Editorial dissent: publishing pictures of Ghadafi's brutal death is unnecessary and disrespectful

I don’t particularly like seeing images of dead, bloody people, and I really don’t like seeing them on the front page of a newspaper.

The media are publishing photos of Moammar Gadhafi’s bloody body everywhere, and I think it’s wrong.

I haven’t seen the images because I don’t care to look at the gore. I’d hate to pick up a morning newspaper or click on the front page of a news site and be smacked in the face with a violent image.

The images aren’t exactly rated G. They don’t need to be easily accessible by children or by people who like to eat while they read.

But my reasons for not wanting those photos published are more than the fact that they’re disturbing. Gadhafi did horrible things in life, but we shouldn’t mock him when he’s dead by displaying his current shape.

It doesn’t matter that he was hated by almost everyone. Even if the whole world wished to see him dead and not a single friend or family member mourned his passing, we should respect the dead man enough to not show a photo of his mangled corpse.

While Gadhafi might not have respected another living soul, we shouldn’t follow his example. He’s dead, and the world is a better place for it. We don’t need to be bombarded with the physical evidence. Let it be.

Less than six months ago, another terrorist was killed, and the United States cried out in support and relief. The man who ordered the 9/11 tragedy would kill no more. One can easily argue Americans wanted Osama bin Laden dead much more than they wanted Gadhafi gone.

And yet, we don’t see photos of bin Laden’s corpse. In fact, the U.S. Department of Justice classified the images and won’t release them, claiming that doing so would give away secret CIA and military techniques.

The world hated bin Laden, but we haven’t seen his body. We didn’t demand photos as proof of his death. Why do we need them as proof of Gadhafi’s? Isn’t the military’s word enough?

I think we all would have believed Gadhafi was dead without seeing photographic evidence, just as we believed it with bin Laden. It’s not necessary to provide proof, and it disrespects the dead. Gadhafi doesn’t deserve respect, but we should be the bigger people and not publish the images — especially where anyone can accidentally stumble across them.

­— hanns@indiana.edu