Editorial: Disturbing photos offer useful dose of reality

The front page of The New York Times carried a graphic
photograph Thursday of a professional body washer cleansing the
corpse of an Iraqi bomb victim covered with open wounds and scabs
and lying lifeless and almost naked atop a table in preparation for
a Muslim burial.

Similar pictures of dead and bloodied bodies have become a
common feature in several major newspapers and news networks as
revolts, bombings and war unfold in several parts of the world,
including Iraq, Haiti and the Middle East.

These devastating events have produced thousands of victims
““ and it is crucial that people around the world understand
the suffering caused by these conflicts. For students at UCLA,
these images offer a window into worlds that make campus life look
like a utopia.

Violent events ripple across the globe on a daily basis, and
digital photography has made those events easy to capture in print,
meaning people increasingly are bombarded by graphic images,
whether they like it or not. And these images have given the public
an uninhibited and accurate view of actual events ““ without
the softening euphemisms that are possible to construct with the
written word.

Though the images are graphic and sickening for many, they are
essential to the public’s understanding of reality. Countless
inches of text describing human loss can not convey the same sense
of devastation that a single picture can. It is reported that the
death toll in multiple bombings in Iraq on Tuesday was around 271,
but the destruction really cannot be understood until one sees the
faces of a victim’s family members watching the corpse of a
loved one being prepared for burial.

Those who object to the pictures, saying they are offensive or
harmful for children, are ignoring that these images represent the
daily lives of millions of people around the world. Yes, the
pictures are upsetting. But they should be.

Parents cannot expect to shield their children from the truth
forever and should use this opportunity to teach them about true
hardship and suffering. It’s their job to educate their
children about the world and its realities.

It is also essential that students see these images.

Buried in classes, exams and papers, it is far too easy for
students to perceive events around the world as far off and
unlikely to affect their daily lives. But the protective bubble of
college life ““ and, for that matter, of American life ““
needs to be burst.

The decision of major newspapers across the country to run
graphic photographs of violent events around the world is a
positive step in their mission to expose the truth.

And exposing the truth has real value. Especially in an election
year, all people ““ including students ““ must remember
their actions can affect the outcomes of the conflicts killing and
maiming so many.

The Times and other papers that run graphic images are not
simply trying to disgust people. They are hoping to inspire an
understanding of the suffering people in other countries endure on
a daily basis.