Death Porn

American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been sending in photos of war to a gross picture website to get free memberships to their pornography library.

The photos they are sending in are the definition of sickening, gruesome in true abbatoir fashion. I looked at them.

It's against the Geneva Conventions to disrepect a body. The law is slightly more specific than that, but that's the general gist of it.

What the soldiers are doing, as far as I can tell, is not illegal according to the military code of justice. The soldiers have cameras. This is what they see. They hold the cameras up to their eyes and this is what their cameras see. If they are allowed to take photos while on duty, then they should be allowed to show those photos or do with those photos whatever they choose, as far as I know... unless these are official military photographers using military photographic equipment - then the photos would be the property of the US government.

The act of taking the photos, in my opinion, is not against the Geneva Conventions because nothing has been done to the bodies. These are basically photos from immediately after the dust settles. The bodies have not been moved, tampered with, or abused (after the fact) and are not being disrespected as far as I can tell. (There are actually several photos (out of hundreds) with soldiers standing over otherwise undisturbed dead bodies and smiling and giving the thumbs up, and those particular examples are exceptionally borderline, but otherwise...)

The question I have to ask myself is are these photos porn? In the same fashion that a photo of a nude body can be art in one pose, and be nothing but an attempt to arouse lustful feelings from a "different angle", a dead body can be the same. A blood soaked corpse can be a vivid reminder of the horrors of war... but... well... sigh... when I find myself at a loss for words to describe a particular photo of death that won't turn the stomach... I'm afraid that is porn. (Which does bring the question: If the photos are porn, are the bodies they show then being disrepected? Hmmm.)

I really would love it if we, as Americans, far from harm's way, far from the realities of war, were exposed more often to the fact that a roadside bomb leaves more than the rubble and burnt-out vehicles that we see on the news. Our sanitized lives (aside from Hollywood fakery) are violence free, blood free, and therefore moral-crisis free.

If we knew what American soldiers were looking at every day; if we knew what Iraqi children were seeing; if we knew what "A roadside bomb killed 2 in Karbala today" really, viscerally meant when those words come out of the mouths of our local anchormen...

However, no: We don't need to see these particular photos. We don't need nightmares. I am glad that they exist though... although I cannot say why specifically since I would just as soon have nobody see them. I can't explain that.

I do however think that Americans need to see more reality though. The reality I would have us see may not be as prurient as these specific images, but I do think that we need more reminders of what words like "war", "death", and "destruction" actually mean.

I've heard it said that a visit to the local slaughterhouse will cure many people of the desire to eat meat.