I can’t believe that so many people have come here seeking pictures of the car crash that killed Ben Hollioake. It seems sick to me.
But are we becoming inured to such images? As we look through both traditional and online media almost every day, it seems that hardly a moment goes by when we do not see such an image. The most striking example is the terrorist attacks of September 11th – there are photos of the burning towers everywhere, and yet within those towers, people were trapped, dying and dead. Are we becoming desensitized? Isn’t this a bad thing?
Other examples: the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales; the aftermath of any one of the recent bomb attacks in Israel; images of bodies lying in the streets and dust in Afghanistan. I’m not saying that we should not see these things, but are they now treated with a ghoulishness that belittles the losses that the images represent?