Please post your response below:

-Thanks, Ted

Denial:

This picture makes me ashamed. Ashamed of not educating myself more about whats going on over there. I know the basics, but little more than its genocide and thousands of people are dying. Even since you posted Ted, I haven't "gotten around" to reading up on it through your links. I have no valid excuse; I just know I'm not going to like what I read, and that it will fill me with emotions that I have no outlet for. I'm lazy on this issue. I tell myself that I wouldn't be able to do anything anyways, and I can get through my day not being affected at all by the situation. There is a certain disconnect that makes it so easy to ignore.

We complain that there isn't any media coverage on the situation, but can we blame them. They are in it for ratings, so why would they cover a story no one wants to hear about.

I hate that I am this way, but hopefully some honesty will help you direct your definition to the ones out there like me. I would be direct, to the point, don't rely on links for info, use them for extras, maybe offer some ways to get involved, easy ones. Find some way to bring the issue home, relate it to the everyman, remove the disconnect. Just some ideas, I hope this is what we were to do here, I wasn't concerned too much with syntax so I hope no one else is.

JS

Farrah-

The picture honestly makes me want to turn away but that is the problem. People just want to turn the other shoulder and ignore the bad things that are going on in the world. I mean the news will tell you all about Anna Nicole but this crisis is not even given a minute on the air. People just want to live in a safe bubble. If you do not hear about it, you do not feel the need to do something about it. Most people say they do not know what to do to help or that they are to busy. Is that really it or do people just like living in ignorance. They can go on about their day only worrying about their problems that seem to be a big deal. In reality is why didn’t he call or what am I going to do tonight that big of a deal. I do know a little about the background of the picture because of class. Otherwise I would want to know where this was happening. Why is someone letting this happen? Why are we letting this happen? It makes me feel very grateful for all we have.

My personal belief is that humanity has reached a point at which global sustainability is a potential reality. In my vision of the world, every road is a rail, every car is a tractor, all deserts are forested and all private profit is deserted. These sufferings are mere and infantile, so what right does the greatest (allegedly, formerly?) nation in the world have to control access to the means to production that would enable the world to feed itself? We should start fixing things now, while we only owe our asses to China. The U.S. has the highest external debt in the history of the world, at greater than 10 trillion dollars, while the world debt is 44 trillion. In 1990, the world debt was 1 trillion and the U.S. owed a little more than half of that. In terms of our value to the rest of the world, does that mean we have more or less? China is going to be top dog soon. China owes two digits less than we do. The Chinese aren't going to save Africa though. Africa's zones of perpetual havoc are a product of colonialism, and China would call us and Europe out for screwing it all up. What about the portions of the pre-diaspora Africa who had their families robbed from them? See the thing is, Capitalism demands a good war, often. Name one time period during which the U.S. was not actively engaged in orchestrated military efforts in other countries, and prepare to be proven wrong. But instead of having the grunts work on useful things that we're just going to blow up later like crops or infrastructure, we're going to use our Army's Corp of Engineers to reclaim hurricane damaged beaches in high tourist areas and think about rebuilding New Orleans.

If this image was shown more, I think the emotional impact would cause many people to act more firmly in response to genocide. This image represents only a fraction of the genocide atrocities, but the picture says “a 1000 words.” Innocent people…adults, children, teenagers, babies, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and so on…killed instantly when their village is burned and battered within minutes. If this was an image of child killed in the United States, there would be millions of dollars pouring into the investigation and trial alone. It is amazing that 12 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust before the ordeal was put to an end. Here it is several decades later, and the same thing is going on in places like Africa. The sad thing is that we see more images of Britney Spears and her shaved head; more images of Iran’s President; more images of last night’s basketball game than we see of helpless victims of genocide. This image makes me feel self-centered (to say the least)…in the past I have complained about stupid and trivial things such as not having breakfast, getting a bad haircut, or not getting enough time in at the bars. Well, at least I have the opportunity to complain…which really is a blessing in itself. These victims of genocide go day-to-day with the fear of dieing…forget complaining…they have to dedicate all of their time to preserving their lives. -Robert

The hardest part about this image is looking at it. Its really seeing the divide between our strongest world powers and our countries that are dying for help. The Admission is that the world is not fair and children are born into famine and disease, that there are actually more lives being lost in Africa each year to curable conditions than we have lost in the five years America has been at war. It makes me think twice about how little I think of my daily comforts, how much life is taken for granted. We see news all the time concerning Cancer, HIV, Bird Flu, Mad Cow...Pet foods and vegetables carring viruses. For everything we can create, for all issues human kind has thus far been able to fix...why is it that the places where human life is lost, where help is needed most, where money is needed to fund research we are lost? Why is it, when countries have a choice to go to war or not that they choose war? Are all decision based on money? on the flow of oil? Is it not possible that the lives lost by those fighting, by those dying of cancer and TB and HIV are not more critical...are they not more valuable?

I was eating crackers when I first looked at the picture above, I put them down immediately, and waited some time before I could eat again. Trauma like what is unfolding in Darfur, can be described through writing...But the impact of an image, such as the one displayed here, can touch a soul far deeper, and say so much more.

Next - ZineGlobal

Underexposed

Regina