Fauxtography
The most interesting reading to me was Photography as a Weapon by Errol Morris.
What Hany Farid had to say about how our brain processes images compared to how it processes written words was thought provoking. As was his statement, “What seems to emerge from major events and eras are one or two images that effectively embody the emotion and rage, the happiness and anger. The whole thing somehow is enfolded in there. The brain is just very good at processing visual imageries and bringing in memories associated with images.” And apparently we do it on a collective level. Two or three images that embody an event like the Vietnam War?
This got me wondering; so I Goggled some events in history, to mixed results.
WWII: 4 images of the flag raising at Iwo Jima on the first page of images! That is easily the iconic image of WWII. This is particularly interesting because the photo is actually a reenactment of the actual event. In essence, reenactment was one of the ways photographers “Photoshopped” before Photoshop. We know it is staged, so by some standards a fake, but we don’t care.
Korean War: If you don’t count the images of the Korean War Memorial in DC (which I didn’t) no iconic image stood out. This wasn’t exactly shocking since it is often referred to as the “Forgotten War.” Perhaps that is why it is forgotten. There was no one image that stuck in our memory.
The lunar landing, July 1969: Even though we’ve sent many men to the moon, this image is readily recognizable as Neil Armstrong and his “One giant leap for mankind.”
9/11: Various versions and angles of the World Trade Center in flames and a couple of the firemen raising the flag at Ground Zero. Again, two strong images dominate the first set of images.
So if Farid is right that images, even ones we know are fake, stick in our memory, it makes a twisted sort of sense that Iran would want to release a glorious picture of success instead of the “3 out of 4 ain’t bad” reality. Even if they knew they were going to get caught. And they had to know they would get caught. Their own media branch released both pictures!
With Photoshop being just the latest in a long line of photo “manipulation” for propaganda or other purposes, what can be done about it? Must something be done about it? Are we all Wile E. Coyotes hiding under our Acme umbrella of “seeing is believing?” And if we are, maybe that’s ok. After all, he always manages to rise from the ashes and give it one more try!
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