quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Similar arguments, but neither one really makes any sense. Like OMG, American soldiers are coming back in coffins!?!? Who would have thought that people actually die in a war zone!!! get real. I do agree that it was ridiculous for the reporter to get fired for using the pictures. But I also don't understand for the life of me what the hell the problem is - WOW, troops die in a war, I'M SO INCREDIBLY SHOCKED AND APALLED .

Your sarcasm needs a little work but for some people only one of those coffins holds an ex-family member that will affect hundreds of lives day in day out... when you suffer the same it is only then your jokes, sarcasm and immaturity will vanquish

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quote:

Originally posted by sufee_b Your sarcasm needs a little work but for some people only one of those coffins holds an ex-family member that will affect hundreds of lives day in day out... when you suffer the same it is only then your jokes, sarcasm and immaturity will vanquish

So if I'm following your line of reasoning, the families of those dead soldiers should be mortified that their fellow soldiers are showing respect and giving them an honourable and patriotic burial?

Or is there something else I'm missing here?

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quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut So if I'm following your line of reasoning, the families of those dead soldiers should be mortified that their fellow soldiers are showing respect and giving them an honourable and patriotic burial? Or is there something else I'm missing here?

Theres much your missing

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quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Similar arguments, but neither one really makes any sense. Like OMG, American soldiers are coming back in coffins!?!? Who would have thought that people actually die in a war zone!!! get real. I do agree that it was ridiculous for the reporter to get fired for using the pictures. But I also don't understand for the life of me what the hell the problem is - WOW, troops die in a war, I'M SO INCREDIBLY SHOCKED AND APALLED .

Personally I think that we're putting a little too much faith in our politicians if we immediately assume that it's out of respect. Politicians want to get elected. Bad. Photo like these aren't going to help with regards to this - at all.

Let me expand on that a bit. The public knows that people die in wars - but they don't see it. They hear about it on the news now and then, they might catch a report on the radio, but it's all a bit impersonal. They generally don't see images like these. Like it or not, a lot of people feel withdrawn from the war, it isn't necessarily 'real'. Now, the US, on the whole - is an extremely patriotic country. As such, pictures like these are going to have a big effect on people, because they make the war real. When people see coffins with the US flag on them lined up like they're items on a convener belt, it's going to have an effect on them, and in the current climate (Bush being in trouble on the domestic front), these photos aren't going to help Bush.

Now, I do think it's idiotic that people need to see these photos to realize that war is real, and that people do die in war - but let's face it, a lot of people are either idiots, or they're just generally ignorant.

That's my take on it anyhow.

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Good point arctic.

People seem to think I'm being cold or unsympathetic with my reactions to pictures like these, but they fail to see that the reason they don't phase me is because I already know what the reality is.

And it's ironic in a way, because the people who scream the most about war and oppression and things like that are often the ones who have only been exposed to a miniscule amount of it, through a couple of sensational pictures or videos or documentaries. That I think is what gives rise to this "armchair activism" that's so common with anti-war and anti-American and anti-colonial nuts.

Yeah war sucks, but you take a different attitude once you've had a family member die in one, or seen someone shot or seen the panic ensue when airport officials find a bomb in someone's suitcase - without a TV between yourself and the impending event.

These pictures don't shock or surprise me. U.S. soldiers could just as easily leave their casualties in the field to rot, but instead they put them in coffins and salute as they get buried. Even if it's just for show, to me it is a sign of respect and not a shocking scene of horror. If people are shocked by this, it's as you say - because they've been sheltered. If I actually had family in Iraq that died, why *wouldn't* I want to know that they were at least being given a proper burial? If I'd had family killed in Iraq, I'd already know the "horrors" of war, and this picture wouldn't make it any worse.

No, this picture serves one purpose and only one purpose - to shock the sheltered masses who still haven't clued into the fact that people die in war. And while I suppose there may be many of those, there are also many of us who know and understand that fact already and have accepted it. But I suppose that's just my take on it...

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9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

what upsets me the most about these pictures (I am going to leave the whole is the war right or wrong thing out of this) is the fact that our President (Mr. Bush) is not there... It pisses me off that he has only attended two of these ceremonies since the beginning of the war. He should be at every single one, these men died for his decision; I see no reason (especially travel/fundraising for his re-election campaign) to miss these ceremonies, these men gave up everything.

/end rant

Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John Molino has said that such photos focus attention in ways that are "unwarranted and undignified." As a result, the photographer and her husband were both fired from their jobs.

If memory serves, Bush Jr. proudly created a TV commercial ad using images of firefighters removing a flag-draped coffin from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, much to the dismay and outrage from other NY firefighters.

I wonder if Molino, given the opportunity, would apply his standard to Bush and fire him as a consequence?

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