The article in Politico The Day We Pretended to Care About Ukraine is what brought my attention to this topic. Insert other images from big disasters; the dead lying in the streets of New Orleans; the Superdome and people with listless children in their arms; large swaths of a city decimated by a tornado; huge waves of water rushing into the streets of New York. All these pictures feed our need for images of disaster porn.
These pictures feed our desire for the visual image of what is happening. Reading news stories is not that popular any more. You can see a headline, investigate a picture or video and get the gist of what is happening or has happened by reading the caption. It is how many get their news everyday.
It is the stuff of water cooler talk for those of us not telecommuting. As emergency managers we can have the same addiction. We are expected to be up-to-date on all disasters and have a working knowledge of what is happening where and some background on the "why." Therefore, we pay attention to disasters.
Let's remember that behind every disaster picture and video there are people. These are victims and survivors who need to be treated with respect for what they have endured. They should not be objects of curiosity or subjects to be studied. They are just people who need help and let's concentrate on that part of our job when we look at pictures and study videos.
We know that we are working to keep these images from being at some point--in our community. When disasters do strike home in our jurisdiction, at that point, the images of death and destruction will be someone else's disaster porn.
