Offending Your Sensibility

Offending Your Sensibility

This is going to be graphic. I'm warning you right now because I don't want to surprise you, but really, it should come to no surprise that war is not pretty. It's not like what you see in the movies. At least not all movies. There's some gritty ones every so often. For the most part Americans really white wash the images they see of war and fool themselves into thinking that War is nothing serious.



The Huffington Post reported on this soldier in this article

The U.S. patrol had a tip that Taliban fighters were lying in ambush, and a Marine had his weapon trained on the trees 70 yards away. "If you see anything move from there, light it up," Cpl. Braxton Russell told him.

Thirty seconds later, a salvo of gunfire and RPGs – rocket-propelled grenades – poured out of the grove. "Casualty! We've got a casualty!" someone shouted. A grenade had hit Lance Cpl. Joshua "Bernie" Bernard in the legs.

A Marine and son of a Marine, a devout Christian, Iraq war veteran and avid hiker, home-schooled in rural Maine, Bernard was about to become the next fatality in the deadliest month of the deadliest year since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The website used a photo taken by the AP that was deemed to some to be lacking taste or tact. But it's getting a whole lot of shit right now.

theloon: @bouhammer - May God forgive photographer, AP, & all who have made $$$'s off of LCpl Joshua Bernard's death because I won't.

Why so much shit? Because It showed Joshua getting helped by two other soldiers after the RPG grenade attack right before he died.

The Associated Press is distributing a photo of a Marine fatally wounded in battle, choosing after a period of reflection to make public an image that conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.

Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, of New Portland, Maine, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.

The image shows fellow Marines helping Bernard after he suffered severe leg injuries. He was evacuated to a field hospital where he died on the operating table.

The picture was taken by Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobson, who accompanied Marines on the patrol and was in the midst of the ambush during which Bernard was wounded. She had photographed Bernard on patrol earlier, and subsequently covered the memorial service held by his fellow Marines after his death.

So in short, The AP has published the photo in spite of the family's request that they not...

Although that's a terrible picture that looks like it was pulled off a cell phone, this photo as well as other "tasteful" dead soldier photos should absolutely be published just to let people know that yes, this is in fact happening every goddamn day. It's amazing that for such a cruel and destructive society we're actually just a bunch of pussies.



You mean... sometimes ARE TROOPS die in war?!?! Oh, you're prepared to send your son off to die as long as no one actually sees it. I get it. Like the man said, if he didn't print this photo, people like his grandma will think war is what they see on TV.

This isn't me not supporting our troops. This is me showing you the gritty reality of war. Of what you suggest we must do to preserve our freedom in a war that has very little to do with our safety. So while the following image may be graphic, it's really no more graphic than things you've seen on television. Hell, Breaking Bad last season had a man's leg get blown clean off because of drug runners. This is very much tamer than that. I suppose the only difference is you know now that this guy didn't survive this.

But here it is. This is what War really is. Gritty, nasty and all around dangerous for anyone and everyone involved.



My sympathy goes out to the family of Joshua, but he died serving this country. While I do not believe in the cause of this aggression, I do believe that his life was needlessly sacrificed in a pointless battle. I don't believe that this image should be covered up. It's like censoring the Nadia tape. While I believe that got way too much hype, I do believe that this one should be a wake up call and a question as to why we're really there.

P.S. If you feel I'm offensive in my handling of this situation, please don't click on this blog on 9/11. Not unless you can handle my wacky sense of humor.