Worth A Thousand Shells?
A Leak in The Blue Wall?
It has been said a picture is worth a thousand words; as a self-taught photographer, I can attest to the power of an image. Michael Moore, in a recent piece in the Huffington Post, alluded to this power in mentioning the case of Emmett Till, the marchers at Selma, Alabama, and My Lai. I am surprised he made no mention of the role the pictures from Abu Ghraib probably played in turning public opinion against the war in Iraq.
But what he was wondering about was what the effect would be if the pictures of the 20 children from the Newtown school shooting were to be made public? The pictures would have to be either leaked, as Moore suggests, but another scenario could involve someone hacking into the Newton Police Department's system.
From Moore's research, the pictures would be gruesome. One of the parents did request an open casket funeral and the Governor of Connecticut was moved to tears?
But would people be that affected? The "Bloody Fetus" is a common picture used by opponents of women's reproductive rights, and many people have likely grown used to seeing images of bodies shot with automatic weapons from movies and video games.
The NRA would surely have some response to rationalize this. Most likely they would dismiss this as another attempt to turn public opinion against the 2nd Amendment. But that rhetoric may just be sounding more and more shrill as people see through the NRA.
Would I look at the pictures. Probably not, I don't take well to such images. But as has been proven time and time again, sometimes a picture can lead to a million voices.