Are publicized death images necessary?

A few months ago, my childhood friend Mac went back to Afghanistan for his second tour with the Canadian Military.

Before he left, we said a lengthy goodbye. What began as a light-hearted “remember the time when…” chat turned into a detailed discussion about war, its destruction and the people who are left behind to pick up the pieces.

We began talking about various dictators of the 21^st century – a topic that was prompted by the capture and death of Osama bin Laden. At the time of our talk, it had only been a few months since his death, meaning the knowledge of his departure was still reasonably fresh in both our minds.

This topic then lead us to discuss our feelings about the publication of high-profile death photographs, videos and images. It is a subject that I’m sure everyone has an opinion about, and if we consider the recently-published gruesome death photos of Muammar Gaddafi, it’s definitely topical.

In the case of Osama bin Laden – who was shot and killed on May 2, 2011 – the actual photographs of his dead body were withheld from both the public and the media. Many factors have been stated as the reason U.S. President Obama decided not to publish the images, including fears it would show a lack of respect and could lead to an angry backlash from extremists.

Makes sense to me.

Next, remember Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi government openly released a video of his December 30, 2006 hanging. In addition, a low-resolution cell phone video capturing Hussein both before and after the execution was illegally downloaded to YouTube, and I believe it’s still available if you search hard enough. Finally, the Iraqi government also released post-mortem photos of Hussein’s body in a shroud.

Was all that really necessary?

We can also take a brief break from dictators and turn to celebrities. Dr. Conrad Murray is still on trial for involuntary manslaughter as a result of singer Michael Jackson’s suspicious death on June 25, 2009. During his trail a few weeks ago, post-mortem autopsy photos of Jackson were shown in the courtroom. Later, they were released to the media and are still available online today.

The photos of the deceased Jackson are sad, disgusting and uncomfortable to look at. Even though it was necessary to show them in court to illustrate Jackson’s health prior to his death, there was no reason for them to be published for the whole world to see.

People – as a general rule – have a fascination with morbidity. We rubber neck while driving past a car accident, and we stop and stare at a homeless person asleep on the sidewalk. It’s just our nature. I’ve been guilty of staring at a few awful things in my day, and I’m willing to admit that I’ve been appallingly fascinated. But just because we’re interested doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do...