Life, Death and Pictures

If you were to die in a way that could shed light on the hardships that you had to endure or in a way that is deemed newsworthy, would you want a photo of your body plastered on newspapers, tv channels, and social media networks? or would you want any image of you to be private? This is the exact situation that a Syrian father had to make after his entire family drowned and his youngest son washed up on a beach.
If I had to make the decision to publish or not publish the image, I believe that I would have published the photo of Aylan Kurdi. To continue, I would ask for permission from the family members because this image has the power to be extremely memorable. My intention with publishing the photo would also not be for shock value but because the image is a true representation of what many refugees have to endure. I believe that the image of Aylan Kurdi will help shed light on a problem that many people try to ignore.
The world that many of us live in is very similar. We have parents that try to protect us from things that they think will make us sad or events that are difficult to explain. But in many countries, their parents aren’t shielding their eyes or changing the tv station from sad news stories but instead, they’re shielding their children from possible death and other horrific events. “I saw Syrian parents determinedly walking with their children — trying to remove them from the horrors of the slaughter in Syria” (Bouckaert P, 2015). To focus on the ethic of care, the father of the Aylan Kurdi lost his wife and children and suddenly journalist want to publish a photo of his deceased son. To continue, Abdullah Kurdi was never able to mourn his family’s death in peace and because of the photo of his son circulating, he might never fully have the peace that he deserves.
I think that it is important for people to know that it is not just thousands of adults that have died trying to flee their country but of those thousands of Syrians also include young children and teenagers. “This year, 2,643 people have died in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.”. Although the image of Aylan Kurdi was published I believe that people will be able to empathize and make themselves more knowledgeable about a life-altering situation that many people face every day.