Today I was researching the Arab Israeli conflict for my Internal Assessment in History. In the book I was reading, they mentioned a young boy who had been shot in a crossfire during a shootout. Somehow, a camara found this young boy in his fathers arms while he was dying. This video was posted on the internet for all to see.
I am confused as to how this can be ethical. First of all, why does anyone want to watch a small boy die? I understand that we see it in movies and the idea of it happening is terrible but this ACTUALLY happened. And people are watching this video. I am also confused as to why this videographer would think that it is ok to publish such a private moment. Not only is the child too young to understand and not here to make the decision, but the family was distraught and that moment should not be on display for the world. This video provoked anger in me over the innocent victims of the conflict which may have been the intent but the media has enough tactics for provoking anger in people without advertising a small child's death.
As sad and wrong as it may seem to post a video of a child's death online, I think the gesture was out of respect for the deceased and the victims. As much as they don't want to be singled out, they deserve to be shown to counteract the media's cold and even enthusiastic attitude toward death and destruction. This is obviously not what the mainstream media would want you to see. Ethically, it may be wrong, but I think a shock to the system of the masses is OK on occasion simply to show them what life is like for the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteA possible reason for the posting of the video is that the United States kills a lot of Arabs with precision weaponry but the news doesn't bring it up at all but the news can justify it so it makes the idea of Arabs dying okay.
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