" Where I fault CNN is their spin against Bush and their failure to address the lack of state and local leadership.
I don't honestly know if it's truly respectful to allow all these people to die, yet show none of them on televison."
Agree with first sentiment and diverge slightly with the second.
If the media wants to show the dead, with the family's permission, at their funeral service- that would be ok.
The fireman after 9/11 covered the remains of the fallen with the flag, as they were brought out of Ground Zero.
That was appropriate and respectful.
But, CNN wants to show the uncovered corpses as they lay-which is morbid and disrespectful to the dead and their family members.
Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that the mortuary generally prefers to make the dead presentable for viewing, especially if time has elapsed since death, before allowing the family to see them.
Because the image of a loved one in disarray, covered in blood, in rigor ,discolored and in many cases now, bloated -will never be erased from their memory and shouldn't be broadcast nationwide.
Thanks for the comments.
While I understand your desire to have the bodies presentable, it's so far removed from the tragedy they experienced that I still object.
Tell me ten thousand people died and it's just a number. It doesn't reveal a foot sticking out from under, over there. It doesn't reveal a corpse on it's stomach across the way. It doesn't show an arm by itself up the street. You don't see the body recovered from the mud that had been under 20 feet of water. It doesn't show the person whose bloated body was lodged in an attic.
Some will see this as a morbid desire to see, but I see it as truly recognizing what these people went through. Seeing those bodies would remind us like nothing else what we should be fighting to avoid when there's a call to evacuate or prepare for the next one.
I really do understand where you are coming from, but on a number of levels, I think showing the bodies is important. Show them late at night so the kids can miss it, but show the adults what the reality of this situation truly is.
Thanks again for the discussion.