Regarding the Pain of Others

1. Regarding the Pain of
Others
Protest Literature
By: Chelsea Grenham

2. "These sights carry a double message. They
show a suffering that is outrageous, unjust,
and should be repaired. They confirm that
this is the sort of thing which happens in
that place." (71)
People yearn to see the graphic sights photographs carry. They display
the suffering and immense amounts of pain that one had to endure,
yet they are confirming what is happening all over the world. While
people are sitting safely at home, others are dying in horrific, cruel
manners.

3. "But surely the wounded Taliban solder
begging for his life whose fate was pictured
prominently in The New York Times also had
a wife, children, parents, sisters and brothers,
some of whom may one day come across the
three color photographs of their husband,
father, son, brother being slaughtered- if they
have not already seen them." (73)
Graphic photographs were held to a certain standard. Journalists were
expected to censor photographs of Americans, or whoever side we may be on
at that time. People do not want to see their own people suffering immense
cruelties, but it is okay to see the enemy suffering in such ways. We want to
feel detached from the person suffering. If we do not know them or connect
with them, it makes it less real for us. Photographs have to maintain the
double standard. It is okay to post cruel and disturbing pictures of the enemy,
but not one of your own people.

4. "This, it seems, is a memory judged too
dangerous to social stability to activate and to
create. The Holocaust Memorial Museum and
the future Armenian Genocide Museum and
Memorial are about what didn't happen in
America, so the memory work doesn't risk
arousing an embittered domestic population
against authority. To have a museum chronicling
the great crime that was African slavery in the
United States of America would be
acknowledging that the evil was here." (88)
If America were to open a museum honoring the people forced into slavery,
that would be admitting their own fault. It seems we turn the blind eye to
cruelties we have issued on others. We can easily and outwardly honor the
victims that suffered at another countries hands. It is not so easy to honor
the people that endured our own countries mistakes.

5. "So far as we feel sympathy, we feel we are
not accomplices to what caused the
suffering. Our sympathy proclaims our
innocence as well as our impotence." (102)
If a person continues to feel sympathetic towards terrible and
disturbing events, it makes them not at fault. They feel they are
aiding in help because they are disagreeing with the suffering. A
person's sympathy makes them feel less at blame for standing by and
watching horrific events. Their suffering means they do not agree with
what is happening, but they are also not doing anything to stop it.
Sympathy is a way to justify not taking a stand against what is
wrong.