I’ve seen probably hundreds of those pictures in my life. It has not enabled me to do anything about it except feel terrible about the state of the world. What am I supposed to do to stop people kidnapping, raping and killing children? It’s not in my power to do anything about evil people I don’t even know exist. It’s not like they walk around with ‘I am a pedophile murderer’ stamped on there head. There’s no “type.” I wish there was.
Eh. I understand the feeling of helplessness. You can’t do anything so you don’t want to hear about it.
I dont enjoy knowing about the bad things in the world. But I want to know the truth about the world, and that’s going to include bad things. Being aware could affect your actions, like voting habits or purchasing habits or where you choose employment or whatever. What if you saw some suspicious interaction between a child and adult where you actually had the opportunity to intervene and prevent some horrific act? If you avoid all the bad news and live in a fantasy land of your own making, you might not be cognizant enough to recognize a bad act about to happen. You never know. To make the best decisions you need all the information available to you, including the bad stuff.
But if you don’t want to hear about, then don’t read it, that’s your prerogative. I would discourage you from trying to spread and encourage other people to do the same though.
I can know about the bad things without seeing her photo. Why isn’t the headline good enough? How does me seeing her, alive and smiling, help with anything?
You remind me of people who told me I had to actively watch Al Qaeda beheading videos after 9/11 so I could know how bad they were. No I don’t. Telling me they take videos of people being beheaded is information enough. I don’t need to hear the agonized screaming and see the blood spurting out to learn anything useful.
Wrong. Hear me out again.
You are avoiding the pain. Again, you’re empathetic which is great. Seeing her photo adds more to your suffering.
Very good point about the beheadings stuff from terrorists.
Here’s a thought experiment: what if not only could we not avoid the photos, but as adult members of society we had to see and hear ALL the details. All of them. The rape, the screams, the beheadings. Torture done by drug cartels. Torture and rape done by militaries?
Everyone would shut down. You’d have no desire to go shopping or go to the movies or hang out with friends cracking jokes. In this unlikely universe, the only way to stop hearing about these atrocities, would be to actully stop and prevent them. Because it was ALL out in the open, we would all act much harder to stop all this shit.
Now we can add why the media and the powers that be “protect” us from the gory details and most of the bad stuff. You need to be happy so you can continue producing and consuming.
