Images of bloodied bodies on the ground...Lives taken
by heartless and ruthless tyrants who used meat cleavers to butcher the innocent.
Images of the bloody meat cleaver – and blood smeared on the floor – flash
before your eyes.
This isn't a scene from one of the Canarsie Courier's front pages…and this
isn't the description of a murder that took place in our small, “quaint”
community. These are the images shown by The
Daily News following the horrific attack in a Jerusalem synagogue after
Palestinian terrorists attacked four rabbis and a police officer. Three of the rabbis
were Amercians.
If you haven't seen the crimson images of religious
books swimming in puddles of blood or lifeless bodies lying in the synagogue
after the attack, you might want to shield your eyes – THIS is what's going on
in the world!
We've gotten a lot of slack recently for featuring
bloody photos and dead bodies on our front page. Whether you choose to not buy
the paper or you want to put on rose-colored glasses and deny that violence
exists in our community, think about the fact that the media has a job to do –
deliver the truth!
Some want to cover up the violence and say, “This
doesn't happen in my community.” They don't want to accept that the images we
publish are proof that irrational people with weapons (even their car can be
considered a weapon) takes so many lives. On the flip side, when the Canarsie Courier doesn’t publish updates on certain crimes, we get complaints that
there’s “nothing in the paper” about what happened right on their block!
How about the rabbis in Jerusalem? We know that terrorist
attacks often take place in this region... We know that the violence will never
end because there are “irrational” terrorists who don’t care about anything but
their religious mission. Our community, in many ways, is just like theirs –
riddled with the same irrational people who feel shooting or killing someone is
justified due to a vendetta. What separates local incidents from violence that
takes place in other countries is that religious violence and terrorism is
often aimed at a group of people and their beliefs – whereas as a shooting here
in Canarsie is a so-called “personal” battle that thugs take into their own
hands.
Let’s get real! No matter what community you're living
in, no matter what country you live in, images of violence will follow you! Not
everything in life is about sunshine, trees and award ceremonies. There's
something about a gruesome scene – there's something about the moment right
after a brutal murder took place – that piques people's interest!
Okay…You can NOT look at the news and stay in the
closet for the rest of your life. You can turn off the TV or pop a copy of “The
Sound Of Music” into your DVD player.
But you're never going to escape reality.
The frightening images that were published after the 9/11
attacks were more than gruesome. I'm not just talking about photos or videos of
the buildings coming down. I'm referring to photos of city workers covered in
blood from the attacks….The graphic photos of bodies being pulled from the
rubble…Don’t look!
Did you shield your eyes when they published photos of
the victims from the Boston Marathon bombing? That town is someone's “small,
quiet community” which was marred by violence – and if you saw photos of
runners' limbs blown off, the blood bath that followed was probably one of the
most goory scenes displayed by the media in recent years.
The Daily
News didn't hesitate to put the blood
and guts of both acts of violence on their front pages. This is their job – to
show the public what's out there and to show us the cruel world we're living
in, big city or small town.
Another reason violence needs to be published is
because it changes how our city responds to tragedy. For example, outrage at
the attacks in Jerusalem reached New York City a few hours after the slayings.
Jewish houses of worship were placed under tight security and the attack
provoked even more protests among spiritual leaders.
Want to know the most disturbing part of covering
local violence? When a murder takes place in our community and we're “outraged”
– what do we do? Do you see herds (and I
mean hundreds of residents) taking the streets on THE SAME DAY? When a car
accident happens at a corner and it's splattered on our front page, who's
standing at that street or road picketing and protesting for better traffic
enforcement? NO ONE!
If you’re outraged at the violence – like many
communities are when someone “innocent” is killed – why not organize an epic
social movement? What are you afraid of?
In our community, the 69th Precinct Clergy Council
shows its presence at least once a month where crimes have occurred – and the
number of participants who come out to show their support and outrage are
dwindling. Where are the people who don’t like to see violence? They make all
this noise, but, when push comes to shove, they’re nowhere to be seen…
I'll be honest, I couldn't take my eyes off of those Daily News images – riddled with gore,
dead bodies and senselessness. But I accepted that violence is part of every
community, in every country. Logging off the computer and not seeing the photos
would be a lot easier. However, I'd rather be a realist than live in a fantasy
world where everything is perfect.
(Unpublished as of 11-19-2014)
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