Monday, December 21, 2009

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHS 2009

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE

Go look at them, but keep your hands folded firmly over your heart or else it is liable to be wrenched right out.

I have two questions for visitors here: (a) tell me if you agree with me when I say that the handful of images which have been hidden and are accompanied by a too-disturbing warning (followed by "click here to view") are no less disturbing than the vast majority of the rest. Collectively, they present our species with excellent reasons to SEEK OUT extinction (b) What is your estimate of the percentage of people who DO click to view the hidden ones? Mine is 100% -- i.e. I think 100% percent of those who make the effort to see the pix, see 'em all.

Oh! And a final question: which of these searing images strikes you as being beyond-all-belief shocking? My choice, made with no deliberation (I mean, I haven't gone back and looked through the whole lot multiple times) is number 28.

5 comments:

30in2005 said...

OMG! But thank you for sharing.
a. I agree that they are almost all sad and disturbing although the ones with the warnings we certainly the more gruesome and hence merit the warning.

b. 100%

For me the saddest was a toss up between 38 and 42

Unknown said...

Tx for responding. There are very many sad ones, I think. But 28 is one of those I found actually horrifying: the image of one man crawling out of the water while in the background beach picnickers enjoy their outing. And of course there's also the unseen photographer sprawled on the sand taking the shot from that angle.

Of course, once you get into the head games, every single one is disturbing.

Unknown said...

Biatti writes:

good morning my dear - I hv seen the first 2 and I am not going further - what for? To see images which are inburnt in my heart anyway? How could I forget the nightmares of the last decade ( and centuries?) Who needs to be shocked anew - without realistic possibility to react?
And how can I make a competition of shocking and find the worst one? To me it is like making a game of the pain of others.
you are welcome to post this as a comment in your blog, where i can read other answers as well.
Lots of love
Biatti

Unknown said...

Biatti, very sensible. It's true, we must ask ourselves WHY we look at these images. On the other hand -- and I write this with the recently passed 25th anniversary of Bhopal behind us -- not-looking can turn into a way of not-remembering. It's a very long-standing debate, of course, and it can turn down some very dark alleyways. I am one of those who looks: it's what I do. Sometimes I realize that my "eyes" have been coarsened over the years and that I can remain unmoved now in the face of horrors that would have left me gutted just 10 years ago. I try to tell myself that the least we can do for victims of horrors is to remember them. But I will not pretend that my interest is as pure as I would like it to be. In every act of looking there is an element of schaden-freude ... and the slap of guilt only adds to the peculiar pain-pleasure of that emotion.

Unknown said...

found number 6 of a man heading (literally) towards his death most thought provoking. as you pointed out, these days with hollywood and bollywood blasting out, and erotic / neurotic themes thrilling everyones tv sets its very hard to not be desensitized by the generic images of children dead or dying and mutil8d humans...... however i found the seeming calmness of the man descending headfirst (with the twin towers in the background) a loud acclamation of the entire futility of the incident. by the way have you ever seen "man on awire"? by james marsh........ you tube trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIawNRm9NWM . a most inspiring film of at true story of the guy who walks across a tight wire straddling the towers (philipe) and "conquers" it with his persistence and talent - without perturbing it gt