Carol Christ
English 111
4 November 2012
Photos of the Dead
Death in tabloids has been a pressing issue for decades. During Vietnam this was an especially prominent, and has continued into the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No matter the place or the time people will always disapprove of death in photographs. It just seems like they feel it is disrespecting and disgraceful. I for one personally believe that some pictures should be shown in tabloids. Yes not all images should be seen by the public, but there is no better way for people to learn the truth particularly with the war on Iraq.
The pictures of life and death are a mixed bunch. As such are the images taken by Stanley Forman on July 22, 1975, of the mother and child falling when a fire escape broke. For Stanley to even be able to take these pictures with the technology that was in use at the time is a great feat. He took an enormous amount of criticism for his shots. Yes it is not the most pleasing image a reader would like to open up the morning paper too, and a lot of people had a hard time getting over that, but a person must look at the image as it was captured. With the disapproval aside if he had not taken these images not one morning reader would have actually know what went on the night before. It would have just been another name with no face that died in a fire. Since he was able to get those shots, in my view it actually helped put the story together by showing me how the tragic event unfolded. At least a person could be thankful that both the mother and child did not die. The one boy actually landed on his mother and lived. All of the people that questioned the photos cannot get passed their first impressions and look at the bigger picture, which is death happens and it is better to learn then go blind about it. Charles Seib, the former managing editor of the Washington Star writes “any editor