Regarding the Pain of Others

War has always played a role in almost every country’s history. countries use all the resources they can acquire to build an army ready to defend its country whenever required to do so. Unfortunately, war is a violent solution to resolving disputes amongst countries. The outcome of warfare can be very tragic. Thousands and thousands of people die, buildings and homes are destroyed, and in the end, more problems are created.

In the passage “Regarding the pain of others”, Susan Sontag explains how those who are not on the frontline during times of war can view the disastrous effects through photography. Thus, people can gain a perspective and witness the pain of those who are experiencing the war firsthand. Photographers develop these pictures and present them to the public, hoping to open the eyes of people to the severity of war; As a result, motivate society to put an end to war and attempt at other means to solving disputes peacefully rather than violently.

Given that the photos can be quite explicit, the government made the decision to place a censorship on the kinds of photos that can be published and the number of photographers than can capture the battle through their camera lenses. Therefore, are able to filter out any pictures that can have an exaggerated emotional effect on the eyes of the public. In the essay Susan Sontag writes, “The first organized ban on press photography at the front came during the First World War; both the German and the French high commands allowed only a few selected military photographers near the fight”. This just goes to show how significant censorship was during times of war that even the commanders were instructed to stress this restriction. I feel that the censorship should be more lenient on the kinds of photos that can be published. Those who are not serving in combat have the right to witness war for what it really is; That is, a catastrophic approach to solving quarrels.