Shocking pictures, like that of the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi from Syria, can alter perceptions. But we pick and choose what will horrify us * WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS IMAGES THAT READERS MAY FIND DISTRESSING Can images change history? Like many people – or perhaps just many people of a certain generation – I first saw pictures of Aylan Kurdi in the old-fashioned way, sitting on the sofa at home watching the BBC’s 10 O’Clock News. The sequence began with a still that showed a Turkish policeman at the sea’s edge cradling the three-year-old Syrian boy in his arms. Brief footage then showed the policeman carrying the dead boy up the beach and disappearing behind a rock. Fergal Keane’s report told us that the boy’s mother and five-year-old brother were also among those who died when two overcrowded boats of migrants (a term the BBC prefers to “refugees”) sank soon after they set out on Wednesday at around 6am local time to make the short crossing from the Turkish mainland to the Greek island of Kos. Of the 23 people on board, only nine, including Aylan’s father, Abdullah, are thought to have survived. Continue reading...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |
