General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe hear about numbers, but what we won't hear about in all these mass shootings...
Are the extent of the injuries. Some are probably horrific and life altering.
"In the eight years between 2015 and 2022, over 19,000 people were shot and killed or wounded in the United States in a mass shooting. The reach of each mass shooting stretches far beyond those killed and wounded, harming the well-being of survivors, their families, and entire communities."
msongs
(67,403 posts)Beartracks
(12,809 posts)... is emotionally manipulative. I would suggest that suppressing such imagery so that Americans cannot fully learn and appreciate the consequences of their political choices -- THAT is the real manipulation.
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wnylib
(21,440 posts)back to my teens. And I say that showing the pictures will not change anything but it will do irreparable harm to the survivors who were at the scene and to the relatives and friends of the victims.
This call for showing the pictures everywhere is understandable. We are desperate for a way to end the violence. But plastering the pictures everywhere will cause the gun addicts to double down on claims that the pics are fake. The plastered photos and resulting public arguments about them will only traumatize survivors and relatives of the deceased even more.
Whenever legislators or scumbag RW extremists like Alex Jones spout off about fake shootings, they should be challenged to visit the site personally, before the bodies are removed, and prove their claims.
Same for legislators and NRA officials. Demand that they visit the site of the next mass shooting after forensic work is done but before the bodies are removed. Insist that they need first hand experience in order to make legislative decisions. Discount everything they say, to their face, wherever they go, if they have not witnessed a site in person.
Beartracks
(12,809 posts)I was only replying to your post with my own general thoughts. My thinking goes along the line of how the tide of popular opinion was turned against the Vietnam War in the 70s because it was the first war televised into our living rooms every night. People could see for themselves what was going on over there. That's why access for journalists has been restricted in military actions ever since (think Desert Shield/Storm).
However, I agree with you that the RWers and their media machine would do everything in their (considerable) power to discredit any legitimate photographic record of the horror of mass shootings if such were to be made public, leaving survivors traumatized but much of the general populace uncertain, jaded, or numb. Today's world and media environment are clearly not the same as in the 70s, and simply dropping hard evidence into the public eye is, sadly, not the straightforward solution any more.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,853 posts)those who have been wounded.
tulipsandroses
(5,124 posts)The writer talked about the physical and emotional pain survivors deal with. The multiple surgeries, the financial cost, some still have bullet fragments that could not be removed. The added danger of lead poisoning in your body from bullets that cant be removed. The damage done extends much further when the shooting stops.
wnylib
(21,440 posts)on public display everywhere the survivors go so that they are continually re-traumatized in order to satisfy the anger of people who feel helpless about the shootings.
Public photos will not change any minds but they will destroy the minds of shooting survivors and of the loved ones of the deceased. People who favor publicizing the photos need to stop rationalizing about the results that they hope to get from publicizing the photos and start feeling empathetically for the victims' families.
BeerBarrelPolka
(1,202 posts)I am a shooting victim (and also stabbing/bludgeoning). I disagree with you wholeheartedly. I also am offended that you think you can speak on behalf of victims. You can't. Even I do not speak for all victims. But what I can tell you is that I have shared my experiences, have trained people from all walks of life to deal with violence, and have shown the aftermath of my body (as have others) to get the point across that real people may have to live with real consequences.
People seek me out worldwide to learn how to deal with drastic situations because I have the real world experience and am willing to share it with them. And I make sure their experience is as raw as possible. It must sink in, otherwise it's simply a game. I won't get into all the techniques needed, suffice to say that it involves adrenaline, emotions, detailed scenarios, etc.
wnylib
(21,440 posts)on behalf of victims' families because I have been the victim of brutal violence and am also the close relative of someone who died from a shot to the head.
I have been to an ER with stab wounds. I was raped after leaving the hospital with stitches for the stabbing. I have miscarried a pregnancy as the result of a beating. I spent 3 hours at the barrel end of a hand gun in a car parked in the middle of nowhere and managed to stay calm enough to convince the perp to drive me back to work.
A close relative was a rape victim who died from a gunshot to the head. Several years before that, a cousin was murdered, along with her boyfriend, because she was White and he was Black.
A very close friend of mine was a kidnap and rape victim when she was 19 and I was 20. She barely survived and managed to escape after being tied up, and to phone police for help, then her parents, who contacted the FBI. Her story, complete with name and address, was publicized on radio, TV, and the front page of the local newspaper.
Fortunately, nobody published photos of her nude, beaten, and shivering body that police found when they arrived. But the entire community did take sides, pro and con, about whether she was a genuine victim or acted in a way that "brought it on herself." She did not get the privacy for processing what had happened and for healing that she needed. She was cruelly ostracized and vilified at work until she quit her job. She became public property and seemed to be used by everyone as a Rorschach ink blot for projecting their own issues onto. It got worse when the kidnapper/rapist was caught and she had to relive it all in her testimony at trial. She went from a shy, soft spoken young woman to a promiscuous, drug addicted party animal for a few years before she was able to seek counseling privately, without the world intruding on her personal trauma.
I do not claim to speak for all victims and their families. But I do know that I needed time to heal without drawing the entire world into my grief and trauma. When I was strong enough, I became an advocate for rape and violence survivors. I have held women's hands in the hospital during a rape examination. I have walked with women into their home, under police protection, to get their personal belongings while an angry, estranged partner stood by making threats despite the police presence. I have gone to court with survivors as moral support during hearings.
While I can't speak for all victims, survivors, and their loved ones, I do know that, for myself and for the adults and children that I worked with, healing was a top priority on getting strong enough to confront the issues, speak about them, and go on with life. The last thing that I or the victim's that I worked with needed was the melodrama of having our lives turned upside down and invaded by people who would want to publicize our pain on behalf of a cause.
BeerBarrelPolka
(1,202 posts)I'm glad you admitted you don't speak for all victims. Always keep that in mind. And keep in mind that everyone processes things differently. There are no absolutes when it comes to that.
And I'm sorry for the events that happened to you.
brewens
(13,582 posts)and are paid well, they do not need to see that kind of totally preventable trauma. I say the same thing when a guy makes a big mess because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
Marcus IM
(2,201 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,590 posts)Old Crank
(3,573 posts)To the Texass shooting was a little graphic. She had no face.
Need to post pictures of the butchered. Show up at every gun debate with pictures. Demand 2A rights to pack guns in all chambers.