Iconic Photos

We live in a culture that has become very dependent on visual imagery to convey a sense of itself. Photos in particular have become a major aspect of representing our history. Sunday a week ago, I posted a photoshopped version of Lee Harvey Oswald being shot. I thought at the time that maybe I should note the original source, or link to the image, but I decided, naah, everyone will recognize the photo, and see the humor- grim humor, but still funny.

I was wrong.

Most, not all, but most, of the young people I've showed it to don't recognize it or the original. I find this a little disturbing. I can understand that K-12 texts might find some of the following photos too graphic, or that publishers might be worried about turning off certain markets, but these are the kinds of iconic photos- however disturbing they may be- that show up in compilations of the best and most important in history.

After finding these missing from the mental library from many of my young friends- and keep in mind, these are extraordinarily intellegent, well-educated adults in their early to mid 20's, not information deprived dropouts- and discussing the issue with Bill and Iris, I started looking around for some others that I felt were of particular importance.

Many didn't recognize those ones either.

The issue here is not that I have lost esteem for these folks- I haven't- it's that despite their education and powerful intelligence, somehow they have not had the opportunity to see these photos and contemplate their importance. They may be horrifying and sad, but these pictures capture part of who we are, as citizens of the country, of the world, and simply as human beings. Below are three I've been showing around.

First, the image that brought this to Iris', Bill's and my attention:

Lee Harvey Oswald, the instant he is shot point-blank by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on November 24, 1963, as photographed by Robert H. Jackson.

(image source here, Wikipedia article here) This is an original, unaltered image of the photo I posted nine days ago. Oswald was never convicted of assassinating Kennedy- he was dead before the trial started. This has led to inummerable conspiracy theories, but most serious investigations have concluded that Oswald was indeed the assassin.

The next two are from Vietnam; the first, from 1968, was among those that solidified widespread public opposition to the war, as opposed to simply protests by "crazy, hippie college kids."

© 1968 Wide World Photos. Copy found at BBC News

Description from Wikipedia (main article here): Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes Viet Cong Captain Nguyen Van Lem: February 1, 1968. This Associated Press photograph, "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon," won a 1969 Pulitzer prize for its photographer Eddie Adams. Film also exists of this event, but owing to the more graphic nature of the film, the photograph is more widely known.

The second is from 1972, toward the end of the war, and brought the horror of the situation to the front page, not for the first time, but perhaps more starkly and powerfully than ever before.

Nick Ut / The Associated Press

Description from Wikipedia (main article here): Kim Phuc Phan Thi, center, running down a road near Trang Bang, Vietnam, after a napalm bomb was dropped on the village of Trang Bang by a plane of the Vietnam Air Force. The village was suspected by US Army forces of being a Viet Cong stronghold. Kim Phuc survived by tearing off her burning clothes. Kim Phuc (aged 9) running naked in the middle with her older brother, Phan Thanh Tam (12), crying out to the left. Her younger brother, Phan Thanh Phuoc (5), to the left looking back at the village and to the right are Kim Phu's small cousins Ho Van Bo, a boy, and Ho Thi Ting, a girl.

I have tried to conform to copyright restrictions as best as possible (and that may part of the reason younger people have been deprived of witnessing these icons) but if anyone has comments about how to conform more acceptably, please let me know.

I have a number of others in mind for the future, but I have two requests: First, please let me know if there are photos that you think are of particular iconic importance. These three happen to be from a ten year window, but I don't want to focus on any particular time. Furthermore there are likely iconic photos that I'm not really familiar with, but should be. I'm all about teh edumacating thing.

Second, I'm curious about my readers' thoughts on how people could go through 25 years or so without having come across pictures such as the examples above. I've outlined a couple of possible reasons (textbooks becoming tamer over the years, aggressive copyright enforcement), but I don't feel like they're sufficient. And it appears, reasonably enough if you think about it, that my friends can't really explain why they haven't seen them either.