Is this photo offensive to you?

[shropshire 0]

I find the action(s) behind the picture WAY more offensive than the picture its self.

The photo just makes me sad that people are capable of such terror

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[warpedskydiver 0]

It just reminds me of why I don't like most humans.

[shropshire 0]

No shit mate.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[jgoose71 0]

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I find the action(s) behind the picture WAY more offensive than the picture its self.

The photo just makes me sad that people are capable of such terror

And with so much evil out there we still have people asking "Why can't we all just get along?"

The short answer, "Some people just don't want to."

But some are still convinced that we can if we just give out enough flowers and hugs. But... it does works on me (me fishing for a hug). Anybody else need one?

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[livendive 8]

The content of the photo offends me, but a responsible display of the photo does not.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[jimmytavino 16]

no. not offended
but rather, shamed,,,by the indirect affiliation to such sadness, since it was borne of the behavior of My governement and the soldiers who are bound to carry out orders...of the military and governemnt officails, whom WE are touted to have "chosen"...

The child to the far left, draws my attention, moreso than the girl, and it is the faces to which my eyes are drawn. not the bodies,, clothed or otherwise....

AFTER the horror of burns and maladies caused by the nuclear detonations over Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, would not a truly progressive country... a 'compassionate' country... see the same tragedy , the same damage, and sheer unacceptability , in the use of napalm...??? was it because the napalm was 'delivered by air" that those who spewed it upon humans, were far enough removed from it,, that they could justify it's use????
did the policy makers simply shield their eyes from the ACTUAL pain, which their decisions caused???



when will we EVER learn???


jmy

[skydance1954 0]

Yes, it's offensive to me in the sense that helpless & unarmed people were hit with a military strike. And this is the aftermath. Happens in every war, on every side.

Still, and excellent photo, though. In that "capturing the human side" of history way.

Mike Ashley
D-18460
Canadian A-666

[SkyDekker 1,121]

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Yes and no.

Yes, it is unpleasant and painful to look at. But I would not consider it as an attack or aggressive.

It's not personally offensive, rather offensive on a view of humanity.

If the picture is appropriate for the speech, use it. It is a powerful picture. But I would emphasize that it should be respectfully used. Those are children in anguish. It might be "art" and have won awards... but those are images of true and living young children.

Don't have anything to add to the discussion that hasn't already been raised.

just wanted to say that my feelings on the subject are perfectly covered by the Doc above.

[NWFlyer 2]

I thought of this post when I read this article today on where Kim Phuc is today. Amazing to see how far she's come since that photo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090910/hl_hsn/girliniconicvietnamwarphotobringsmessageofhope

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Skyrad 0]

I think it would be offensive to anyone with any humanity in them. However I do feel that it is a important image for that very reason and it should be seen.
If people are offended by the viewing of the picture, then they probably shouldn't be at the talk.

(P.S If the talk is online somewhere I'd be interested in reading it or viewing the video)

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[nerdgirl 0]

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(P.S If the talk is online somewhere I'd be interested in reading it or viewing the video)

Thanks for the interest. As far as I know the presentation won’t be taped.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[nerdgirl 0]

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I thought of this post when I read this article today on where Kim Phuc is today. Amazing to see how far she's come since that photo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090910/hl_hsn/girliniconicvietnamwarphotobringsmessageofhope

Thanks for linking that. Wow!

“Now 46 years old, Kim Phuc Phan Thai (Kim Phuc to most) spoke recently at a conference of burn survivors and burn care specialists in New York City on the physical and psychological struggle that she went through over the ensuing decades.

“‘Sixty-five percent of my body got burned,’ she said in an interview with HealthDay. The third-degree burns left her face untouched but sheared off every layer of skin on her back and left arm, leaving a legacy of permanent scars and recurring pain.

“‘I should be dead,’ Phuc said. ‘I got burned so deep I had to do skin grafts -- mostly from under my leg -- from the 35 percent of my skin that was OK. And from the beginning to the end, including physical therapy, I was in the burn unit in Saigon for about 14 months. And I had 17 operations. But I was spared,’ she added.

“‘So now I think, ‘I cannot change something that happened to me already. But I can change the meaning’.’

“Phuc has come far and is now a public speaker, peace activist, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, child welfare advocate, married mother of two, and inspiration to burn injury survivors worldwide. She lives in Toronto, her home since seeking political asylum in Canada in the early 1990s.



‘I still have pain,’ she said. ‘Because my nerves are really damaged. They don't work well. So pain in one area spreads everywhere I got burned.’

“And Phuc said that even the pain has its reward. ‘The pain I consider as my protection. It humbles me, and helps me to never take my life for granted,’ she said. ‘And to share my story.’”

What an incredibly amazing and strong human! Her story is humbling and inspiring to me. Thank you!

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[nerdgirl 0]

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AFTER the horror of burns and maladies caused by the nuclear detonations over Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, would not a truly progressive country... a 'compassionate' country... see the same tragedy , the same damage, and sheer unacceptability , in the use of napalm...??? was it because the napalm was 'delivered by air" that those who spewed it upon humans, were far enough removed from it,, that they could justify it's use????
did the policy makers simply shield their eyes from the ACTUAL pain, which their decisions caused???



when will we EVER learn???

Non-rhetorically/non-sarcastically, I think a lesson has been learned ... a couple. I'm not sure that it's the lesson I'm inferring from your post tho'.

While not related directly to the talk my intern is giving, you do bring up something that I worry about. Is technology making war less painful and thereby too easy? Will the use of semi-autonomous robots, like UAVs, lower the bar to offensive operations?

The military strategist, Carl von Clausewitz, wrote that war is politics by other means and that war should remain a horrible, grave undertaking so that it does not become a first-order response rather than a last-case option.

At the same time, I’m not going to stop working on new protective equipment, improved countermeasures, and better military operations medicine and combat casualty care.

For example, some high level data: WWII >25% injured soldiers died before reaching field hospital, by Vietnam that decreased to ~19%. During Desert Storm it remained about the same as Vietnam. In OIF/OEF (through end of 2005), it has decreased to ~12.5%. [Source: then-MG Eric Schoomaker] In late 2005, “Factor Seven” to control hemorrhage began to see more extensive use (specifically: rhFVIIa clotting agent) and was expected to decrease that number even more. There’s some really cool R&D being done – on relatively small amount of $ -- to push stuff out to the field.

A more specific example: improved survival rates from IEDs blasts and increased incidence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Traumatic Brain Injury, which is basically when a shock causes the brain to bounce off the skull, is emerging as a “signature medical issue” of OIF and, to a lesser extent, OEF … altho’ that may be changing (& not in a good way …). The New England Journal of Medicine reported on traumatic brain injuries back in 2005: “All admitted patients [at Walter Reed Army Medical Center] who have been exposed to a blast are routinely evaluated for brain injury; 59 percent of them [soldiers] have been given a diagnosis of TBI. Of these injuries, 56 percent are considered moderate or severe, and 44 percent are mild.” A significant reason is that soldiers and marines who in past conflicts would likely have died from blast-related injuries are surviving, due to a combination of improved protective equipment and better field medicine, … but TBI is hard to diagnose, even with improved diagnostics, and is harder to count than fatalities.

No one, with any conscience, can argue that we (a very grand, non-specific “we”) should make anyone, children or soldier, suffer more … but does the decreased likelihood of death or suffering lower the metaphorical bar for Congress and administrations to choose to send troops into battle? I don’t know the answer … & don’t know of anyone who has analytically tried to answer the question … one can suppose and speculate ….

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[rhys 0]

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Is this photo offensive to you?

That photo is a piece of history, it represents the suffering and pain that is inflicted on innocentvictims of conflicts that are engaged for power and money.

Those of you that support War and the military, should study photo like this on a daily basis to keep your thought in check.

Americans are not the only humans that deserve to be free, the whole planet needs to stick together and eliminate those that inflict such pain for personal gain.

The photos is not offensive at all, it it the reason the people in the photo are doing what they are doing, that is offnsive.

If you support war, you support the pain and suffring of innocent people ( which includes children).

These images need to be seen by everyone.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[Lucky... 0]

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Peace through Power. Unfortunately innocent people (children) will be affected. This is the end result when a smaller insurgent awakens a sleeping giant. The Iraqi/Afghanistan conflict should have been resolved in much the same way.

The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki do not like the smell of napalm in the morning.

The pussy footing around needs to end. Let the carpet bombing begin.

Get it over with.

The problem is that the people affected there were largely women and children, not the military, and the target was selected as such to horrify the country into going from a conditional surrender to an unconditional surrender, a purely political action at that point. Show me deaths of military troops, that's sad but it's war, show me innocent civilians killed for political gain: Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims, 911 victims, etc and I feel really distrubed by that that people can be so harsh.