Are the media excessively sanitizing the pictures from the bombings?

self

[ken5050]

This is an act of war, worse than Pearl Harbor, right? Maybe 40,000 folks have died. Yet we haven't seen a body. I'm not in favor of gore (lower case, no pun intended) and mayhem for it's own sake.....yet at Pearl Harbor we saw the rows of bodies laid on the tarmacs, we saw the burned bodies floating in the water..here, we see pictures of shoes, cell phones, and piles of documents...and it helped to fuel the rage and passion of the American people.

[I_Publius]

If any of you have access to one of the many Spanish language TV channels, start watching them. You will see a lot more on those channels than you do on any of our English stations. (Even if you do not speak Spanish, you can still understand most of it.)

God Bless American and it's people!

PRAY!

[Wm Bach]

The victims and their families deserve dignity. It does not take an exposition on Gray's Anatomy to know of the shredding and burning those poor souls endured when the planes impacted, and later, when plummeting to the ground and being mercilessly ground up by falling debris.

I agree with another poster... the heartbreaking stories of loss are enough to stir us, and are only offset by the incredible acts of heroism and bravery.

As sick as it may sound, I believe God allows these things to happen so as to remind us that we can be more. That we are capable of great things. And as a people, I see individuals rising to the call, and I believe we are passing whatever test God is allowing for our nation.

[DB]

Respect for those surviving family members is also a major consideration. They don't need to see pieces of their loved ones on TV over and over. These people don't have to see it to know the terror and loss of it. Neither do you.

[Rustynailww]

God won't give us more than we can handle.

[Crusher138]

While gruesome pictures are not called for, some shots of body bags lined up, truckloads of covered bodies being hauled away, or other similar pictures to help give people a grasp of the amount of carnage would be appropriate and to a certain extent necessary.

[LurkedLongEnough]

The Tuesday morning edition of New York Daily News had a full-page picture of a body falling from a tower. A hysterical person called into one of the major morning news shows and complained in a very New York way about the lack of discretion on part of the newspaper. I have to agree with that caller - and it is true that the Spanish-language TV stations will show you all the unimaginable horror that you might want to see. Personally, it's too close to home for me.

[joebuck]

I believe they need to show the results of war in all its horror. A couple of my 12 year old son's teachers would not turn on the TV (several did though) because they thought it would be too intense for 12 year olds. I disagree. Kids need to see war in all its ugliness so they will never forget what it means. So they will know why we have have to protect our brothers, sisters and American way of life. In this day and age there is a lot of misinformation and re-writing of history but no one can re-write the awful images seared into ones memory when they have seen with thier own eyes the ugly results of war.

[LadyJD]

My 2 cents:

Laz you are right; the internet is the
only truthful news source available.

Let's hope that it is still

here after this possible Reichstag Fire.

Stainlessbanner (gotta love that name; I also like "The Stonewall Flag"):

The Spanish cable TV stations show more graphic scenes generally. They repeatedly showed the "plunges" and that was the only place I saw 'em.

As to the "up close and personal" stuff; I think it is best kept to a minimum on TV because there are a lot of young eyes out there and also out of respect for the dead.

HOWEVER:

I believe that graphic and complete media archives should be produced and posted on the web for those who would like to see and tell this story in all its utter horror.

(But I don't think our handlers necessarily want that.)

[antidisestablishment]

Covering the results in graphic detail for propaganda value is a ploy of our enemies. We do not need it here. Yes, our culture is filled with Hollywood violence—but—to treat real tragedy is simply callous disrespect. Can you imagine being a child of one of those flying off the building? My boys 13 and 12 saw the videos of people jumping and falling off the towers once. They were very much affected by those scenes.

Outrage is fueled, not by gross disrespect and dehumanization, but from an understanding of the human costs. Sheer numbers and viewing intimate violence do not give that return.

My wife and I were headed to a prayer meeting the night of the attacks and we were in the same frame of mind as 99.9% of the country—total shock and disbelief. But, the shock and especially the disbelief was completely gone before we got there because we connected with one of the families involved.

Deena Burnett was a best friend of our editor and she had sent in some recipes for a small magazine that my wife and I produce. We got a call from our editor and she related the story of Tom Burnett to us. We already knew they had three children and we heard they did not know about their father’s death. They were a regular family.

The feelings of disbelief were over; the comforting distance shattered; the questioning shock completely gone. Our grief now had a name and a face. Our tears were not for a body falling or trapped, they were for the life lost tragically and heroically. For the children whose father wasn’t coming home. For the widow, who was going to have to care for her children alone.

The loss of life is not just the end of a body, it is the void created in the universe that ripples down the ages:

There is a dad not coming home; a mom who is inexplicably gone. There are books that will never be written; pictures never painted. Flowers will not be planted; children will not be born. There are favorite dishes that will never be tasted; baseballs that will never be thrown.

There is business unfinished; records forever lost. There are deals that will not be made; inventions that will never be created. There are fires that will rage longer; children who will not be rescued. There are criminals who will not be caught; victims who will not be comforted. There are patients who will not be cured; children who will not get a hug.

These are our countrymen who were stolen in the prime of their lives; they are not lifeless, nameless bodies.

We grieve now, but we also feel the inexorable call of justice. She cries out in our streets and is reflected in the eyes of those who have lost their loved ones. Our enemies will come to know the depths of our love for our people through the war we will rage. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth; we will totally eradicate them; we will answer that call.