I write this post in response to the debates here on whether or not the images of the coffins released on The Momory Hole will have an negative or positive impact on public opinion on the Iraq war. I believe it will be positive. What I write applies to almost every army on the planet.
Wars are not only won by bullets but also with images. Therefore, since the beginning of photography, the military tried to establish a tight control on media. Ideally, the public should only see an "abstract" form of violence. Mostly, the audience (aka the people) only gets to see the victims of warfare in their beautiful symmetric coffins, pleasantly draped with a flag or another national symbol. The idea is to overlap the feelings for those who died with positive emotions for a more collective cause, call it patriotism, nationalism, heroism, whatever. The dead has to be de-individualized, therefore the standardization of burial ceremonies. We are not supposed to see the death of a person, but a soldier, the Ford T of humanity: cheap and replaceable. Even every tomb stone has to look the same.
The audience is used to this for a full century now, so do not expect it to be suddenly upset by coffins coming back. The audience excepts coffins, what it doesn't except are real peoples deaths. The audience tends to forget - and likes to ignore - that soldiers not only get killed but they actually die. Soldiers do not "fall", the usually get shot in the lung and suffer, their limbs get blown away, their ship sinks and they drown like rats.
Therefore, in the extended version of this post, I put up some images reminding of what people at war have to go through. I chose images from several wars and armies, since in death we are all united.
From
the Soviet War archives
From GWPA.org
From Truthout.org
From Evergreenreview.com
May the all rest in peace.