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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
when i first read susan sontag as a 19 year old taking a class on film/visual analysis, my brain was forever rewired. now at 25, i still feel that giddiness of reading her, even if now i feel more confident in pushing back against some of her arguments.
this book is so clearly a post 9/11 book, and feels like a precursor to what the past decade has been like. she mentions israel/palestine a few times, but it really sets the stage for how images from palestine rn are received by americans. she def focuses more on those who are viewing images of war from a sense of privilege, rather than those that are experiencing it first hand (or who may be taking these photos as a mean of survival rather than voyeurism) but that’s more bc she’s writing this as a call for the type of ppl who’d be reading her writing
this book is so clearly a post 9/11 book, and feels like a precursor to what the past decade has been like. she mentions israel/palestine a few times, but it really sets the stage for how images from palestine rn are received by americans. she def focuses more on those who are viewing images of war from a sense of privilege, rather than those that are experiencing it first hand (or who may be taking these photos as a mean of survival rather than voyeurism) but that’s more bc she’s writing this as a call for the type of ppl who’d be reading her writing
Eentje om af en toe te herlezen. Hoewel geschreven aan het begin van de 21e eeuw, voordat gruwelijke beelden ons echt 24/7 om de oren vlogen, ontzettend relevant.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
even more relevant now than it was in 2003 when first published. I would love everyone to read this book and consider what we consume & how we consume in terms of images of suffering
She suddenly jumped to become one of my best ever authors to read for. An absolute masterpiece.
Here is a small reflection while reading the first two chapters of the book:
Footnotes while reading Sontag's "Regarding the pain of others":
I am reflecting on the quote about how photographs replaced written words, which in turn replaced spoken words. They felt real, as mentioned earlier in the text—this shift dating back to the early 1900s. Despite referencing television's role in broadcasting daily updates about the Vietnam War in the 50's, "Regarding the Pain of Others" was written in 2003. Since then, the mediums of communication have drastically evolved, from video to social media, and to the ability of any individual—regardless of education or photographic skill—who owns a smartphone to document violence and war.
This transformation became profoundly visible during the Syrian war. Atrocities were captured by ordinary people in universities, on the streets, and in schools. Syrians waited, holding onto hope that the world would mobilize after witnessing such evidence, but nothing happened. Instead, there was a collective shock among the victims: everyone knew, yet no one acted. Worse still, the few capable of intervening refused to do so, constrained by mutual interests that opposed justice. Ordinary people in the West could only receive Syrians as refugees; they were powerless to topple regimes or halt the violence.
Then came the Gaza war in 2023. Genocide was filmed and broadcast within seconds of its occurrence, yet again, ordinary people could not stop it. This presented another kind of shock—this time for Western societies who see themselves as holding a moral high ground, ready to intervene. What they fail to realize is that their very existence, their lifestyles, and the legitimacy they grant their governments are part of the problem. These governments fund the weapons industries that profit from conflict, creating scenes of unimaginable horror—like Palestinian babies decapitated in the ongoing Gaza genocide. Such images, real and undeniable, are captured and shared in an instant.
I find myself wondering: what is the future of witnessing wars in real-time? Will drones equipped with cameras broadcast violence as a new form of entertainment for certain societies? Will people pay to watch a live execution of a so-called terrorist, or even contribute by suggesting methods of torture? It’s a terrifying thought—a dystopian evolution of platforms like OnlyFans, reimagined for violence.
Here is a small reflection while reading the first two chapters of the book:
Footnotes while reading Sontag's "Regarding the pain of others":
I am reflecting on the quote about how photographs replaced written words, which in turn replaced spoken words. They felt real, as mentioned earlier in the text—this shift dating back to the early 1900s. Despite referencing television's role in broadcasting daily updates about the Vietnam War in the 50's, "Regarding the Pain of Others" was written in 2003. Since then, the mediums of communication have drastically evolved, from video to social media, and to the ability of any individual—regardless of education or photographic skill—who owns a smartphone to document violence and war.
This transformation became profoundly visible during the Syrian war. Atrocities were captured by ordinary people in universities, on the streets, and in schools. Syrians waited, holding onto hope that the world would mobilize after witnessing such evidence, but nothing happened. Instead, there was a collective shock among the victims: everyone knew, yet no one acted. Worse still, the few capable of intervening refused to do so, constrained by mutual interests that opposed justice. Ordinary people in the West could only receive Syrians as refugees; they were powerless to topple regimes or halt the violence.
Then came the Gaza war in 2023. Genocide was filmed and broadcast within seconds of its occurrence, yet again, ordinary people could not stop it. This presented another kind of shock—this time for Western societies who see themselves as holding a moral high ground, ready to intervene. What they fail to realize is that their very existence, their lifestyles, and the legitimacy they grant their governments are part of the problem. These governments fund the weapons industries that profit from conflict, creating scenes of unimaginable horror—like Palestinian babies decapitated in the ongoing Gaza genocide. Such images, real and undeniable, are captured and shared in an instant.
I find myself wondering: what is the future of witnessing wars in real-time? Will drones equipped with cameras broadcast violence as a new form of entertainment for certain societies? Will people pay to watch a live execution of a so-called terrorist, or even contribute by suggesting methods of torture? It’s a terrifying thought—a dystopian evolution of platforms like OnlyFans, reimagined for violence.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
At first this short read felt like a point and shoot. Well framed, focused, straightforward, scrollable. Yet much like with pictures, there’s a difference between seeing and looking.
Image-glut keeps attention light, mobile, relatively indifferent to content
Pictured pain can be factualized, redefined, staged, globalized, anonymized, gatekept, habitualized, mobilized, and pressed upon the public consciousness. Its iconography proves humanity’s awful capabilities, whether it’s to act as suffering’s spectators or to look away.
the war would be won or lost not by anything that happened in Sarajevo, or indeed Bosnia, but by what happened in the media
Perhaps too much value is assigned to memory, not enough to thinking. Remembering is an ethical act… But history gives contradictory signals about the value of remembering in the much longer span of collective history… To reconcile, it is necessary that memory be faulty and limited.
And even though the availability of gruesome imagery today feels like a barrage, I am told that I haven’t seen suffering truly. And that’s true. I feel it is. And while I hope to remain physically distanced from pain, I am left with the question, at what intellectual length should I hold it?
To set aside the sympathy we extend to others beset by war and murderous politics for a reflection on how our privileges are located on the same map as their suffering, and may—in ways we might prefer not to imagine— be linked to their suffering, as the wealth of some may imply the destitution of others, is a task for which the painful, stirring images supply only an initial spark.
dark
informative
reflective
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced