The War Picture

This has been making the rounds, and the story is that media editors refused to publish it because it was just a little too gruesome for domestic consumption.  Bullshit.

First, it's bullshit because there's never a shortage of War Porn consumers.

But second, sometimes when we're feeling more honest than usual, we'll say, "Well, it's awful; but, you know, it's war - and people die in war".

Bullshit again.  People don't just die in war.  They aren't lying around waiting to drift off into some eternal slumber.  They're killed - usually with a very particular purpose in mind, and in the most horrific and brutal ways it will ever be anybody's misfortune to witness or even imagine.

Whether you were for the war or against it; whether you thought it was necessary or stoopid; that picture shows us what was done in our names and on our behalf - either because we said that's what we wanted done, or because we didn't do enough to keep it from being done.

We have no right to turn away.