I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling disgust at the proliferation of photographs of the last moments of Colonel Gaddafi's life. Yes, he was a tyrant; he inflicted terrible punishments on his people; he was, in short, a hideous human being. But photographs of him in his dying moments serve no useful purpose, except to pander to the worst in those who view them.
The Times, after rather pompously saying that it "wouldn't normally publish such pictures" (yeah, right) but that this was "an historic moment", jumped on the grisly bandwagon, and added some more today for good measure. Okay. We know Gaddafi's dead. Many of us will be very relieved that the world it now rid of such a man, and his country free to rebuild itself. But we don't need to see his body.
Having seen many people dying, and many shortly afterwards, I have always felt that death - anyone's death - should be a private affair. Whatever has happened, has happened. For our sakes, never mind that of the deceased, there should be an element of dignity.
But no doubt these pictures will continue to roll across our screens until the next catastrophe, because that's the media, isnt' it?
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Totally agree. I had to keep changing TV channels to find a station that wasn't showing the pictures.
ReplyDeleteLike you I don't what to see anyone dying... But I do understand that if some people hadn't see it with their own eyes there would still believe he was still alive and having some sort of hold over them, but I would rather their kept it to their own country and for their own people. Just like its up to them to rebuild their own country and life now that he has gone.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are gross and I just don't look. I watch little tv so it's easy to avoid. Now they say Libya is likely to become an Islamist Republic. Is a theocracy what the people have been fighting for? What women want???It always troubles me when I see pictures of protesters in the Arab world that are totally absent of women. If you see someone heavily garbed you can assume they are female. I hate it. I hate everything about it. Sorry, but I wouldn't give a plugged nickle for that part of the world.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with your disgust, Frances. Enough is enough.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keith.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jarmara - their "leader", and for them to see if they must.
Hi, Yvonne. Yes, I'm sure we all wonder what will happen next...
Thanks, Rosemary.
Good job I hardly ever watch TV. So far, I have not come across a single dead Gaddafi picture, nor am I keen on it.
ReplyDeleteWhat worries me are the reports about racism, lynch mobs etc. going on in Libya. I read about that some weeks ago in my weekly paper. Those who do that are no better than the man they rebelled against.
I also agree. My view is that he should not have been killed - he should have been arrested, given the humane treatment that he never gave to his opponents and his victims, and put on trial.
ReplyDeleteA civilisation may be judged according to the way it treats wrongdoers.
I am not at all optimistic for the outcome of the "Arab Spring". Some people seem to have a perverse attraction to life under tyrants or tyrranies.
You're right - we don't need to see the pictures.
ReplyDeleteCount yourself lucky, Librarian!
ReplyDeleteAuthor Doc - of course, you're right. But he was never going to come to anything other than a violent end.
Patsy, thanks.
Agreed
ReplyDeleteThanks, Valance.
ReplyDelete