Images That Mobilized Popular Opinion in Support of War - Coursework Example

Images MILITARY IMAGES THAT MOBILIZED POPULAR OPINION IN SUPPORT OF WAR by in small letters) of the of your professor) (name of the school/university) (city and state of the school) (date) Images 2 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to present a set of military images and state how they helped or affected in mobilizing the public opinion in support of war. In doing so, I have considered to present diverse images from different locations. By considering the situation in which the images were taken, I have tried to put a comprehensive picture of the subsequent events that were directly or indirectly affected in some or the other way by the opinion of those that faced the consequences of war and those who controlled the reigns of the war. War is always destructive. It is only though the lens that the civilized world has come to known the grotesque realities that is bestowed mostly upon the innocent civilians. Be it the Vietnam War, the World War II, and the Afghanistan war, the consequences have always been the same. In such situations, photographers of courage, and practically, photographers of luck have played vital role in mobilizing an entire public opinion in either way. Nevertheless, history has been the testimony of the fact that images speak loud. This paper presents few such images and their cause and effect in influencing the opinion of people in the event of a war and its subsequent outcome. The images have been captured under different conditions and times, although all have a common element of historical value. All of them represent the times during which they were clicked and in some or the other way bore importance in prominent aspects of history. Images 3 Execution of a Vietcong Guerrilla. By Eddie Adams. February 1st, 1968. When Eddie Adams shot this picture of a South Vietnamese General- Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a suspected Vietcong guerrilla, he might have never known how intensified would be the ripples that this image would generate. “It earned Adams a Pulitzer Prize” (Coward 2004). Although the image brought out anti-war feelings as “public approval certainly cannot be taken for granted” (Handel 1992), what it did was to escalate the Tet Offensive which was a massive campaign against the Republic of Vietnam forces and the U.S. and its allies. Although the fate of a war is never known, bitter feelings on any side always tend to extend the war as might have been in the case of the Vietnam war which went on till a few more years. Although Adams’ first comment was- “The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.” (Robbins 2010), he later on apologized to Nguyen for whatever humiliation the photograph did to his reputation. Images 4 The Falling Man. By Richard Drew. September 11th, 2001 On the 11th of September 2011, when an airliner hit the North Block of the World Trade Center, Richard Drew was fated to click something that the world would witness as the horrifying testimony of the terror unleashed on the people. The photograph named as “The Falling Man” depicts a man who possibly jumped out of one of the windows. Hundreds of people jumped to death on that fateful day due to fire and smoke. “At first it seemed like debris.” (Fortner 2011) It was after that the shocking realization rammed through people’s mind about the reality. The very next day, the image made it to The New York Times which instilled deep anger and despair among the people. Not only did it disturb the already shaken American citizens, it invited lots of criticisms on different comments published in the newspapers. For the same reason, the image Image 5 ceased to appear for sometime in the media. “Seeing the falling man as anonymous and visually like the building helps both to articulate a difference from his plight and to bury a recollection of intolerable vulnerability in the lost but replaceable buildings” (Sherman 2006). America was grieving and war was inevitable. The president ordered the military men to get into their uniforms to avenge those who instilled such unimaginable cruelties on innocent people. It was just after a few days that Afghanistan was to see the inception of a terrible war and a decade long American military presence on their soil. “The dominant response on U.S. television was to interpret the terror attacks as an "act of war" and a "second Pearl Harbor," requiring military retaliation.” (Kellner 2003). Many years after the commencement of the war, the Afghanistan strategy was criticized alike by the people and the media. It is important to note that the photograph and many other depictions of the attack were some of the initial sources that popularized the very idea of the war. The man in the photograph was not identified earlier but much later was recognized as Jonathan Briley- a restaurant employee who worked in the North Tower. Briley was an audio engineer. Although many accounts and later investigation has revealed the person as Briley, an official confirmation hasn’t been officially confirmed. Much has been dedicated to the picture as a whole documentary followed in the name of “9/11: The Falling Man” by Henry Singer and Richard Numeroff. Image 6 Sinking of the USS Arizona. By U.S. Navy. December 7th, 1941. “On December 7, 1941, about twenty minutes into the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an armor piercing bomb struck the USS Arizona, penetrating four decks before exploding” (Camp 2006) Of the 1,177 sailors deployed, more than a thousand were killed on the fateful day. This image belongs to the U.S. Navy and its subsequent release in the media swayed the sentiments of the people, if not fully, in support of a war. What followed was history. In one of its only kind, the US exploded nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which instantly wiped out millions and later on killed many. “By far, the best known period of the USS Arizonas twenty-five-year career was the hour or two she was under attack by the Japanese on 7 December 1941” (Stillwell 1991). The wreck of the battleship is still at the very place where it was doomed and a memorial has been created. This was a major event captured on camera as it is considered one of the decisive factors that provoked the U.S. to enter the war. Image 7 Selection. By Ernst Hoffman or Bernhard Walter. May/June 1944 As close as the image can get to the reality, it shows the disembarkation of the Hungarian jews from trains only to be followed by a brutal selection procedure that would later decide their destiny. “The deportations were frequently resisted because Jews were aware of what awaited them” (Fischel 1998). Those fit for work were sent to workshops or factories and others who are deemed unfit or too weak were simply gassed to death by the SS- an elite within the Nazi. “Some were gassed within a few hours of their arrival, others died at slave labour” (Gilbert 1979). The images of the likes of the aforesaid might have led to such a strong paranoid feeling among the modern jews and the state of Israel. A few years back when Israel was peppered with rockets, what followed was a bloody war that left Gaza almost ruined. This image and many more have served as the catalyst in supporting war as the first option- either as an offense or a defense. Image 8 Munich Massacre. September 5th, 1972. What transpired during the Olympic games in Germany changed the course of history in an unprecedented way. “In 1972, the Munich Massacre was mainly caused through poor equipped trained German police services.” On the terrible day, members of a Palestinian terrorist group- Black September had killed eleven Israeli athletes. This image painfully reflects the fate of those athletes who in happier times would have been playing for their country instead of getting brutally killed. “With all the Israeli hostages killed, the torment of the captured athletes was replaced by the anguish of the survivors and relatives” (Reeve 2000). In the aftermath of the incident, Israel tracked down many of those who were suspected of organizing the attack and eliminated them. This photograph stands testimony to the happenings of the Munich massacre. Image 9 Conclusion Be it the Vietnam War or the World War, the results have always been grotesque. “Most of us who served in World War II also wished we hadn’t had to do it” (Gruyter 1991) - the line representing the agony of those who were there to witness the real picture. Whatever may be the outcome, photographs had always had some hand in affecting the public opinion, though in a widely varied way. The execution of the Vietcong image that was taken in Vietnam was widely considered against the General. Ironically, the image was taken sometime during the beginning of the Tet offensive which was aggravated against the South Vietnamese and US forces. The image has been widely studied and has been an object of staunch criticism against the acts of inhumanity committed during war times. However, in doing so, people often tend to forget the atrocities committed by the barbarians who seldom make it to the front of a camera. Had it been the General and not the Vietcong Guerilla who had been shot, it would have been interesting to know how much interest the photograph would have generated. However, for the people of America, nothing would have brought solace other than the masterminds of the gruesome attack being brought to justice. And for justice to be done, war was as inevitable as it ever could be. The support for war was intensified by the sheer grief that the images of the terrorist attack brought upon them. “The Falling Man” represents the horrid feelings of the Americans in the immediate days of the 9/11 and helped the Bush Administration in propagandizing their war on terror. What followed has to this day baffled the world with a nation forced to witness the presence of foreign troops on their land for more than a decade. Image 10 Similar was the case of the USS Arizona sinking image that represented the Japanese aggression and the helplessness of the U.S. which led to strong feelings of revenge. Not that the sentiments of the people might have been the lone reason that made America enter the Second World War. The Pearl Harbor attack, in a way, proved the vulnerability of a strong a nation. In the aftermath, retaliation was inevitable and in doing so, not only did the U.S. launch the first of the nuclear attacks, it set an example of its military might. Japan was destroyed with two of its cities almost getting wiped out. The Holocaust image widely mobilized public opinion in support of the war against Nazis and to bring an end to their regime. The images brought forth gruesome realities to the light of the world and had it not been for the images, even a similar description of what really happened would never have been believed by a sane person. And not to mention the atrocities inflicted by the Nazis, the Munich massacre only led to bitter feelings which were the catalyst to the subsequent hit operations carried out by Israel against many responsible members of the terrorist organizations. In an act of retaliation, Israeli commandoes tracked down a number of masterminds behind the attack and terminated them. Images have always stayed in people’s mind. And what stays in mind is as resilient as it can get, for seldom are bitter feelings forgotten. It was only due to courage and a bit of luck which favored those photographers that brought truth into the open. Photographs have been instrumental in keeping the past alive and in taking decisions that have influenced the world, for they are the frozen relics of reality. Times have changed and times will change. What remains still are the lives and times of people that got captured on film and would stay alive for an eternity. Image 11 References Coward Jr., Russell H. (2004). A Voice from the Vietnam War. U.S.A.: Greenwood Press. Handel, Michael I. (1992). Masters of war: classical strategic thought. London: Frank Class Publishers. Robbins, James S. (2010).  This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive. New York: Encouter Books. Fortner, Robert S. and Fackler , P. Mark.(2011). The Handbook of Global Communication and Media Ethics. John Wiley & Sons Sherman, Daniel J. and Nardin, Terry (2006). Terror, culture, politics: rethinking 9/11. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Kellner, Douglas. (2003). From 9/11 to terror war: the dangers of the Bush legacy. U.S.A.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Stillwell, Paul. Battleship Arizona: an illustrated history. (1991). U.S.A.: U.S. Naval Institute Press. Camp, Dick. (2006). Battleship Arizonas Marines at war: making the ultimate sacrifice, December 7, 1941. U.S.A.: Zenith Press. Gilbert, Martin. (1979). Final journey: the fate of the Jews in Nazi Europe. New York: Mayflower books. Fischel, Jack. (1998). The Holocaust. U.S.A.: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Reeve, Simon. (2000). One day in September: the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation “Wrath of God”. New York: Arcade Publishing Inc. Image 12 Haberfeld, Maki R., King, Joseph F., Lieberman, Charles A. (2009). Counter-Terrorism in Comparative International Context. New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Gruyter, Walter de. (1991). The Pulitzer Prize archive: a history and anthology of award-winning materials in journalism, letters, and arts. National reporting, 1941 - 1986, Volume 2. Germany: K G Saur Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. Read More