Rolling Over

• ·         What is compromised when double standards are recognized?
• ·         Why should rules still be followed by others when the rule makers break their own rules?
• ·         Where is the boundary between war documentation and exploitation of the dead and can the standards be globally accepted and/or practiced?

I’ve seen the picture the author describes in the first paragraph from February 1968. I’ve never known the exact time, place or name of the people depicted, but that photograph is forever imprinted in my mind. On one side I am able to realize that pictures like these have helped write history books, recorded what happened in a way in which a thousand words would hardly suffice, and preserved memories never to be forgotten. However I also wonder where the boundary between war documentation and exploitation of the dead lies and if the standards be globally accepted and/or practiced? Personally I don’t care to ever be put on display when I’m gone, but there are pictures floating around of my life. I imagine myself the wife, mother, or daughter of the prisoner from the picture who is about to be shot and shudder to think of the horrific pain I would feel at knowing of this photograph’s existence. Typically when we lay our dead to rest we strive to preserve the honor of their memory. However is this picture serving honor to this man’s friends and family who will be forever scarred?

Next I think about the fact that television brought a new aspect to the Vietnam War because it brought the war into the homes of most Americans and made it so much more real than a newspaper or photograph would have. In a photojournalistic point of view the game needed to be stepped up a notch. This leads me to wonder if the moral standards of respect for the dead and/or dying lowered in order to gain better ratings. I also wonder if this issue is part of progressive acceptance to what is and is not exploitation or inappropriate. Times change and frankly many things that were once viewed as taboo are now more socially accepted. I just wonder at what cost to integrity. Personally I would roll over in my grave had I known that a picture of my death, not my life, really made the difference.