What's interesting is that my usual beef with Jayar is that I find him to be such a prude, whether it be about any story about "sexualizing children" or about teenagers having any kind of non parental-approved sex. What was strange about this time is that my beef seems to be the complete opposite, in that for once I was taking the side of those that are more "sensitive".
The video in question is about FOX News accidentally (?) airing footage of a man trying to escape from police, and later committing suicide by shooting himself in the head.
The debate is, should it have been shown? Should it be shown now that the footage is already available? I was shocked that Jayar was all for showing it, saying that as a society we're too afraid to show or talk about death and comparing it to not showing the coffins of dead soldiers, and I was even more surprised that Cenk was buying it. Not to mention the "who cares if the kids are watching" argument, coming from the guy who always goes to the what about teh childrenz argument when it comes to anything remotely sex-y. Sorry Jayar, I couldn't disagree with you more.
I understand that death is a natural part of life. I understand that it is something that is treated with ultimate reverence, often times far too much. I understand that as a society we're becoming far too removed from it, not understanding that those war statistics we hear on the TV are actual people who have lost their lives. Despite all of that, I still think Jayar is really, really wrong here.
I have seen some horrendous things, images that have stayed with me at night when I close my eyes, but things that I think everyone should see. I have seen the (trigger warning) pictures of what happens when acid is thrown in a person's face, I have watched people laugh at a woman being whipped for having the audacity to wear pants, I have seen dead, mutilated children mowed down by soldiers, a University Professor's head split open like a melon for the crime of believing in education, not to mention the horrendously tortured body of a 13-year old Syrian boy for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
These images, these videos upset me enormously, but they have their purpose. This is reality, this is what actually happens. Most times it's not enough to simply know that human rights violations are happening in Syria, you have to see it with your own eyes to truly comprehend what is happening there. With the soldier's coffins, how do you as an American voter really understand the true cost of war without seeing the coffins that are shipped back to the United States day after day after day? Let's be honest now, that's why they didn't show soldier's coffins on television, not because of teh childrenz. What better way to pull the wool over a nation's eyes, what better way to keep a war going and well funded and keep getting elected, when the vast majority of the country just don't get what the war is costing them all. These images should be seen, should be shown, because people need to care, need to understand and need to get involved.
But this video here? It is of a man, in the most desperate moment of his life, deciding to end it then and there. It is there for his family to see and to know that people are watching it and getting a kick out of it. What purpose does this video have, other than to satisfy a macabre voyerism? How is this video in any way comparable to videos of soldier's coffins coming back from Iraq?
Sorry Jayar, I'm not buying what you're selling.
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