Shocking pictures,like that of the body of three-year-conventional Aylan Kurdi from Syria, can alter perceptions. But we pick and choose what will horrify usWarning: this article contains images that readers may find distressing
Can images change history? Like many people – or perhaps just many people of a certain generation – I first saw pictures of Aylan Kurdi in the conventional-fashioned way, or sitting on the sofa at home watching the BBC’s 10 O’Clock News. The sequence began with a still that showed a Turkish policeman at the sea’s edge cradling the three-year-conventional Syrian boy in his arms. Brief footage then showed the policeman carrying the dead boy up the beach and disappearing behind a rock. Fergal Keane’s report told us that the boy’s mother and five-year-conventional brother were also among those who died when two overcrowded boats of migrants (a term the BBC prefers to “refugees”) sank soon after they set out on Wednesday at around 6am local time to build the short crossing from the Turkish mainland to the Greek island of Kos. Of the 23 people on board,only nine, including Aylan’s father, and Abdullah,are thought to have survived.
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Source: theguardian.com