Susan Sontag's Double Message

“Silence can become complicity in oppression,” articulated Carol Guzy, as her eyes, filled with compassion and wisdom, scanned the audience. A four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, she radiated ethos, and my fellow National Youth Correspondents at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference soaked up every carefully crafted word. She touched on what it means to wield a camera or a pen to fight for the things others would wield a gun to defend, and how personal values make the journalist, not expensive technology or flashy gimmicks. During the half hour she spoke I realized that the personal impact journalism has is just as important as the societal effect. Carol Guzy’s voice was shown in images of tragedy-stricken places: New Orleans in 2005, Haiti in 2010; mine is shown in the words I string together as I try to better understand the world around me.

In modern times, children face violence in the Middle East such as Alan Kurdi, a Middle Eastern boy who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to escape conflict similar to the many Jewish boys that struggled to flee from Nazi Germany. Although they do not know it, these children are representations of innocence, whom are unaware that their situation could have been prevented if not for the indifference of other countries. In both these situations, the U.S. takes no action to help end the suffering of people and the purpose of the speech is to change that very aspect. Wiesel expresses appreciation to the U.S. government; “… I am filled with a profound and abiding gratitude to the American people,” however, it is also a strategy to develop a non-aggressive approach to the audience as he will be identifying the tragedies that Americans created by their indifference (1). Wiesel reminds the audience of the atrocities during the 20th century through

Having been so open about his feelings and the events that occurred within Rwanda, therefore bound to surface just how disappointed he was, with not only the government, but mostly with himself. He recalls and describes events that not only shock, but disturb the majority of the readers. The biggest parts of the whole essay that truly emotionally connected to people in more ways than one would have to be the description of the young orphaned boy and the way the government talks about the situation. “We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here are humans.” (Dallaire, 502, 18) Being able to look at the devastating chaos and be able to say “all that is here are humans.” As if humans- young or old, black or white, male or female, aren’t worth our time and oh so valuable finances. If Dallaire did not have readers attentions before his point, it is guaranteed he did afterwards.

After telling the anecdote of the women and two children who gave Jolie the last of their drink, she says, “Since before the parable of the Widow’s Mite it has been known that those who have the least will give the most” (Jolie 3). The parable of the Widow’s Mite tells of a poor widow who gives everything she had for God. By alluding to the Widow’s Mite, Jolie once again reflects upon the generosity of refugees and those who are in need. By making those listening to her speech once again think about the generosity of the women giving the last of their drink supplies away, Angelina Jolie creates a emotional appeal. Jolie uses historical allusion again when she compares what’s happening to the refugees in Pakistan to other situations in the Middle East. Jolie says, “Whether it be Darfur, Myanmar, or Swat Valley, or some as yet unknown crises, mass migrations will be a feature of our future…” (Jolie 5). The allusion to the genocide taking place in Darfur, the displacement of over 139,000 people in Myanmar, and the Malala shooting in Swat Valley gives examples of other times people like the Afghanistan refugees in Pakistan have been displaced from their homes. Many of those listening to Angelina Jolie’s speech are familiar with the events that she alludes to and have felt sympathy or even helped those people affected by those situations. By alluding to those events and comparing what is happening in Pakistan to those events, Jolie creates an emotional appeal to those listening to her speech by making them feel the same sympathy they felt for those who were affected by the events she alludes to. Because of the sympathy they now feel for Afghan refugees, listeners are persuaded to help those

Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is a photograph that documents a moment of distress within American history. The image works as a visual representation of suffering for those who were lucky enough not to live within the Dust Bowl region. To many it is uncertain if Lange’s image became an American Icon because of the struggle it presented or because of the eye capturing composition of it. However, with this image came forth the issue of a photos validity after photo manipulation, as Lange edited the image by removing the thumb of the mother who was a large subject. Despite the slight manipulation in Migrant Mother, the photograph still presents the situation truthfully, making the photograph function as both a work of art and a historical document.

When Elie Wiesel talks about the various devastating events happening in the world, he says, “Countless civil wars, senseless chain of assassinations….bloodbaths in Cambodia, Nigeria.”(paragraph 3) These example of imagery are effective towards showing the audience striking images of what's really going on in the world while they sit back oblivious doing nothing about it. This visual imagery impacts the tone of guilt by the author including the details that are so vivid, showing the worlds awful reality. The authors uses imagery to prove his point of view and illustrate the tone of guilt towards the

A wise Ethiopian ruler, Haile Selassie, once said “throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph”. Throughout millennia, despite many differences in language, cultural, and social structures, humans all developed the same characteristics in their approach in tragedies happening around the world. When responding to tragedies, humans can either be aghast, furious, and eager to do whatever they can to help or they can be in support of the people who caused the tragedy. However, there is one response that is arguably worse than the latter: being

A wise, Ethiopian Ruler by the name of Haile Selassie once said that “throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph” Throughout millennia, despite many differences in language, cultural, and social structures, humans all developed the same characteristics like, for one; their approach in tragedies happening around the world. When responding to tragedies, humans can either be aghast, furious, and eager to do whatever they can to help or they can be in support of the people who caused the tragedy. However, there is one response that is arguably worse

These photos reveal the unconscious biases of the individual photographers that are simply represented by the choice of subject matter in each photo or what a photographer decided to omit. Another level of bias that must be considered is that of the evacuees themselves. It is not known how many activities, if any, were staged for the camera but one can presume some self-consciousness on the part of adults who were in charge of the children so that they would be presented in a positive way.

In the memoir We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families, Philip Gourevitch builds his credibility by essentially stating that, ‘The best reason I have come up with for looking closely into Rwanda’s stories is that ignoring them makes me more uncomfortable about existence and my place in it”, including conversations he has had with authority figures in Rwanda, and the numerous stories collected from victims of the genocide and genocidaires (Gourevitch 20). By stating that Gourevitch would be more disturbed about his place as a human, if he had not collected all of the stories from people that experienced the Rwandan Genocide, it presents his trust in this because he feels as if there is a duty for him to spread

soldiers were killed. The U.S won the battle, but lost the war. Sure the U.S helped feed millions of people for a certain period of time, but overall the intervention turned out to be unsuccessful because once they left, starvation would soon hit Somalia once again. The Somali leader and the main instigator of starvation was not arrested, many innocent people were killed and when the U.S withdrew its troops, 18 soldiers' lives were lost in vain because their mission was not accomplished with their deaths.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide presented one of the most horrific crimes against humanity since the Holocaust of World War II. In addition, it was also the first tragedy of its kind with the opportunity to be represented in full by the media. Media played a different role here than in the Holocaust, providing large coverage of the atrocities taking place “Remarkably, during a genocide that claimed as many as a million lives, this is one of the only times a killing is

Genocide is rightfully seen as one of the most emotionally heavy words in the English language. When many people think of genocide, they might correlate the word to the attempted, and nearly successful, extermination of the Jewish people during World War II. To stand by and watch fellow human beings killing each other because of their race, religion, sexuality, etc., leads many to conclude those who stand by are just as guilty as those who commit the act. Unfortunately, countless horrendous acts are kept silent from the global eye, as the film The Devil Came on Horseback intends to show us. Anne Sundeburg’s 2007 documentary, The Devil Came on Horseback, creatively uses persuasion techniques, which include: the credibility of Marine Brian

“The Way We Live Now” by Susan Sontag had a compelling writing style that gave off the impression that it was a gossip column. Sontag’s short story focuses on the conversations the unnamed central character’s friends have. This unnamed male has AIDS and his condition dictates these conversations. While getting treatment at a hospital, his friends visit and bring him gifts, such as flowers and chocolate. After a while, the doctor sends the unknown protagonist home; Quentin, one of his friends, moves into his house to take care of him until he can manage by himself. His friends engage in a conversation about his disease and his condition. Even though, the unnamed character started getting better, “The Way We Live Now” ends with him in the hospital

Genocide, a dire event, has been recurring time and time again throughout history. In the past, there was the Holocaust, where Hitler exterminated over six million Jews based on his anti-semitic views. Elie Wiesel, a Jewish author, has become a very influential man in educating the world of the true events of the Holocaust due to his involvement in the disaster. Presently, a genocide is occurring in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, in which according to Cheryl Goldmark, “a systematic slaughter of non-Arab residents at the the hands of Arab militiamen called Janjaweed” has been taking place since 2003. (1) Not only is genocide a tragic historical event, it also continuously occurs today.