Why Do We Need to Intrude on Personal Grief?

[goofyfish]

On the front page of our local newspaper yesterday was the picture of a man whose small daughter had just died. He was obviously bawling his eyes out, and his face was distorted in a look of pure misery. When I saw this picture, I quickly looked away because I felt I was intruding on an intensely private moment of personal grief. What bugs me here is that the newspaper felt that a picture of the freshly-grieving father would be appropriate to put on the front page, instead of a picture of the girl in happier days, or something less appallingly intimate. If I read a headline and see that a little girl is dead, I know that the family is crazy with grief.

I don't need to see a picture to get it.

:m: Peace.

 

[ndrs]

You can't blame the newspaper for doing this. It only does it because that way it would sell more copies.
I would rather blame all the stupid masses of people who buy this newspaper. People seem somehow to enjoy seeing emotional pictures.

 

[pumpkinsaren'torange]

You can't blame the newspaper for doing this

i respectfully disagree.

 

[CounslerCoffee]

Maybe the newspaper should do that. If a future murderer saw what killing can do to people, what it can put them through, then maybe he wouldn't grow up to be a killer. That is just a silly idea though.

 

[ndrs]

Originally posted by pumpkinsaren'torange
i respectfully disagree.

Please expand!
Eh.. maybe it's just my hate towards the Common Person showing again.. Personally, I don't see the reason why a person would want to know about a death which doesn't directly affect him. A single girl death isn't the end of the world. Maybe it's because people pride themselves into feeling pity or compassion. Anyways... this to me starts to be the same topic as discussing why MTV plays shitty music. It's just a matter of taste, and most people don't have any.
I guess it's just one of the failures of democracy.

 

[New Life]

They really shouldn't have put that picture up, however they prolly did because humanity as a whole has this obsene fascination with pain. We seem to be attracted to it like moth's to the light. There also seems to be a common thought that if someone is hurting then we need to make them feel better, but do we? maybe their pain is serving a purpose! (not pain pain, but say upset about a bad day) maybe they're supposed to learn something from it!