Initially, when we were first showed the picture, it simply didn't signify anything to us. The picture itself portrayed a starving kid, with a vulture preying upon her. However, little did we know that there was so much more to that one iconic picture then we had imagined.
The picture itself was taken in March 1993, in southern Sudan, by photographer Kevin Carter. Carter mentioned that he waited for 20 minutes, waiting for the vulture to spread its wings, but it never did. After snapping that haunting photograph, Carter eventually chased the vulture away.
The photograph received a lot of attention and it sparked off a huge commotion when it appeared for the first time on March 26, 1993 as ‘metaphor for Africa’s despair’. Carter came under criticism for not helping the girl, even though journalists in Sudan have been told not to touch the famine victims, because of the risk of transmitting disease.
Even though Carter eventually won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo, he couldn't enjoy it a single bit. From the violence he'd witnessed to the questions he got on a daily basis about the little girls fate, he simply could not be at peace. He eventually took his own life, three months later.
Netizens criticized Kevin Carter, saying that he was cold blooded. They said he was selfish, wanting to capture the perfect moment, and leaving the girl to her own devices, even though she was at the brink of death. And that was true. He was selfish. He, indeed, had not saved the girl, just because of his own selfish rights. However, was it right to push all the blame onto him?
Kevin Carter was present, but so were the other Sudan journalists. Why didn't anyone blame them, but instead they naturally blamed Kevin Carter? Why was it that they thought by criticizing, the situation might have had a better turn?
What I don't understand is that when the netizens mentioned that “The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene", did they think that what they were doing were appropriate? Yes, indeed he had done wrong. However, that was in the past. Nothing they said, none of those comments could make a difference in the child's ultimate fate.
Their comments had caused Kevin Carter to take his own life, does that not make them a sinner? They, in fact, had done equally as much harm as Kevin Carter. They were upset, and that was understandable, however, has it ever dawned upon them that Kevin Carter was not feeling any better? Did they for even a single second, think about how badly their comments had impacted Carter?
All these doubts, hatred and unhappiness were all caused by a single photo. As they say, "a picture speaks a thousand words". From merely one single picture, one would never expect such a huge commotion to have been caused. However, from this little picture, we could see the selfish nature in humans, as well as how powerful the Internet is.
We could see human's selfishness, but at the same time we could see that we who criticize, are not any better.
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