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I was reading GQ magazine last month and there was a vividly written story about the layover hospital that every American soldier who is injured during combat will visit. A large portion of the story was written to spotlight the effectiveness of said hospital, how it was a monument to logistics, blah, blah blah. I took away something entirely different from the article.
I was reminded that we are at war.
Men, boys really, are coming home with missing body parts and scattered minds. Women are coming home in body bags. I write these things with a heaviness in my chest that is difficult to describe. The truth sometimes allows the chest to sink in to itself, almost as if to protect the heart.
I was reminded again today about the war, and our soldiers fighting in it while listening to "on point" on NPR. The host was interviewing a photojournalist who has been researching the lack of imagery from the war. It probably hasn't even occurred to you, as it hadn't to me, that we see very little in the way of footage and static images from this war. It's obviously not because the technology isn't there, just pick up the Sunday paper and peruse the Best Buy ad.
No, the issue is that the war, for whatever reason, has lost it's playability. When the war began their were hundreds of reporters and photographers embedded in the field. At last count there was six. You read that correctly, 6!
The issue has been that every image of a fallen solider has been held back due to the fear that it would give strategic information to the enemy about the effectiveness of their attack. While I would rather see a self portrait of yours truly being run over by a steam roller than a fallen U.S. soldier the truth is, those images would help end the war.
Imagery was the fuel that stoked the outrage of the Vietnam war and sparked numerous protests. Imagine if we were as in the dark about that war as we have been about this one. Our boys would have had boots on the ground far longer than they already had to.
What is your opinion on this? Should news organizations print images of fallen soldiers? Blown up Humvee's? Demolished cities?
Or should we continue to control the flow of information to protect the families and friends of those slain? Please comment below to join the conversation.
images used by permission via the creative commons licesence. image by kevindooley
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