuits.
I think the sight of dead bodies stirs up emotion and more visceral reactions and tempers. It's easier to direct that emotion at a geological fault, whereby really no one is at fault, than it is at a nation's political or foreign policy, where the obvious debates and attacks are a result.
that was a very interesting and sad story. i could care less what gates thinks and while i agree with the statement that "We believe it is important for all of us to understand that behind the numbers are real men and women, sometimes making the ultimate sacrifice, for us", the fact that the man's family had asked that the pictures not be published SHOULD HAVE BEEN RESPECTED.
I think if the news showed dead bodies more often, we would benefit as a society. Most of us can use some sobering of thought, and seeing real dead bodies definitely brings a sense of sobriety and realism along with the images (or at least it does to me). In our pride and illusion, we often forget that we will all look like that one day.
I've thought the same thing about obituaries; a little OT, but it would show people what idiotic actions result in.
I understand the need to show the destruction as it is (and by the same measure, the destruction of war as it is) but I always feel for the families. How would any of us like to see our dead son/daughter/father/mother/spouse forever immortalized on film?
I remember a story about the woman who lost her toddler daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing. A photo was taken of a rescue worker carrying the limp dead body of the baby out of the wreckage -- I'm sure you all can remember what I am talking about. She said it was devasting then and devasting now. A few years ago she had to go to court to block someone from producing little statues of the image for sale. Can you imagine?
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