It’s been a
long time since I’ve blogged, hopefully I can keep it up over the next few
months. I’ve been jolted into action as
a result of a todays Sunday Herald front page. There cannot be a sane minded person who
doesn’t find that photo deeply disturbing & sickening. Of course the image is extreme. Of course the image is difficult to look
at. It’s supposed to be. Is the image sensationalist? Arguably so.
I know that many people whom I respect deeply are saddened that The
Sunday Herald chose to run with this front page. But I do feel very strongly that they have
made the right call here. Facebook is
currently awash with French flags just now.
I’ve also seen people make a real effort to kick back against the terrorists. The attacks were on cultural & social
activities. The attacks, like all
attacks of this kind, are designed to spread fear across the globe. One way of combating that has been to post
images of cultural significance, to show that we will not let terror affect how
we live our daily lives. The outpouring of solidarity with the French
people is heartening to say the least.
The parties, with the exception of UKIP , a handful of Tories & the
usual rag tag of right wingers, have put party politics aside to condemn what
happened on Friday the 13th. In fact, aside from a small minority we’ve
seen exactly the sort of response that I’d hope to see. For instance we’ve seen lots of posts on
social media making the point that these acts of violence have nothing to do
with religion. It’s been said many times
& it’s worth saying again. The vast
majority of migrants are fleeing homicidal maniacs.
So, if
people are generally reacting the right way to acts of terrorism then why the
need to ram the horror into folks faces?
Well, the same question could be asked of Children in Need. Over the last week we have been bombarded
with stories & images of children living in & through some horrible
circumstances. Now we all know that
these cases exist. Do we really need to
be shown the stark reality of these kids lives while we eat our tea? Given
that the appeal apparently raised a record amount of money this year it would
seem so. People need to be shocked,
saddened or enraged by something before they hand over their cash or give up their
time for something that does not directly benefit themselves. The Ethiopian famine in 1984, the Vietnam
War, 9/11, Bloody Sunday & far too many other incidents, wars, atrocities to
mention. They all have one thing in
common. They required deeply unsettling
images in the media for most people to sit up & really take notice. It is one thing to know that something
terrible has happened. It is quite
another thing to see it, albeit on the front page of a newspaper or on the
telly.
As most
reading this will know I’ve been a political activist for most of my adult
life, indeed there is another blog piece from a few years ago that sets a lot
of that out. I get angry when I see
bullies. I get angry when I see
unfairness & injustice. This doesn’t
make me unique, far from it, thankfully so.
That’s why I leaflet for the SNP till my feet bleed. Watching PMQs or FMQs or even just reading
the paper in the morning is enough to motivate me. But unfortunately most people aren’t
motivated or shall we say angered as easily as me. Just look at the rise of the SNP’s membership
over the last year. That’s been because
people have been politicized through anger at what happened during & after
the referendum. I hope what I’m getting
across is that I just feel that if the media wasn’t self censored quite as much
as it normally is then more people would feel more engaged with what’s going on
around them.
Back to the
Sunday Herald’s front page. The
question that needs to be answered is this:
What does it hope to achieve? The
cynical answer is more newspaper sales.
However I don’t believe this to be true.
Indeed, by publishing that image it could well result in a drop in
sales. There has been a backlash on
social media since the publication of that photo. A backlash from many loyal readers. But these are all very politically aware
people who are already engaged on a day to day basis with the minutiae of
current affairs. That’s not who the
picture is aimed at. It’s aimed at the ordinary family who aren’t
political or community activists, whose only concern is their immediate family. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing
inherently wrong with that. But it’s
because that’s all they see on a day to day basis. It’s aimed at exactly the same people that
the BBC guilt trip every year through Children in Need or Comic Relief. I believe it is a bold & noble thing that
the paper has done today. They have
shown the disturbing reality of what happened in Paris in a way that hits home
at a base level far more than pictures of candle lit vigils ever can. The photograph is one that cannot fail to
bring home to people just how close to home those acts of violence are. It does not play into the hands of the
terrorists to show the atrocities that they inflict. I would argue that it helps to defeat
them. The outcry against acts of torture
by the US military came about as a result of photographs, not words in the media. I’ll say again, it’s one thing to know or to
read about something. It is another
thing entirely to see it in (un)glorious technicolour. We should be angered by the sight of bodies
littered around a public place. Of
course it’s not right. No one should
ever have to see things like that. But
the harsh reality is that people do need to take a stand. The images represent what happens when the
causes of extremism are left to fester.
When I call for people to take a stand I mean I want people to engage
more in their own community. Pick up a
bit of litter in the street simply because it’s the right thing to do or make a
donation to a foodbank. People do not become homicidal if they feel part of the
community. We need to ensure that young
people especially do not become disenfranchised from the community in which
they live. We do this by doing what we
can to make them feel that they belong.
Will that image inspire someone make a small gesture in their community? Maybe not immediately, but it will get them
thinking in a way that a photo of a burning candle never will.
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