Can photographs change
the world? In a way, yes, but through the change of actions of people or a
collection of people.
I don’t necessarily
believe that one photograph can change the world, but maybe this is because the
media is so censored today that a photograph capable of doing so, isn’t allowed
to be published. This is completely believable after reading that “6 media giants now control a staggering 90% of what we read, watch, or listen to.” This
business insider article also goes on to explain that just “232 media executives control the informational diet of 277 million Americans”.
The United States of
America continuously talk about North Korea and how their people are kept in
the dark by the control on their media, but is the United States that much
different?
Moving on, I do on the
other hand believe that a photograph has the ability to change the way people
think and act.
Jonathan Klein, of
Getty images, describes this very well in a talk he gave at a TED conference
back in 2010. Jonathan states, “Images have provoked reactions in people, and those reactions have caused change to happen.”
In a way, this is
essentially saying that photograph’s can change the world. Except this
photograph must be viewed by enough people in order to form a large enough
group of people, capable of causing change.
This photograph below
shows African-American Olympic medallists Tommie Smith, and John Carlos raising
their fists, known as the black power salute.
They were
demonstrating against racial discrimination of black people in the United
States and millions around the world saw this salute. Shortly after, the two
athletes were condemned by the international Olympic committee, which sparked a
huge issue over the subject of whether or not they should be expelled from the
Olympic camp and sent back home to the United States. This action by the two
Americans caused the world to debate the issue and gained many followers who
believed that there must be change.
This photograph was
strong enough to cause a worldwide reaction.
Photo by - Unknown
Image Source - http://all-that-is-interesting.com/influential-photographs/4
This next photo shows
a missionary, holding hands with a starving boy in Karamoja district, Uganda.
We all know that this
type of picture can cause change. We constantly see photographs like this on
our televisions, with a charity asking for a monthly donation. A lot of people
think, that their one donation isn’t going to make a difference for these
villages or districts living in extreme poverty. What if one photograph, like
this one, were to reach out and change the minds of everyone who thought that
they could not make a difference. All of those donations would add up, and
change would come around. The extremity of the poverty in this picture is
breathtaking, comparing the size of the boy’s hand and wrist, to the other
persons.
Photo by - Unknown
Image Source - http://all-that-is-interesting.com/influential-photographs/2
One photograph I found
that affected me personally is the one below. This photo shows an afghan local
offering a US soldier some tea during a search operation for Taliban soldiers.
Photo by - Unknown
Image Source - http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2009/05/01/pictures-of-the-day-168/
This affected me
because many people forget about the innocent civilians that are caught up in
wars. A majority of the time, the enemy takes over a town that contains many
innocent families. These families may get caught in crossfire, air attacks, or
may get separated from their loved ones when trying to flee the area. None of
this is reported on the news, or in the newspapers. All we hear about is that a
town has been bombed that has reportedly been housing a known enemy.
This brings me on to
my next topic of censorship. Photographs like this are either published, or
they’re not. The reason for being published would be to show that the US
soldiers are civil with innocent locals. The reason for this photograph not
being published could be because some US citizens see every afghan to be
suspect, and they would not want their soldiers socializing with the enemy.
The other reason why
this might not be published is because the media very rarely choose to publish
any photographs, which show any signs of weakness. The majority of war pictures
published today are to either show off the large amount of troops and weaponry,
or to show that the US military are in control.
One comment that I
found particularly honest is from an Article by Ted Rall on Aljazeera. He says,
“It's hard to imagine that American audiences will someday see a film that depicts, say, the Taliban resistance with a level of sympathy”.
The public are allowed
to see what the media allows them to see, and the media, is somewhat controlled
by government censorship.
The only way to break
this censorship is by citizen journalism. This is when a member of the public
records events as a credible witness, and uploads them for everyone to see,
exposing the real truth about the situation.
Recently in Ferguson,
Missouri, after a police officer killed an unarmed black teenager, Antonio
French, or St Louis, “spent days posting to Twitter pictures and a series of videos of the demonstrations and police actions that he captured on his mobile phone”. This created outrage in the local police
department, but provided the Ferguson locals with the truth about the events.
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