WTC - Where are the bodies?

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[I have a feeling this guy is not the only one who wonders--I know I have at times. No, of course it's not because we enjoy seeing gruesome pictures. It's just that there's never been reluctance to show terrorist victims in other countries. I don't remember seeing gruesome pictures of survivors, either. But--get ready--there will be some surfacing in the not too distant. When the "peace and understanding" crowd gets too vociferous, the pictures will come out.]

SanFranChron

Something we need to see

Jarold Hayden Tuesday, October 23, 2001

A CALLER on a local talk-radio show pointed out that since the World Trade Center tragedy we have seen virtually no bodies. There are thousands of victims, but where are all the bodies? The talk-show host's' reaction was one of controlled anger, of sarcasm to the effect that perhaps the coverage hadn't

been sensational enough. He dismissed this man's' observation and moved on. Yet, it was a valid question.

We've heard that there was incredible carnage, but there has been nothing visual involving human remains to confirm this. Some in the media have taken it upon themselves to judge that Americans "don't need to see" the explicit effects of this atrocity. I say we should so that we could never forget.

In recent tragedies involving explosions in Israel, France and India, graphic photos and video were made available. Both Newsweek and Time depicted some of the deceased. Not so in the World Trade Center attack coverage. There hasn't been a body in evidence in the many magazines that I've looked through.

Americans have long been sheltered from the brutality that pervades our world. Among Americans, death is hidden, covered up so as to mute our emotions.

Are explicit death scenes merely propaganda to stir us up, or a "cheap sensationalizing" of tragedy, as those who bring the news to us seem to believe? The media treat us so condescendingly: We're given only what some believe we "need to see."

But consider this: That there are Americans who don't understand that these terrorists are not rational people, and that they want us to die because we don't embrace their fanatically distorted religious zeal.

That there are Americans who don't get it, who feel that we need to negotiate, to go on as if nothing has happened, to take the blame upon ourselves for being attacked, to forgive, ad nauseam.

That there are those naive enough to believe that we are the real terrorists, that American policy has something to do with fanatical animosity.

Or, as some Oakland and Berkeley high school students believe, that since this didn't occur on our coast, in our cities, it's just not our problem.

Considering this, maybe that's exactly why there is a real need for all of us to know in explicit detail just what has occurred.

What if, in World War II, it was felt that photos and movie footage from liberated death camps was too gruesome for the general public? What if LIfe magazine hadn' t published Margaret Bourke-White's condemning pictorial of Holocaust victims?

Every day we see death and mayhem in fantasy fiction presented as entertainment by Hollywood. It would seem that gratuitous violence is acceptable, but the truth is not.

Just as there are those among us who would deny that the Holocaust ever occurred, or who have forgotten British attempts to placate Nazi Germany; there are already those willing to make overtures of appeasement, while the vast majority of victims have yet to be recovered. What will it take to wake us up?

The time for gentle consideration of our feelings is long past. If seeing photographs of the carnage that rained down in the streets beneath the World Trade Center causes some to lose sleep, to feel nauseated, to feel rage, then perhaps that's exactly what we need to see.

Jarold Hayden, a street photographer, lives in San Francisco.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

Answers

I heard on a radio interview of a steel worker last week that they were still pulling red-hot beams out of the rubble. In my opinion it was a mass cremation that took place and that is why, other than the bodies of those not in the building and the body parts of those from the airplane explosion, we have not seen bodies.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

Yes, I'm sure that was the case, but there have been enough bodies and parts recovered (and videoed) that they could have been shown. Ditto for the jumpers. I agree they shouldn't have been shown, but if the appeasers become too vocal, then I say all bets are off--providing there are the usual warnings about graphic footage.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

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