This afternoon at our office we received the latest edition of Time magazine, and couldn’t help but notice its provocative cover (see left). Posted on 08/03/2010 4:25:55 PM PDT by mlizzy
This afternoon at our office we received the latest edition of Time magazine, and couldn’t help but notice its provocative cover (see left).
On the cover is a portrait of Aisha, an 18-year old Afghan woman who was ordered by the Taliban to have her nose and ears cut off because she ran away from her abusive in-laws.
On Time’s website, managing editor Richard Stengel writes that it was not without reservation that he decided to include the picture of Aisha on the cover:
I’m acutely aware that this image will be seen by children, who will undoubtedly find it distressing. We have consulted with a number of child psychologists about its potential impact. Some think children are so used to seeing violence in the media that the image will have little effect, but others believe that children will find it very scary and distressing — that they will see it, as Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston, said, as “a symbol of bad things that can happen to people.” I showed it to my two young sons, 9 and 12, who both immediately felt sorry for Aisha and asked why anyone would have done such harm to her.
This paragraph really resonated with me, because, in the wake of last month’s Face the Truth Tour, I’ve spent a fair amount of time these past few weeks responding to angry e-mails objecting to our displays of graphic abortion pictures in the public square — of which the most common complaint, by far, deals with the impact of the pictures on children.
Interestingly, Stengel’s rationale for showing the cover photo of Aisha’s mutilated face is substantially the same one we give in response to the related question we often receive.
Stengel goes on to say, “But bad things do happen to people, and it is part of our job to confront and explain them.”
This is, of course, the selfsame argument pro-lifers have been making for years about why we feel compelled to show graphic abortion pictures in the public square.
The Undeniable Power of Graphic Images
Think what you will about what prudential course the United States should pursue in regard to the war in Afghanistan. Indeed, Stengel disclaims, “We do not run this story or show this image either in support of the U.S. war effort or in opposition to it.”
But there is no denying the power of the image of Aisha’s mutilated face to illustrate the horrific truth about abuses perpetrated by the Taliban.
So too, there is no denying the power of the images of aborted babies to illustrate the horrific truth about the reality of abortion.
The obvious question to ask, then, is: If Time is not afraid to “confront” its readers with “distressing” graphic images of violence, why does it refuse to show pictures of aborted babies?
I don’t read Time. But this is an important photograph.
Shouldn’t that be “What Happens if we Let Them in America?”
There is NO “IF” too it. We elected a radical Muslim as President. It is now “WHEN” not if.
I don’t read it either, except when I go to my chiropractor. But, yes, important photograph. I agree!
Aisha is absolutely beautiful.
Bad things happen to people? They make it sound like she wrecked her car or something. How about ‘bad guys do bad things to people’ that is why we must stop the bad guys, little Jimmy.
Miserable scum.
She is beautiful, and her nose could easily be repaired with plastic surgery ...
Well, maybe not easily, but it could be repaired ...
They need a HUGE headline that reads....SEE WHAT ISLAM DOES!!! Then, maybe I’d believe they were trying to be journalists....
Should be titled “The Face of Islam”.
What we hear from the femi-nazis:
If she is so inclined, makes it to America and a fund is set up to pay for the repair, I would gladly and with prayer for her contribute.
Religion of Peace™ bump.
What happens if we let them build a mosque on the 9-11 site?
It’s beyond comprehension ...
This sort of thing is fairly common in primitive cultures. Some of the major Native American Indian tribes used such disfigurement—often husbands who were jealous of their wives. He would just bite off her nose, preferably, or cut off an ear or two.
Such things only end when there is a government powerful enough, and inclined, to end it.
Has not TIME been advocating that the US pullout of Afghanistan.....? =.=
Since we are NOW in Afghanistan, and this happened to Aisha, what makes anyone think it won’t continue to happen if we stay there. This is a result of ISLAM, not only the Taliban. Are we to intervene in every Muslim nation? Take the f-ing gloves off and send them all to the stone ages, or leave.
“Such things only end when there is a government powerful enough, and inclined, to end it.”
No. Such things end only when there is a Christian who actually practices his faith instead of what we have now in the good ole USA.
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