On a serious note, regarding the Indonesian disaster.

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I have just finished perusing four newspaper, all large, reputable newspapers, and everyone of them had pages and pages of photos of grieving mothers kneeling over their dead children. The looks of sorrow and anguish on their faces is something a person can not easily forget.

Here's my question....

Why do we never see the faces of the grieving mothers in Iraq? Thousands and thousands of children have been killed there. I do not recall seeing a single photograph of a grieving mother.

Is there some sort of rule where only dead children and grieving mothers from earthquakes and tidal waves are shown, but not those from unjust wars?

Help me out here. I'm not familiar with the inner-workings of the major newspapers.

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Well, Gus. Your tongue in cheek observation is not lost on me. I truly believe that we should start an international homeland security and target the forces of nature.

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We do see them.

Perhaps not on mainstream American media?

Are you allowed to see the faces of grieving American parents and partners and kids, for that matter?

War seems to be best tucked out of sight?

Do the people on any side of a conflict really get to see the faces of those grieving on the other side?

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I agree with dlowan. I have seen some sad pictures from Iraq, but here in the US, these pictures never seem to make it to the top of news. I think the media likes to cover more intriguing human interest stories and tries to keep the ravages of war a little subdued from our eyes.

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And who controls the media?

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There does seem to be a policy of not showing dead children in US media unless it is a force of nature. I can remember being abroad in 2000 when the current Palestinian initifada started up and seeing page after page of dead palestinian children in the papers. In the US, it seems that there weren't even any reports of children dying -- unless they were Israeli children who died in suicide bombing attacks.

I think that images of dead children provoke a sort of primal rage in people. It's easy to guess that if images of dead Iraqi children were shown often in the US media that there might not be very much support for the war here.

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I think you're on to something, FreeDuck.

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A natural disaster is a one shot deal. It is usually dramatic, and unexpected. Pictures of dead children provide a counterpoint for the other aspects of the story.

A war is an ongoing thing. People, including children, are being killed daily.
Showing dead children, day after day, would habituate people to the vision of death, and they would become inured it.............................and it wouldn't be news.

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To bush and his supporters and partners...these children aren't really human beings therefore they are reduced to pr liabilities and so why should we see their pictures? And let's face it the media doesn't really give a **** about them either...they are merely stories i.e. revenue generators..and the simple equation is dead children from natural diasters= selling magazines or more accurately advertising revenues, dead children from an idiotic miltary operation=a bummer...why bring people down i.e. alienate paying advertisers?

It's quite simple really.

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Yeah, I guess you're right, Bear.

Sorry I asked.

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don't be Gus...your point was well made and well taken....and the idea of you being sorry for something is more than I can bear. (no pun intended)

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if we call off the war in Iraq aand send thatt money to the ttsunami victims wed be doing 2 good deeds.
A billion a month here, a billion a month there , pretty soon were talking about some real money

A similar note of serious concern for the East Coast of the US. We also have no Tsunami warning system for this coast and we sit in the shadow of a major volcanic tidal wave from Las Palmas.

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farmerman wrote:

if we call off the war in Iraq aand send thatt money to the ttsunami victims wed be doing 2 good deeds.
A billion a month here, a billion a month there , pretty soon were talking about some real money

A similar note of serious concern for the East Coast of the US. We also have no Tsunami warning system for this coast and we sit in the shadow of a major volcanic tidal wave from Las Palmas.

if we were to install a tsunami warning system it would take funds away from the all important war effort.....the lives of a major cities worth of intellectual elite east coasters by natural diaster is a small price to pay for defending our freedom...quite frankly farmerman I'm surprised at your short sightedness.....

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this single picture helped bring the vietnam expedition to an end

http://www.savethechildren.org/one_world/images/KimPhuc1972sm.jpg

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It is an image, not to be corny....that has stuck with me since I first saw it...powerful...the unvarnished truth is VERY powerful...that's why it is so important that it be hidden from us.....

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In Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" there were plenty of pictures of dead and maimed folks, including children, and grieving and distraught mothers.

Remember what a fuss showing that film caused? It was "unpatriotic". It was "assisting the enemy".

We should see only pictures of smiling, joking troops and waving flags. No mess, no damage, certainly no body parts. That way, we feel much better about what our leaders are doing.

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Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

To bush and his supporters and partners...these children aren't really human beings therefore they are reduced to pr liabilities and so why should we see their pictures? And let's face it the media doesn't really give a **** about them either...they are merely stories i.e. revenue generators..and the simple equation is dead children from natural diasters= selling magazines or more accurately advertising revenues, dead children from an idiotic miltary operation=a bummer...why bring people down i.e. alienate paying advertisers?

It's quite simple really.

The BS that you come up with amazes me sometimes.

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Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

To bush and his supporters and partners...these children aren't really human beings therefore they are reduced to pr liabilities and so why should we see their pictures? And let's face it the media doesn't really give a **** about them either...they are merely stories i.e. revenue generators..and the simple equation is dead children from natural diasters= selling magazines or more accurately advertising revenues, dead children from an idiotic miltary operation=a bummer...why bring people down i.e. alienate paying advertisers?

It's quite simple really.

true

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dyslexia wrote:

this single picture helped bring the vietnam expedition to an end

I saw this little girl (not so little anymore) on Oprah a while back describing what was going on when this pic was taken. It was pretty intense. She's got burn marks all over her body. What a great constant reminder.

And as for Gus' original post... Dwolan is absolutely right. Perhaps not on mainstream American media, and as McTag mentioned Michael Moore's F 911 did give us a good dosage of what you're talking about..
My experience is that the media in the US is absolutely manipulative. There's probably a good reason and explanation justifying all that, I'm sure. But it was quite a shock when I first watched the news regarding Iraq out here in Brazil. A much different perspective, indeed.

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McGentrix wrote:

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:
To bush and his supporters and partners...these children aren't really human beings therefore they are reduced to pr liabilities and so why should we see their pictures? And let's face it the media doesn't really give a **** about them either...they are merely stories i.e. revenue generators..and the simple equation is dead children from natural diasters= selling magazines or more accurately advertising revenues, dead children from an idiotic miltary operation=a bummer...why bring people down i.e. alienate paying advertisers?

It's quite simple really.

The BS that you come up with amazes me sometimes.

Of that I've no doubt...none whatsoever....

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On a serious note, regarding the Indonesian disaster.

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