Ruth D. Post 11

Ruth E. Day

1.

Images become “official” because they do something to further a certain cause. In the context of war imagery, official images tend to work to further the idea that the war is just and having positive affects. They tend to be patriotic and glorify the soldiers fighting on our side of the war as heroes. They also bay depict the soldiers fighting for the opposition as evil and sometimes terrorists. I have found two images that have achieved official status regarding the war on terror. The first is an image of a statue of Saddam Hussein being taken down by American soldiers in Baghdad amidst the cheers of Iraqi natives. This image has achieved official status because it furthers the idea that the war in Iraq has accomplished its goal. It has freed Iraq from the tyranny of an evil dictator and has caused much rejoicing among the Iraqi people who were subject to his rule. It leads people who see it to believe that the war has made the world a better place. The second image is a photograph of Sgt. 1^st Class Paul R. Smith as he is serving in the field during the war in Iraq. Sgt. Smith was the first soldier who has served in the war to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He was given this award for his role in the Battle of Baghdad Airport. This image has received official status because it glorifies the soldiers who serve in the military during times of war as heroes. The light around him gives him a sort of halo that makes him look angelic and he is looking at the camera as if he is about to do something important. The gruesome details of his job are not touched upon. He appears very clean despite his very dirty situation.

2.

I believe that images can be harmful, beneficial, or neither depending on who is looking and them and what is in them. For example, the image of the Saddam Hussein statue being toppled can be considered as both beneficial and harmful. It can be beneficial in that it elicits pride in being American and relief over the end of a horrible Iraqi regime. However, it can also be considered harmful in giving Americans a skewed idea of the Iraqi response to American soldiers’ occupation of Iraq. This image shows Iraqis who are happy about their presence but that may not be the case for all citizens. Some may resent the United States Occupation and may have even mourned the fall of Saddam Hussein. This image is could mislead citizens of the United States into believing that all Iraqis hated Saddam Hussein and that the war being fought over there is completely just and in agreement with all other Iraqis. The image of Sgt. Smith can also be beneficial. It honors a very brave man and could help garner support for our troops. Our troops definitely need and deserve support and respect and that is what this image helps spread. This image could also be harmful however because it glorifies the lives of soldiers who are on the front lines. It shows Sgt. Smith clean and about to fight a noble battle. It shows nothing of the gruesome reality of soldiers’ lives. This could lead those thinking about enlisting to believe that all soldiers live a glorious noble lives and some die noble deaths. It could lead them to believe that they are all always honored as Sgt. Smith was and give them a false idea of what to expect when enlisting themselves. Obviously, the purpose of both of these images is to further war ideology but their function is not always harmful. In “Regarding the Torture of Others” argues that we should ignore images as ideological and harmful and focus on the events depicted by them. I agree with this stance in some situations. Such a situation would be one in which images could serve as evidence that a certain event took place. The picture of the falling statue tells us that a statue was there and that it was taken down. That is the event behind the picture. However, in situations where images are not needed solely as evidence that a certain event took place; their ideological and possibly harmful possibilities should not be ignored. Images are powerful and that power should not be taken for granted by ignoring those components.

3.

I do not believe that images should be kept from public view during wartime. Images can both garner support for a war and reveal the harsh realities of it to the public. That is what the Abu Ghraib photographs did. They showed Arab prisoners being abused and even tortured by American soldiers. They opened peoples’ eyes that it isn’t only the terrorists who are capable of evil acts. American soldiers are as well. They show war as something that is not always glorious and noble but as something where people get hurt and abused and exploited. It leads normally good people to commit evil acts. I am a strong believer that situations such as war and tragedy bring out the best in some and the worst in others. It is important to have representations of both sides. Yes, war does cause some to do many heroic things, such as in the case of Sgt. Smith. However, it can lead others to do evil and to lose their sense of morality and their sympathy for other human beings. This is what happened to the American soldiers at Abu Ghraib. War caused their view of right and wrong to be blurred and to rationalize evil acts. This is why I believe that the Abu Ghraib photographs should have been exhibited at the International Center of Photography. If such images are not made public, those of us whose sense of right and wrong have not been skewed by the experience of war can see both sides of the picture: the side that produces people who we can admire by showing the best of the themselves in times of hardship and the side that produces people who, once they have seen the atrocities that human kind is capable of turn to committing those atrocities themselves.

Image sources:

Statue: http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/446366a

Medal of Honor: http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=7091