I carried in my newspaper this morning to find the photo of Christopher Stevens, either dead or dying, on the front page.
I thought newspapers had more respect for the dead, especially a US ambassador. Was JFK shown like this? Would the LA Times display a similar photo of Hilary Clinton or President Obama?
The news is bad enough without having to face this distressing photo: the UC Berkeley student who joined the Peace Corps and led the US effort in Libya now come to this bloody end.
For a while the US kept the public from seeing even the coffins of soliders returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, but this photo invades my house?
I feel incited to riot by this photo--it invites revenge.
It's also a modern Pieta--his body being held and dragged calls to mind those sculptures of Mary holding Jesus' body.
Please, give me a little more distance before I have to view this.
Holy, holy, holy. In my Book of Common Prayer there's no rite for the blessing of a newly-made martyr.
I thought newspapers had more respect for the dead, especially a US ambassador. Was JFK shown like this? Would the LA Times display a similar photo of Hilary Clinton or President Obama?
The news is bad enough without having to face this distressing photo: the UC Berkeley student who joined the Peace Corps and led the US effort in Libya now come to this bloody end.
For a while the US kept the public from seeing even the coffins of soliders returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, but this photo invades my house?
I feel incited to riot by this photo--it invites revenge.
It's also a modern Pieta--his body being held and dragged calls to mind those sculptures of Mary holding Jesus' body.
Please, give me a little more distance before I have to view this.
Holy, holy, holy. In my Book of Common Prayer there's no rite for the blessing of a newly-made martyr.
# # # #
Note on Sept. 15: Link to LA Times report of readers complaining about this photo.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-0915-postscript-stevens-photo-20120915,0,5870567.story
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