connecting*the*dots

12 Responses to “Reality, By James Nachtwey”  

1. 1 Anita Mar 9th, 2007 at 9:54 pm

   Someone needs to build a pipeline through subsaharan Africa so that the U.S. will actually notice. It’s so despicable that we’re willing to spend Trillions batting flies in the Middle East, while we ignore the real atrocities occuring thousands of miles away.

   We should either be crusaders, peace keepers, or isolationists… we can’t be all three.

2. 2 sean coon Mar 10th, 2007 at 1:17 am

   our government thinks in terms of interests — particularly of the short-term variety — not humanity.

   we’re crusaders, peace keepers and isolationists because they each play a role in the tangled web of propaganda that allows us to pursue our interests.

   it sickens me.

3. 3 Interested Citizen Mar 11th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

   Do you think it is interesting that we have indeed made overt efforts to help in Africa; Somalia, in particular? I recall a tragic event in Mogadishu that was represented in the movie, “Black Hawk Down.� If I am not mistaken, due to that event, there was a significant public outcry which led to our ‘early withdrawal’ from helping to stabilize their new government, which contributed significantly to the disaster going on there now.

   Even ignoring that, I am sure that you will be glad to know that our government spends a significant amount of money on programs such as the Africa Contingency Operation Training Assistance program. The program offers free military training and equipment to struggling democracies throughout Africa so that those countries can send peace keeping forces to regions like Somalia, Darfur and others.

   I guess the real question I have is, do you really not think the government sees humanity as one of its interests? Even if all I was really interested in was oil and money, it would be significantly easier to trade with a stable country than one that is suffering from disastrous inhumanity. I mean, really, it’s not like we invade a country, pump out the oil, take the gold and then leave. It seems that in many cases the world hates the US because we draw so much attention to ourselves in our struggling efforts to promote stability and humanity. Iraq is a good example of this… if the US left Iraq today; do you think the Iraqi future would look much better than that of Somalia? I think it has the potential to be far worse.

   I will concede that you are absolutely right in saying that we are crusaders, peace keepers and isolationists; however, I disagree with your reasoning for that. While it may be fun and exciting to entertain the idea that our government is running these big secret evil propaganda programs, it’s just not very realistic. I think the reason we see such irreverent contradictions in our nature, i.e. Isolationist – Crusaders, is that we are a democratic republic. A majority of the representatives of the citizens of the US agreed that we should go into Iraq, and now a majority agrees that we should leave. It is in the nature of the organization, based on the will of the people, to have different attitudes at different times.

   I would hope that the democratic nature of the government will allow our country to be a crusader, a peace keeper and isolationistic all at the right times and in the right places, since no single view will always be right. That is the hope anyway… There are mistakes made, some of them very horrible, our government has much room for improvement. However, I feel that it is important to note that as a fledgling government of around 400 years, we are doing far better than any other system. While some instances may be sickening, I think that in general it may not hurt to give the US a tiny bit of credit from time to time.

4. 4 sean coon Mar 11th, 2007 at 3:27 pm

   there’s too much for me to respond to in your comment, so i’m just going to pick one thought:

   “It seems that in many cases the world hates the US because we draw so much attention to ourselves in our struggling efforts to promote stability and humanity.”

   riiiight.

   see, i naively thought the hatred stemmed from something to do with our hubris and lies. you know “You are either with us or against us“… or what about the classic “Bring ‘em on!” comment? how about the fuckin’ lie regarding the iraq / niger yellow cake connection that was spread to the world and congress as bushco. postured for war? and don’t forget the lies about an al qaeda / saddam connection that also made a case for us to go to war

   thanks for correcting me on all of the above. really.

5. 5 Leo Mar 11th, 2007 at 3:49 pm

   Sean, I don’t think the world hates the USA. It’s the corrupt & lying politicians that run both the USA & the UK who are disliked. Just remember to use your vote wisely in the next election.
   Regards
   Leo

6. 6 sean coon Mar 11th, 2007 at 5:32 pm

   i agree with you, leo, but don’t you find it amusing when we look around the world at corrupt dictators and openly question why “their” people haven’t stood up and removed them from power? similar to the rhetoric of “if islam is 99% peaceful, then why don’t those people do something about the radicals?”

   until this november, my vote has fallen on deaf ears since 2000. that being the case, we the people are absolutely responsible for this monstrosity of an administration.

7. 7 Interested Citizen Mar 11th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

   Your response seems somewhat hostile. I certainly hope that I did not offend you. If I am bothering you, I will gladly take my opinions and questions elsewhere. However, in the mean time:

   “You are either with us or against us.” –What’s wrong with that? Do you think we should instead tell the world that we would like them to ‘publicly’ state that they are against terrorism, while they ‘secretly’ fund it? Or perhaps we should promote the concept that, terrorism is one of those things that will go away if you ignore it long enough? Terrorism is a real problem, and needs to be approached aggressively.

   The classic “Bring ‘em on.” –Should we instead have our military leaders cringe and say, “Please Mr. Terrorist, please don’t hit me!?”

   Iraq / Niger Yellow cake. –Um, I followed your links regarding this to Wikipedia. Do you consider that to be a legitimate resource?

8. 8 sean coon Mar 11th, 2007 at 10:05 pm

   no, IC, you didn’t bother me at all, i just strongly disagree with much, if not all of your perspective.

   the world isn’t black & white; “with us or against us” as a rallying cry does nothing to align allies, it only attempts to bully countries into following our will. turkey refused to let us use their air bases for deployment purposes prior to the iraq war. were they “against us” because 90% of their citizens felt the iraq war was wrong?

   what about germany and france? are they not our allies because they refused to join the war? that “freedom fry” thing was a brilliant move, don’t you think?

   as for “bring ‘em on”… bush may be the commander-in-chief, but he is not a “military leader.” i’d bet the farm that not one general in iraq would’ve blurted out anything near as stupid. our men & women are trained to do a job — they don’t do it better because our president likes to talk tough. all bush did was create clipboard material for the enemy, and to be quite frank, without relatives in combat, it was a “no skin in the game” type move.

   feel free to research the iraq/niger non-connection on your own.

9. 9 debris Mar 11th, 2007 at 10:07 pm

   Nachtwey’s photos are stunning, in both the aesthetic and the emotional senses of the word. Photojournalist Adam Nadel (full disclosure: he’s an old friend of mine) has done similar work. You can see examples from his “Noncombatants” series here.

10. 10 j house Mar 17th, 2007 at 11:12 pm

    There is something sickening about making art of tragedy.Nachtwey is an artist, documenting reality…he thinks it is photojournalism. I differ.
    He camera looks through a soda straw.
    Take the image of the limbless man and his family in Indonesia. Yes, that is reality but it is not representative of an Indonsesian’s plight there.
    One man among 200 million other souls.

    If you physically go to the root of conflict…you will find (and shoot) conflict.
    His straw (lens) rarely points to hope or redemption
    His choice, but don’t tell us your camera’s reality is ours too.

11. 11 j house Mar 17th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    Iraq did purchase yellowcake from Niger in the 80’s, so YOU get your facts straight. In fact, at Al Tawaitha, Iraq had in stock tons of yellowcake and over 1.7 tons of ENRICHED (3%) uranium.
    I don’t claim they were ever close to making a bomb with it, but get your facts straight.Iraq had been acquiring yellowcake for decades..in fact, they really didn’t need anymore from Niger. The enriched uranium in their stocks was enough to make several bombs. The nexus of Saddam and the AQ Khan network would have been a threat to US national security.

12. 12 sean coon Mar 18th, 2007 at 3:32 am

    “but don’t tell us your camera’s reality is ours too.”

    funny… that’s exactly the opposite of what i take away from nachtwey’s work. he’s explicitly exposing a reality that gets limited press and focus from the mainstream. i’m not quite sure why that upsets you, jhouse.

    =======

    as for your second comment… in 2002, did iraq attempt to purchase yellow cake in niger as george bush charged? (”The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”)

    yes or no?