Re: Memorial Day
On May 28, 2007, at 5:49 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
Yes disturbing, beautiful, slightly titilating and exclusive…
The photo selections for these pieces always show us that there is a certain
kind of grief that we should care for and not other kinds of grief. Yes, I
find it manipulative and slightly revolting that this sexualized grief will
be the kind of grief we will always choose to display, to direct our
empathy, to blind us from the ugly and grotesque representations of grief, that
are simply not proper, when we think of death and loss. Caring for only a certain kind of grief and not another kind is always what the
sexualization of grief is all about The New York Times will exclude the grotesque
from our view but no one seems upset about it.
Huh? There are horrific photos in the paper every day. GIs with their
legs blown off, Iraqis with their heads smashed, and the grieving
familiars of both. Do we read the same newspaper? This was a
particularly arresting image because it was so unlike those. But it’s
hardly the only example.
Doug