Pictures That Shocked The World (viewer discretion advised)

Hi all

I have just came across the picture below and found it some what disturbing and thought I would try and find out a bit more about this picture and found some more heartbreaking pictures that I thought I would share and discuss.




I am not sure where or when this picture was taken but it hurts to look at it



The above picture portrays Agim Shala, a two-year-old boy, who is passed through a fence made with barbed wire to his family. Thousands of Kosovo refugees were reunited and camped in Kukes, Albania.



Bullet casings cover entirely a street in Monrovia. The Liberian capital was the worst affected region, because it was the scene of heavy fighting between government soldiers and rebel forces.



The Thammasat University Massacre took place on October 6, 1976. It was a very violent attack on students who were demonstrating against Field Marshall Thanom Kittikachorn.

F. M. T. Kittikachorn was a dictator who was planning to come back to Thailand. The return of the military dictator from exile provoked very violent protests. Protestors and students were beaten, mutilated, shot, hung and burnt to death.




Haitian tragedy

In 2006, Israeli authorities ordered the evacuation of illegal outposts, such as Amona. Oded Balilty, an Israeli photographer for the Associated Press, was present when the evacuation degenerated into violent and unprecedented clashes between settlers and police officers. The picture shows a brave woman rebelling against authorities. Like many pictures on this list, “The Power of One” has been another subject of major controversy. Ynet Nili is the 16-year-old Jewish settler from the above picture. According to Ynet, “a picture like this one is a mark of disgrace for the state of Israel and is nothing to be proud of. The picture looks like it represents a work of art, but that isn’t what went on there. What happened in Amona was totally different.” Nili claims the police beat her up very harshly. “You see me in the photograph, one against many, but that is only an illusion – behind the many stands one man – (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert, but behind me stand the Lord and the people of Israel

One of the most representative and striking photos of the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami was taken by Reuters photographer Arko Datta in Tamil Nadu. He won the World Press Photo competition of 2004. Kathy Ryan, jury member and picture editor of The New York Times Magazine, characterized Datta’s image as a “graphic, historical and starkly emotional picture.” “After the Tsunami” illustrates an Indian woman lying on the sand with her arms outstretched, mourning a dead family member. Her relative was killed by one of the deadliest natural disasters that we have ever seen: the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Pablo Bartholomew is an acclaimed Indian photojournalist who captured the Bhopal Gas Tragedy into his lens. Twenty-six years have passed since India’s worst industrial catastrophe injured 558,125 people and killed as many as 15,000. Because safety standards and maintenance procedures had been ignored at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, a leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals triggered a massive environmental and human disaster. Photographer Pablo Bartholomew rushed to document the catastrophe. He came across a man who was burying a child. This scene was photographed by both Pablo Bartholomew and Raghu Rai, another renowned Indian photojournalist.

This picture hurts me really bad anything with children especially this 9 year old boy from Iraq.



After 3 days of struggling, Omayra died due to hypothermia and gangrene. Her tragic death accentuated the failure of officials to respond quickly and save the victims of Colombia’s worst ever natural disaster. Frank Fournier took this photo shortly before Omayra died. Her agonizing death was followed live on TV by hundreds of millions of people around the world and started a major controversy. May her soul rest in peace…

I hope some of these pictures hold a place in ones heart. Not all are man made tragedies but that does not make any them less horrific.

This is the real world in which we live in. I myself Live in extreme comfort compared to some of these people and viewing these photos give me a sense of reality and gratitude.

I'm pretty sure everyone here is aware of this stuff. Unfortunately, there is very little any of us can do without attending to these souls in person.

Why? Because every agency we use to help them benefits more from our aid than the people we are ATTEMPTING to aid do themselves.

In short, we are helpless to help them. I wish it were not so, but...it is.

This is the world we live in. Welcome home.

Namaste

Wow. Some really amazingly disturbing pictures. Where did you find them? Are they all award winning pictures from one site or did you find them all over the place while researching the first one?

Thanks for posting. Star and flag!

reply to post by windword



Most are from one site I searched the web for the first pic and found the rest.

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom....



This is what I hear in my head when I see pictures like those.

reply to post by JibbyJedi



I can not even bear to look at that man !

reply to post by judus


Really, really sad.

Nobody deserves suffering like this.

Why does the world have to suck so much?

I understand why so many people would rather watch reality TV shows than the news.

Maybe we're all in hell and we don't even realize it...

Originally posted by RealSpoke
Why does the world have to suck so much?

I understand why so many people would rather watch reality TV shows than the news.

Maybe we're all in hell and we don't even realize it...

edit on 10-2-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

ive often thought that maybe earth is purgatory(the in between that religion goes on about)
if we dont do right here in this lifetime
then we are doomed to repeat the same scenario, life after life after life
this earth is the gateway to hell
met speaking

Thanks for posting these. They were hard to look at, and made my heart ache.

However, we need to be reminded that there are people in the world who go through more suffering in a day, than the rest of us have to suffer in a lifetime. Being reminded of these tragedies brings us some sorely needed perspective.

I was feeling a little blue today. Not anymore.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
Why does the world have to suck so much?

I understand why so many people would rather watch reality TV shows than the news.

Maybe we're all in hell and we don't even realize it...

edit on 10-2-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

Hell -- is these actions which we either inflict or allow to be inflicted upon other human beings.

Heaven -- is the delight found in those who would do such things to other human beings.

reply to post by judus


you forgot the one of a young girl running down the street with her clothing burnt off and her whole body showing burns . i think it was in vietnam .
that image is still clear in my head , the people that do these things have no right to call themselves human .

In the end, this really isn't about the suffering we go through when seeing these pictures. It's about what we can do for others in an effort to quell the sense of hopelessness and helplessness we feel when becoming aware of the truly unfortunate state of our world.

We must stay within our reach if we are to do any good whatsoever. Work locally to calm these unfortunate feelings, and you'll not only retain some semblance of functionality and self-respect, but you'll eventually help someone who really needs it...truly a reward unknown to most.

No matter what technology gives us, we will always be social creatures. Charity is NOT giving money to multinational corporations to do with as they see fit, but cutting out the middleman and personally making sure someone receives your good will. That way you BOTH get something.

Namasté indeed.

reply to post by judus


The Horror..But it should be shown so that those who can will at least try to help.
Many do.

This photo burned into me when I first saw it-The photographer said this bag of grain was taken from the dying child by the man with it in his hand.

Drought in Sudan,years back.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


OMG

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


omg
that pic makes me feel so helpless
its not fair that kids are dying cos us adults are braindead
(i mean the governments brain)

Originally posted by Starchild23
I'm pretty sure everyone here is aware of this stuff. Unfortunately, there is very little any of us can do without attending to these souls in person.

Why? Because every agency we use to help them benefits more from our aid than the people we are ATTEMPTING to aid do themselves.

In short, we are helpless to help them. I wish it were not so, but...it is.

This is the world we live in. Welcome home.

Namaste

This is true. Perhaps sometimes some of the best things we can do to help stop the suffering to stop engaging in those practices that indirectly lead to their suffering.

Maybe, just maybe, it would be wise to give up both the so-called "aid" to these people and - all at once - the pathways to hurting them (outsourcing horrible job conditions, control by proxy through armed, financed dictators and so forth).

While in a natural disaster, there is just as little help we can truly provide to someone in Haiti as someone in Haiti could have provided to people suffering in Katrina. But, regarding the man made disasters, perhaps the letter of the day might be to live and let live. The natural disasters will continue as they always have, but the man-made disasters can be stopped all at once with that one philosophy.

I think this is the crux of the problem with "globalization". Remember, "aid" comes with strings attached.