Please read this
With certain exceptions, I have noticed that most of us have been quite silent on the current political situation, make that turmoil, in Iraq. I am specifically referring to the, dare I say it?, torture of Iraqi prisoners. After reading this article in the Times magazine, I am compelled to open up at least a smal public forum for the discussion of what this means for America and, more importantly, for us as Americans. Of course, given the political bent of most Livejournal users, perhaps this is not the most productive of venues. I cannot help but feel complicit myself in these actions, and cannot understand why others are not as affected as I. The play of the conservative media in particular has been reprehensible, and thanks to rentemspoons for at leat partially tracking some of the nonsense that has been mentioned.
The article discusses the interplay between photography and language, the image and the word, in the public recollection of events. Even if one does not agree with it, Sontag has written a provacative piece that calls us to reflect on what these photos actually mean. Here are some links to a site that puts up the images. (there is some overlap between pages, and all the images are as edited by the mainstream media--the horror of what is actually going on is mitigated by cropping and blurring of the male genitalia.) I would encourage everyone to at least glance at the images.
The reason I'm posting this is that I think it is important to have the opportunity to formulate one's own opinions and ideas concerning an event without the mediation of a news source, without having Rush and Bill O'Reilly, or Al Franken and Michael Moore tell you what to feel or think about something.
I feel disgraced and ashamed that my country is perpertuating such actions. I am embarrassed at the way it has been handled in the media, and disgusted by the total lack of responsibility the we as a nation, the administration in particular but not specifically, are showing. While perhaps we are not each individually culpable for those actions (surely none of us stripped and sodomized a prisoner!), we tacitly accept those actions by not pressing our elected officials into ceasing their practice. Even today, the Pentagon is endorsing these identical practices (e.g. "stress positions", sleep deprivation, extreme temperature modification, etc.) in detention facilities around the globe--perhaps even in America--all in the name of preserving "freedom" in the "war on terror".
I am not taking the moral high-ground here as I am placing an equal amount of guilt upon myself. I am also not trying to project my own sense of guilt upon any of you. What I intend is to hear what your own personal reactions are to this article, the photos, and the situation in general. If you feel no responsibility, I'd like to hear that, and why. If you do, I'd like to hear that, and why. If you think I'm a leftist, commie, pinko bastard for saying what I'm saying, I'd like to hear that, and why. I ust think that it is important to open up public discourse on this issue, and this is just my ever so small way of doing so.
Peace,
B