A call for no more death porn

Shane Wade
Opinion Editor

When rebels finally killed Gadhafi last week, I cheered, not for the death of a man, but for the death of the era of oppression that Libyans had lived under for years.

Gadhafi murdered and tortured thousands of innocent Libyans during his reign. Despite my distance from the issue, I felt relieved and joyed for the Libyan rebels. But when American news outlets took the liberty of displaying Gadhafi’s dead body to their audiences, I took offense.

I have no sympathy for despots and tyrants, but I firmly believe that no person or organization should take actions tantamount to parading the dead body of anyone, friend or foe. Any individual that looks upon a dead body, whether they are the dead bodies of global enemies or personal bullies, with any sort of joy or emotion higher than pity, is morally bankrupt and mentally ill.

Unfortunately, the media has once again given in to the bloodlust of society’s lowest common denominators and released “death porn,” images of gore and death that serve no intellectual or informational purposes. This same sickness emerged after the capture of Saddam Hussein and when Osama Bin Laden was killed.

The media plays an immoral ratings game when prominent figures die, particularly when those figures are commonly considered “enemies” and die gruesome deaths.

The news report should speak for itself; I highly doubt that the “pictures are an integral element in the story-telling process,” as NBC12 news reported. It does not and should not take an image of his dead, bloody, mangled body for me to know that Gadhafi is dead. If you can’t inform the audience without those images, you’re not a real news station.

When arguing this particular belief, opponents often make the logical fallacy of declaring, “Just because it’s available, doesn’t mean I have to look at it.” This is true, but they ignore the critical philosophical and moral arguments against displaying such images.

Death porn has no purpose other than appealing to the unrestrained id that lurks in the heart of individuals and society. We are no longer the cavemen that warded off strangers by displaying the beheaded bodies of our enemies. We are civilized people, able to restrain our radical selves in favor of, as Abraham Lincoln said, the better angels of our nature.

My position does not arise from squeamishness; I delight in shows like “Dexter” and books like Mary Roach’s “Stiff,” so it’d be plainly dishonest if I said death and dead bodies didn’t interest me. But I take no pride in parading around the bodies, whether they are virtual or physical, of perceived enemies. It’s respect for moral lines like these that transcend culture and creed that separate us from those that fight against us.