What does this whole deal about whether to release the photos of bin Laden say about our society today? I'm not a sociology major, but I bet there will be a ton of term papers written about this situation at the end of this quarter in that discipline.
First, I find that no one seems to believe the government anymore. No matter what they say, people don't believe them. Have we ever believed them? I think there may have once been a time in our history when we did. But not anymore. I think there have been too many various cover-ups over the years, where then some truth pops out and exposes the whole foray.
The fact that the photos haven't been leaked already does say something very significant about the people in charge of the mission: they evidently don't have a Facebook account.
There are plenty of photos around the internet of the innocent dead: the Killing Fields, Jones Town, Dauchau. And plenty of the notorious dead: the guys at the OK Corral, Baby Face Nelson and even the viral video of Saddam Hussein's hanging. So it's not like the public hasn't seen death.
At one time, a picture was proof, it was "worth a thousand words"... but not since the Average Joe became proficient in PhotoShop. (Who doesn't recall of pic of the smiling tourist on the top of the Twin Tower with a plane headed right toward him?) No, no one even believes a photograph anymore. In fact, a fake pic of bin Laden was virally circulated just hours after the world received the news.
So really, what would be the point to release it? I think none. Because it would not be believed by the skeptics anyway.
And not to release it? A government official familiar with intelligence matters said deliberations are leaning toward a release, but emphasized that the decision "isn't unanimous and everyone has understandable hesitation." Yes, I would lean more toward these hesitations, assuming that a photo would only incite his devoted followers to more atrocities.
I believe the real truth of Usama bin Laden's death will be realized when we don't hear from him ever again. He is too egotistical to allow the United States to get away with such a claim that he'd been killed, even if it meant putting his own life and his family's in the greater jepardy of being found. If he were around, he would still want to wield what power he had because he still has followers, unlike Edi Amin whose supporters and associates had mutineed, and he exiled from Uganda, defeated, in 1979, never really to be heard from again in global proportion. He later died in Saudia Arabia in 2003 from liver failure.
Bin Laden will certainly make his presense known if he is still alive.
So, we shall see, one way or another.
S.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/03/bin.laden.photo/index.html
Later in this day, it was reported that President Obama has decided NOT to release bin Laden's death photo.
"It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told CBS News, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42900991/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/?GT1=43001
I believe it is a good decision. S.
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