Facing reality

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Ryan Starr 5 Comments

THE COVER of the Aug. 9 issue of Time has generated a fair bit of controversy among those on both sides of the debate over the war in Afghanistan.

The magazine’s front features a disturbing image of an 18-year-old Afghan woman who had her nose and ears cut off as punishment for fleeing an arranged marriage with a member of the Taliban (fucking savages).

The accompanying headline is no less provocative: “What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan.” No question mark. As in, that’s a fact — at least the way Time sees it.

The New York Times notes:

Reaction to the Time cover has become something of an Internet litmus test about attitudes toward the war, and what America’s responsibility is in Afghanistan. Critics of staying in Afghanistan call it “emotional blackmail” and even “war porn,” while those who fear the consequences of abandoning Afghanistan see it as a powerful appeal to conscience.

Not sure I see the logic this headline implies: that such barbaric violence will be the consequence of the U.S. and its allies – including Canada – finally ending their missions in Afghanistan. Indeed, as some critics have noted, this woman’s heinous mutilation occurred while coalition forces were in the field.

Time managing editor Richard Stengel posted a statement on the magazine’s website explaining his cover decision:

I apologize to readers who find the image too strong … but bad things do happen to people, and it is part of our job to confront and explain them. In the end, I felt that the image is a window into the reality of what is happening — and what can happen — in a war that affects and involves all of us.

I would rather confront readers with the Taliban’s treatment of women than ignore it. I would rather people know that reality as they make up their minds about what the U.S. and its allies should do in Afghanistan.

Shocking as the cover is, I think Time has succeeded in using it effectively to do its journalistic duty. It’s renewed debate about the war at a time when it sometimes seems as if people here in the West would prefer to act like it’s not still raging.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

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  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Toronto#2005:_.22Year_of_the_Gun.22 TOOPHATTOOFURIOUS

    I can’t believe I haven’t commented on this post yet. Islam’s my topic of choice after all, and not because I like it.

    I’ve noticed in my travels that the West really does sanitize its news coverage. I understand the reasoning behind it, not wanting to offend and so forth. I think the media are doing their viewers/readers a disservice though, because they’re not really showing the reality of things. I remember reading stories about the taliban long before 9/11 and the articles were invariably in the ‘quirky’ news section, “look what those wacky taliban are up to now; banning music! hurr hurr”

    Maybe some mainstream news channels should broadcast footage of some women getting stoned to death in Iran, or perhaps some footage of public executions of gays, and see how people feel about Iran then. Thankfully one can go online and find this footage these days, but how many people are inclined to do that? Not enough in my opinion.

    I don’t find the above image very confronting, because I’ve seen worse images of Islamic violence. If anything , once again the reality is being sanitized (why do they have her hair covering her mutilated ears for example?) I would for once like the Western media to treat us as adults.

    “I apologize to readers who find the image too strong …”
    Why? Why apologise for showing the truth (almost)? We are at war. It’s an adult magazine, if you don’t want to read it then go back to reading comics.

    This is the reason there are some people out there who still describe islam as a religion of peace, without a hint or irony.

  • Ryan Starr

    Good point on the covering up of the ears. Wonder if it would have had more of an impact if the entire extent of her mutilation had been shown.
    Re sanitization of coverage – does the non-Western mainstream media show footage of stonings in Iran and execution of gays?

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Toronto#2005:_.22Year_of_the_Gun.22 TOOPHATTOOFURIOUS

    “-does the non-Western mainstream media show footage of stonings in Iran and execution of gays?”

    Not sure if they show it live on the 6pm news. They have public executions of gays in Iran, not sure if its shown live on TV, though I’ve seen some footage with news banners in the lower third of the screen (though that could be independent video that’s been put on the net) I’ve also seen footage of stonings and beheadings, where the public stands around and watches and cheers. It’s really stomach churning stuff. It takes the blinkers off.

    Do you remember that footage of the taliban guy shooting that women in the head (she’s in a blue burka) in some stadium in Afghanistan, and people are sitting in the stands, eating, like they are watching a football match?

    I could put up plenty of links here, but I’ll spare you. Its really worth looking into though because it shows the kind of people were’re dealing with better than almost anything else I can think of. I’ve forced myself to watch this stuff because I want to see the truth, and that includes footage of coalition soldiers being beheaded/blown up and deaths caused by the coalition forces. When I go to vote I take it more seriously and I feel more informed. Particularly as I’m in Australia and the news media here is woeful.

    Even watching the news in South America is shocking, not just because there’s more violence occurring, but because they also show more of it. I’m not saying the local news should turn into a gore fest of car accidents, but when its something like this where we are at war, or there is potential for war, they should show us more details. My hat is off to Time for at least showing something.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Toronto#2005:_.22Year_of_the_Gun.22 TOOPHATTOOFURIOUS

    I just did a quick search on liveleak.com for ‘stoning’ and a video came up with the description:

    “stoning to film by Iranian state television (sorry for poor quality as it taken some 20 years ago), this horrifying penalty being executed after getting lashed for three former police officers committed raping a female while she was subjected to false imprisonment, stoning still being carried out for crime like rape and having sex with a married person. ”

    So official state media was showing footage, I’ve actually seen it before, look genuine (has state tv logo). Genuine and barbaric.

  • Ryan Starr

    Totally remember that Taliban / stadium footage. That’s when I first became aware of these cats and their charming ways of dealing with troublesome women.