I ask because there is
yet another diary filled with horrific photos of burned, bleeding and otherwise wounded people, especially children, in Lebanon right now, but next week it could be Iraq or Sudan or any other part of the world where people are shooting at each other.
I am getting really, really sick and tired of opening diaries and seeing these pictures without warning and I really honestly do not see the purpose in posting them on Daily Kos.
First of all, it is really easy to find them elsewhere. news.yahoo.com has a huge photo section and I doubt there's anyone here who can't use a search engine. The photos are not being hidden, I have even seen some of the less graphic but still horrible ones on cnn.com. This is no secret.
Secondly, it is cheap, emotionally manipulative propaganda designed to stop people thinking rationally which is counterproductive to any attempt at rational discourse.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it's an insult to the people here in my opinion because it assumes we are too stupid to know how horrific war is unless we see the gore with our own eyes.
Do you think we're idiots? What sort of progressives would we be if we didn't understand such a basic fact? When I was in high school, there was this pro-lifer kid who used to put photos of aborted fetuses in his folder so everyone would see how horrible abortions looked. Do you think he changed a single mind or even strengthened anyone's convictions? No, all he did was piss people off because they had to look at something disgusting whenever he was around.
Now I know I won't stop it, but I don't think it's too much to ask to at least warn us when you're putting this smut, and it is smut, up in the subject line. There are people who read Daily Kos at work. I'm sure many people's bosses don't want to walk by their cubicles and see festering, bleeding head wounds on a four-year-old.
So in conclusion, if you really feel there's some need for this violence porn, fine, have at it, but at least give everyone the courtesy of a warning first.