Remove all context from that photo. That’s what I see. Whether staged or not, children on both sides are experiencing these things. Once you become a parent, providing you wanted to be one intentionally, you see all children, not just your own, as innocence and any perception of grief for the loss of that child as personally identifiable and deeply felt. We, as a species and society, have lost our humanity if we look at a picture like that, no matter the context, and don’t immediately feel sadness for the known innocence lost.
That’s where we differ. It’s our cold indifference, or our insufferable need to justify or define our world, that drives us to conclude that, “sure, the picture is sad, but what if this photo is staged to garner sympathy for terrorists.” To me, I don’t have to believe anything about the context to know how distraught I’d be as a parent in that situation. I don’t need to know if it is or isn’t doctored to gain support, be it for the state of Israel or Hamas.
I see a man, could be a father, could be a stock photo (it matters not), holding a child (or large sweet potato for all I know) wrapped in cloth, and I’m moved to tears because I can put myself in that place, in that moment, in that grief. I can acknowledge that the photo I’m seeing may not be legitimate, but that doesn’t make it less likely to represent real fathers mourning the loss of their child and how I would feel in that moment; how absolutely devastated I would be; how I wish for all of it to end.
That’s empathy, my friend. It doesn’t see sides. It doesn’t push agendas. I can feel that empathy strongly, mourn with that man intensely, and grieve with the very real fathers who have had to bury their innocence, whether this photo is real or not.
I want you to know, I did not down-vote your comment(s). I understand that this whole conflict, situation, and world sucks. All I can do is hope for a peaceful resolution while I hold my child for all the fathers who no longer can.
Remove all context from that photo. That’s what I see. Whether staged or not, children on both sides are experiencing these things. Once you become a parent, providing you wanted to be one intentionally, you see all children, not just your own, as innocence and any perception of grief for the loss of that child as personally identifiable and deeply felt. We, as a species and society, have lost our humanity if we look at a picture like that, no matter the context, and don’t immediately feel sadness for the known innocence lost.
I say this unironically, but I pity you.
No need to lose humanity. But its better to not allow terrorist play with or use it to their advantage.
That’s where we differ. It’s our cold indifference, or our insufferable need to justify or define our world, that drives us to conclude that, “sure, the picture is sad, but what if this photo is staged to garner sympathy for terrorists.” To me, I don’t have to believe anything about the context to know how distraught I’d be as a parent in that situation. I don’t need to know if it is or isn’t doctored to gain support, be it for the state of Israel or Hamas.
I see a man, could be a father, could be a stock photo (it matters not), holding a child (or large sweet potato for all I know) wrapped in cloth, and I’m moved to tears because I can put myself in that place, in that moment, in that grief. I can acknowledge that the photo I’m seeing may not be legitimate, but that doesn’t make it less likely to represent real fathers mourning the loss of their child and how I would feel in that moment; how absolutely devastated I would be; how I wish for all of it to end.
That’s empathy, my friend. It doesn’t see sides. It doesn’t push agendas. I can feel that empathy strongly, mourn with that man intensely, and grieve with the very real fathers who have had to bury their innocence, whether this photo is real or not.
I want you to know, I did not down-vote your comment(s). I understand that this whole conflict, situation, and world sucks. All I can do is hope for a peaceful resolution while I hold my child for all the fathers who no longer can.
Maybe you mean it for yourself, but it doesn’t apply to everyone, see various protests after hamas dropped information about hospital bombing.
@rdri @mjhelto right