The significance of censored images in "the war photo no one would publish” by torie rose deghett’s

In today’s world, capturing memories has become as easy as a click of a button. Cameras have helped many people around the world by letting them see accurate history in the making without censoring the content. In Torie Rose DeGhett’s essay “ The War Photo No One Would Publish”, she expands more on the significance of censored images. Some may argue that certain pictures are an invasion of privacy, however people should be allowed to see the truth of certain events by looking at photographs and videos instead of being censored from it. In addition to that, taking photographs or videos shows what’s going on or what is went on rather than hearing it verbally and it gives more accuracy to the event. In the article written, one of the photographer whose name is Jarecke stated “ But if I don’t take pictures like these, people like my mom will think war is what they see in movies.” Some people have a misconception and different perspective on what they think happens in war so having a photographs and videos of it will show some realities of war. Therefore, with that being said, I am very much against censorship due to the fact that censorship is skewing the truths/hiding facts which makes it hard for people to come up with or form their own opinions and hinders people from possibly gaining knowledge on what’s going on in the world.

Censorship basically takes away the form of art due to the fact that it is hiding things from people, skewing the truth which hinders people from getting a better understanding of what may be going on or it stops us from developing our own thoughts and opinions on what is being presented to us. It’s like our expressions are in prison. For example, if we’re in school and were trying to learn about U. S. History or History period, how can we fully learn if it is censored from us? How can we visually understand what’s going on if pictures or videos are censored? How can we imagine what that person must’ve gone through? It’s almost like we’re being controlled on what we should watch and hear and that’s basically going against the values and ideas of freedom. It’s controlling how we should express and form opinions. While reading DeGhett’s “ The War Photo No One Would Publish” I came across this statement “ Try to imagine, if only for a moment, what your intellectual, political, and ethical world would be like if you had never seen a photograph”. This world be dull, and it would only be illustrations interpreted by an author rather than having a photography or video that shows true emotion and art which will allow us to empathize and feel what’s actually going on. In a book called “ Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education” by Yo-Yo Ma, it was stated “ being able to put yourself in ones’ shoes is an essential skill. Empathy comes when you understand something deeply through arts and literature and can thus make unexpected connections.”

In addition to the argument that was just stated, with censorship being enforced upon us, it’s also going against our American culture which is supposedly “ The Land Of The Free”. Living in our American culture, you would think we’d have the freedom to do what we want and see what we please but censorship contradicts everything. It’s like living in North Korea, where they live in a dictatorship country, where they have no freedom. They’re government has absolute grip on what information is to be presented to the public. Therefore, it makes us question is our freedom of speech and publication really secure? In history books, films, plays, newspapers, and other media outlets, some things have been routinely and legally banned and censored in the US, which limits access to information are still prevalent today. Which is outrageous because they want us to learn about different things in science, they want us to learn about things going on in the world but yet they are censoring and skewing again, and it is not allowing us to know what we need to know. The US constitution states that you have the freedom to speak your thoughts but censorship violates that. Not only is censorship bad but it is undermining a system of rules made by our founding fathers centuries ago. No censorship has the right to block ideas. No matter how strong, the only way to spread thoughts is by text or speech. Taking away that bridge collapses the whole system. Little do the government know that by implementing censorship, its creating an unbalance in community, society, and country as a whole because it creates a sense of feeling of being controlled rather than being free.

Moreover, we are hiding information for what, to shield the eyes of viewers that may be under age to see these photography’s or because it may be sensitive to some viewers. As an angry 28-year-old Jarecke wrote in American Photo in 1991: “ If we’re big enough to fight a war, we should be big enough to look at it.” Think about it, a lot of people watch scary movies, zombie movies, play games that has blood and violence in it, so what’s the difference between that and seeing a picture of somebody dead in war. Censorship is completely stupid. All it does it blocks kids from the real world and when they grow up they will not know what to expect in the real world, they won’t know how to handle certain situations because they were not exposed to that. Which will eventually lead to them being afraid of life and the experiences they will soon face. Besides, who has the power to tell us what we can and can’t read. That is like someone telling us what we have to think when really we have control over our own mind and we can think about whatever we want.