I agree with PAUL that the images dating from GAZA in 2014 r just as moving, and tug at your heart strings just as the picture of little AYLAN does. But why r Western countries taking on the added burden of giving asylum to millions of economic immigrants when we can't take care of the needs of our own people?Citizens no longer have confidence in their own governments to do the right thing, and acceptance of the current migration of hundreds of thousands exemplifies this.I also believe that this is the precursor to another Islamic invasion of the West, and the cost to middle class taxpayers will be enormous and unappreciated.I observed that most of the migrants spoke at least a passable ENGLISH, which is a sign of a middle class upbringing, so perhaps they were not all that bad off in Turkey,which offered them the basic necessities of life. Charity begins at home, and now may be the time to start building a FORTRESS EUROPE and a FORTRESS AMERICA as a means of defending our own cultural values and limited resources.MULTICULTRUAL DIVERSITY is a good thing, but it has a limit. Immigrants should be accepted, but on an extremely limited basis.As I mentioned in a previous comment, there is no thorough screening process, and it is not inconceivable that among the migrants there r a lot of "bad hombres" who could do us great harm. Better to be safe than sorry!
No one wants 3-year-olds to drown in the Aegean or anywhere else but those who have changed their views on what the US and Europe should do about war in Syria or migrants from the Middle East and Africa because of a photo probably haven't thought much about the issues in the first place--or have limited powers of reason.
Aylan's father put his family, without life vests, on a rubber raft in an attempt to leave their safe but dismal life in Turkey, where they had lived for 3 years, for the prosperous West. Those who would open the doors to Europe and America for anyone in their situation must ignore uncomfortable facts:
Life for more than half of the earth's 7 (soon to be 10) billion people is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short." How fine a sieve would be required to select a number of those deserving of life in the West that would not quickly destroy what the rest of the world seeks?
The mantra of diversity notwithstanding, some peoples of the world have cultural norms inimical to Western values and do not abandon them just because they move there to enjoy the comforts of the Industrial Revolution and the welfare state. Muslim migration to Europe has not gone well, as the natives of Rotherham, Malmo, Paris, etc. can attest, though their leaders (and media) refuse to admit it. Cute little boys grow up to be men (like most of the migrants) and nearly all of Europe's terrorists and a vastly disproportionate number of its welfare recipients and common criminals are Muslim.
Aylan's father put his family, without life vests, on a rubber raft in an attempt to leave their safe but dismal life in Turkey, where they had lived for 3 years, for the prosperous West. Those who would open the doors to Europe and America for anyone in their situation must ignore uncomfortable facts:
Life for more than half of the earth's 7 (soon to be 10) billion people is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short." How fine a sieve would be required to select a number of those deserving of life in the West that would not quickly destroy what the rest of the world seeks?
The mantra of diversity notwithstanding, some peoples of the world have cultural norms inimical to Western values and do not abandon them just because they move there to enjoy the comforts of the Industrial Revolution and the welfare state. Muslim migration to Europe has not gone well, as the natives of Rotherham, Malmo, Paris, etc. can attest, though their leaders (and media) refuse to admit it. Cute little boys grow up to be men (like most of the migrants) and nearly all of Europe's terrorists and a vastly disproportionate number of its welfare recipients and common criminals are Muslim.
3
Why this boy? Why not the picture of the little boy mangled and twisted on a beach in Gaza from July 16, 2014?
I found this July 16, 2014 image to be more disturbing; it appeared to have had less press coverage than this story dated only a few days ago, Sept. 3, 2015.
See NYT story from July 16, 2014 !!!!
Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore
By TYLER HICKS
JULY 16, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/middleeast/through-lens-4-boys-d...®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
I found this July 16, 2014 image to be more disturbing; it appeared to have had less press coverage than this story dated only a few days ago, Sept. 3, 2015.
See NYT story from July 16, 2014 !!!!
Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore
By TYLER HICKS
JULY 16, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/middleeast/through-lens-4-boys-d...®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
The father of the drowned 3 year old had the media and members of the Turkish Parliament present to capture the moment, which leads you to question his motives,He might have stayed in Turkey, which has a reasonable standard of living and is a country in the Muslim world that is secular.As I wrote in a pub. comment, the majority of the migrants appear well dressed, well fed, and driven primarily by a desire to reach the West, and ultimately the US, where they know they will enjoy generous benefits and be treated with more consideration than many US citizens. Every immigrant you allow into the country means one less job for a US citizen, something that the WH fails to take into account: African American workers, already under pressure because of O's open borders policy, will have it even tougher and, agree to even lower wages if the US accepts high numbers of immigrants from the current exodus. But both parties are complicit. JEB said that we should accept numbers of Syrian immigrants to clean up DETROIT, as if people living there could not do it themselves! No wonder DT attracts crowds and is a popular candidate in the race. Contrary to what AR said about him in his interview, DT speaks the truth to the American people. To accuse DT of being "homophobic, xenophobic, racist,bigoted," makes AR look somewhat foolish.Too bad the interviewer did not challenge her boss more forcefully,which would have made for an interesting exchange.
2
I'm willing to bet you a hundred dollars right now that you don't personally know a single person who has ever sought asylum in this country.
If you did, you would not use words like "generous benefits".
Maybe you should do some homework and get some facts to go along with your arguments before you comment before a national audience.
If you did, you would not use words like "generous benefits".
Maybe you should do some homework and get some facts to go along with your arguments before you comment before a national audience.
8
Do pictures of dead children change anything? Would the world be a crueler place if we did not look at such pictures? I am not asking rhetorically. I am asking if we are better people for looking at these pictures.
I am dubious. We've seen such pictures for all of our lives. We get upset. But we do not change, not collectively, not in a way I'm able to perceive. We do not insist on change. What changes?
Some people act. Some people are rescued. Is this because of photographs?
The arc of my own fate is not dissimilar from the plight of today's refugees. My grandparents were refugee immigrants from Belarus to the U.S. in 1900. They had to leave Belarus. I don't think photographs saved them. They saved themselves. The people already in the U.S. probably didn't care much about them. But there was space for them. Tens of millions of Americans' stories are similar to my own.
Our forebears also left others behind, others, like themselves, who they could not also save, who could not save themselves. Did our forebears live their own lives feeling survivor guilt, something most of us feel now, looking at the photograph of a drowned Syrian Kurdish child, temporarily? What do today's successful refugees feel?
I am dubious. We've seen such pictures for all of our lives. We get upset. But we do not change, not collectively, not in a way I'm able to perceive. We do not insist on change. What changes?
Some people act. Some people are rescued. Is this because of photographs?
The arc of my own fate is not dissimilar from the plight of today's refugees. My grandparents were refugee immigrants from Belarus to the U.S. in 1900. They had to leave Belarus. I don't think photographs saved them. They saved themselves. The people already in the U.S. probably didn't care much about them. But there was space for them. Tens of millions of Americans' stories are similar to my own.
Our forebears also left others behind, others, like themselves, who they could not also save, who could not save themselves. Did our forebears live their own lives feeling survivor guilt, something most of us feel now, looking at the photograph of a drowned Syrian Kurdish child, temporarily? What do today's successful refugees feel?
The little boy on the beach and the rest of the family which drowned is primarily the victim of the criminal irresponsibility of his father (sole survivor). They were living as refugees in Bodrum, on the sea coast of Turkey (he declared subsequently that this was no good as he wanted "his human rights"). They paid USD 4,600 for the crossing in that wretched boat. His ultimate goal was to get to Canada where his sister had started to have a decent situation -- he had been refused an entry visa to that country from Turkey before. He also has a brother who left earlier and is now in a refugee camp in Germany. In brief he is not a political refugee, he is an economic migrant. And a criminally irresponsible one to boot, as if he was so decided on this risky crossing he could have done it on his own and later bring his family who again lived safely in Bodrum, Turkey.
Not only that but he chose to bury the boy in Kobane (Syria, near the Turkish border), with Turkish members of parlament and TV crews in tow, thus making the perilous trip back to Syria which he was supposedly keen to run away from. Odd decision. Moreover he and his family had fled Kobane when the Daesh people were about to take over, but afterwards (Jan 2015) when the Kurds pushed Daesh back and retook the city he never considered going back (this family is Kurdish not Syrian).
Not only that but he chose to bury the boy in Kobane (Syria, near the Turkish border), with Turkish members of parlament and TV crews in tow, thus making the perilous trip back to Syria which he was supposedly keen to run away from. Odd decision. Moreover he and his family had fled Kobane when the Daesh people were about to take over, but afterwards (Jan 2015) when the Kurds pushed Daesh back and retook the city he never considered going back (this family is Kurdish not Syrian).
2
How about people/governments destroyed his country and killed 12 of his family members? Be real!
4
REKLIRHED:Best, most accurate recapitulation I have read of the events surrounding the little boy's death.Father could have remained in Turkey which has a mostly secular government and follows free market principles. I can only try to empathize with the anguish the man feels for the deaths of his son and his family. But that does not justify the wholesale exodus of Syrian migrants for whom Turkey was not good enough and who felt entitled to reap the benefits of living in the WEST,with taxpayers footing the bill.. It is said that the vast majority of welfare recipients in EU countries, and perhaps in the US as well r Muslims. Not an enviable achievement if this is true.No wonder TURKEY, which has no safety net , was not good enough for them.Once again, we in the WEST have become easy marks. Anyone and everyone believes, and rightly so, that we r chumps, easily taken advantage of.Netanyahu was right to say, "No mas!" The Israelis understand the Arab mindset better than we, and unlike EU and the US, believe that its government's vocation is to protect its citizens and look out for their best interest. We seem to be going in the opposite direction,
You're right Mr.Homans, this photo sparks empathy; the others, mostly bad feelings.
My other thoughts were: one, we are at least partially responsible for this tragedy. Two, these families know the trip is dangerous but seem to be able to pay for it. Life jackets may not be readily available, but couldn't they have carried some inner tubes or pool toys for some safety?
My other thoughts were: one, we are at least partially responsible for this tragedy. Two, these families know the trip is dangerous but seem to be able to pay for it. Life jackets may not be readily available, but couldn't they have carried some inner tubes or pool toys for some safety?
So what causes people to just pick up and move like that? Like when millions of people left Europe in the 1800's and 1900's, - destination: USA. Things must not have been all that great back home. Maybe there is great starvation, homes being blown up by drones, who knows the reason for such a monumental and life-altering decision to leave one's home, presumably forever, and go towards an unknown place where one does not speak the language? I've seen a little hardship here and there in my lifetime, but no, I cannot put myself in that father's shoes. It's too sad.
9
Taken without context, the picture of a dead three year old boy washed ashore is heart-wrenching. But if you consider the fact that he died as a result of child endangerment by his father in Syria and by his aunt in Vancouver, Canada who funded the coyotes who then put them on a rickety boat to no-place-in-a-hurry, then it is more an accident stemming from foolish decisions.
If these people are true refugees why are they traveling across the borders of 5 nations to get to Germany or want to get to Canada? Why cannot they seek refuge in a neighboring safe country bordering Syria. Turkey, anyone?
This boy will be alive today had his family not gotten greedy and done asylum-shopping.
If these people are true refugees why are they traveling across the borders of 5 nations to get to Germany or want to get to Canada? Why cannot they seek refuge in a neighboring safe country bordering Syria. Turkey, anyone?
This boy will be alive today had his family not gotten greedy and done asylum-shopping.
From "Be Revolutionary: Some Thoughts from Pope Francis":
On the War Industry
Recently I said and now I repeat, we are going through World War Three but in installments. There are economic systems that must make war in order to survive. Accordingly, arms are manufactured and sold and, with that, the balance sheets of economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money are clearly rendered healthy. And no thought is given to hungry children in refugee camps; no thought is given to the forcibly displaced; no thought is given to destroyed homes; no thought is given, finally, to so many destroyed lives. How much suffering, how much destruction, how much grief. Today, dear brothers and sisters, in all parts of the earth, in all nations, in every heart and in grassroots movements, the cry wells up for peace: War no more!
On the War Industry
Recently I said and now I repeat, we are going through World War Three but in installments. There are economic systems that must make war in order to survive. Accordingly, arms are manufactured and sold and, with that, the balance sheets of economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money are clearly rendered healthy. And no thought is given to hungry children in refugee camps; no thought is given to the forcibly displaced; no thought is given to destroyed homes; no thought is given, finally, to so many destroyed lives. How much suffering, how much destruction, how much grief. Today, dear brothers and sisters, in all parts of the earth, in all nations, in every heart and in grassroots movements, the cry wells up for peace: War no more!
6
Is that child who died on the beach the only refugee or inhabitant from the developing world to die as a result of the Syrian refugee crisis, the outcome in part of O's failure of nerve in deciding not to" take out," ASSAD's air force 2 years ago in deference to IRAN? Let us assume that O, instead of behaving like a "mauviette," had followed through with his "red line "ultimatum and forced Syria to the negotiating table. Then perhaps, just perhaps, we would not be facing the predicament we are confronted with today Moreover, it is rumored that the child's father was trying to get to SWEDEN in hopes of getting dental implants!There is something unsound, dubious re the motives of the refugees,many of whom r well dressed, giving a thumbs up and a victory sign as they headed off to Germany. Is their goal just a soft life, with full benefits at taxpayers' expense in a developed country of the second or first world? Many could have remained in Turkey.We in the West r being taken for "naïfs,"easy marks once again, and middle class taxpayers will end up paying the bill for their leaders! misplaced benevolence!Finally, how do know whether there r any subversive delinquents from ISIS who have infiltrated the migrant flow, "bad hombres" who seek to do us harm in Europe or the US?0ne mismanaged immigration invasion on our southern border should be enough. Do we need another?
Yes. You are right. You have captured the very thoughts that I had when I saw the picture. But if this describes a universal human empathy, why does it not affect Assad or Putin or other leaders who are the cause of this suffering and can actually end the war in Syria and wars elsewhere? Are they missing a human element that the rest of us have?
4
Yes.
3
It is not wrong that this image moves us more than other; it is just human. Yes, it is the shoes and it is the clothes and the perfect beach. That boy could be one of ours. As it has often been said "one is a tragic; a million are statistics"
2
After watching Aylan, a heaven boy dead body, my eyes are full with tears and thinking, are we human being??? Modern civilization gives us more and more but take our hearts and humanity.We must protest this situation which is happen in Syria . We don't see any more Aylan dead body in any part of the world.
1
Who is responsible from this massive tragedy that has been getting worst since so called 'Syrian freedom fighters' fighting against brutal Assad?
I tell you who: Assad, all of the neighbouring countries starting with Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the US, and major powers of Europe Germany, France and UK by all trying to finalize so called 'Arab Spring' by getting rid of secular Syria broken into pieces to make a lesson to others and weaken Russia-Iran allied country. Of course, I am not forgetting cold blooded 21st century barbarian Islamic terrorists be it ISIS, Al Qaeda off shot Al-Nosra, and many others.
These barbarians could have never gained so much power that resulted in this massive tragedy, which is responsible of thousands of innocent lives such as 3-yr old Aylan, had the US and proxies supported them covertly (money, weaponry, logistics, et el).
4-5 yrs and counting, once storied cobbled streets of Syria, now deserted, world historic sites being bombarded, and innocent lives such as Aylan have been lost, injured, broken. Yet, it is utterly irresponsible and shameful of the Western hegemony to continue meddling into power games of the Middle East.
I'm sick and tired of seeing this over and over again from Vietnam now onward to Syria..
I tell you who: Assad, all of the neighbouring countries starting with Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the US, and major powers of Europe Germany, France and UK by all trying to finalize so called 'Arab Spring' by getting rid of secular Syria broken into pieces to make a lesson to others and weaken Russia-Iran allied country. Of course, I am not forgetting cold blooded 21st century barbarian Islamic terrorists be it ISIS, Al Qaeda off shot Al-Nosra, and many others.
These barbarians could have never gained so much power that resulted in this massive tragedy, which is responsible of thousands of innocent lives such as 3-yr old Aylan, had the US and proxies supported them covertly (money, weaponry, logistics, et el).
4-5 yrs and counting, once storied cobbled streets of Syria, now deserted, world historic sites being bombarded, and innocent lives such as Aylan have been lost, injured, broken. Yet, it is utterly irresponsible and shameful of the Western hegemony to continue meddling into power games of the Middle East.
I'm sick and tired of seeing this over and over again from Vietnam now onward to Syria..
4
Think of the little girl in the red dress in Spielberg's "Schindler's List". The suffering and death of the innocent stops us all in our tracks.
4
The history of human cruelty is clearly documented.
The challenge is for all to recognize cruelty when it appears in one's self.
"A few are guilty, all are responsible."
I guess the real challenge is to recognize when it is justified to use cruelty in a "just war."
There is UNnecessary suffering and necessary suffering.
When is the war unjust, and thus, the cruelty unnecessary?
Who is mostly responsible for unnecessary suffering?
The challenge is for all to recognize cruelty when it appears in one's self.
"A few are guilty, all are responsible."
I guess the real challenge is to recognize when it is justified to use cruelty in a "just war."
There is UNnecessary suffering and necessary suffering.
When is the war unjust, and thus, the cruelty unnecessary?
Who is mostly responsible for unnecessary suffering?
1
I wish not to dilute the drama of the boy in the beach and the impact that his picture generated throughout the world.
Would similar striking pictures of kids bombed in Gaza make a simillar impact?
Would similar striking pictures of kids bombed in Gaza make a simillar impact?
1
It's a question that simply cannot be answered. And it doesn't have to be. I have been despairing about the Syrian refugee crisis for some time now (ashamed at how my country, Canada, has been so absent), and if this is what it takes, then the loss of that beautiful child will not have been in vain. I am still haunted by the image of another Syrian child, a four-year old profiled on 60 minutes several months ago, clutching a stuffed toy and dodging snipers. It's beyond imaginable that a four-year would be a target, and I often wonder where he is now.
As for Alan Kurdi, his is an image that is simply unforgettable and unbearable. I have crossed the Mediterranean several times, and it's waters can be rough and unforgiving. I wonder what it must have felt like - the fear at suddenly been swallowed by a wave, in the dark. I know there are many other children, now dead or about to be killed, in this war and wars to come. It doesn't make it any easier. I despair so much, but am also filled with hope at the reaction the photograph has brought about. Look at Germany and Germans - who would have thought, living in Germany in the 1930s, that this would be the Germany of today . . .
As for Alan Kurdi, his is an image that is simply unforgettable and unbearable. I have crossed the Mediterranean several times, and it's waters can be rough and unforgiving. I wonder what it must have felt like - the fear at suddenly been swallowed by a wave, in the dark. I know there are many other children, now dead or about to be killed, in this war and wars to come. It doesn't make it any easier. I despair so much, but am also filled with hope at the reaction the photograph has brought about. Look at Germany and Germans - who would have thought, living in Germany in the 1930s, that this would be the Germany of today . . .
6
Okay, I will say it, because the little boy looked western and white enough to be your son with his shoes on.
In a cafe reading this and trying hard not to weep as I read this
1
My problem is not with the photo, which shows a terrible tragedy; it is that said photo is being used as the leading edge of a howl for open borders. One can feel sorry for the child without wanting to open the border of one's country to a few million of his closest friends.
I think the picture is special because of the interplay between Aylan and the Turkish policeman. While Aylan's parents would have cradled his body in their arms, the policeman holds him away from his body while wearing safety gloves. At the same time, Aylan's small and helpless figure calls for compassion, which the policeman's facial expression is not void of. In short, this picture expresses both the great sympathy elicited by the refugees and the fact that the Europeans must also considered their safety in the face of a massive influx of refugees.
1
This is such a touching, intelligent and astute article beautifully written by Mr. Homas. I can't imagine anyone not being as struck by this image as I was when it startled me, reaching out to the world from the front page of Le Monde as I was boarding a plane. This beautiful piece gives this tragedy an even more striking poignance.
4
You can only imagine a child caught up in the terror of war, fleeing his home with his parents, ending up in a boat with other terrified families, the boat capsizing, the screams of his mother and his brother being thrown into the water with him, all drowning, and then his lifeless body washing up on shore. The imagery is to much to bear.
The world lets out a collective scream.
The world lets out a collective scream.
2
The question to be asked is how are these refugees able to make their way to distant Europe. They have obviously have had to pay off their smugglers ( or are they facilitators) . Look closely- Not one of them have the improvised look like in the Sub Saharan Africa imagery. There is a bigger game at play here. Flood Europe with Islamists. Use emotional blackmail to manipulate emotions. Show them pictures that will tear their hearts and the doors to Europe and beyond will open. Does it take rocket science to see thru this charade. These refugees could easily go to the rich gulf countries in their backyard yet choose an arduous life threatening journey. The question we need to ask is why?
Excellent article thank you. It summarised everything I felt as a parent of a 3 years old, when I saw this picture and I do not think anybody who is not a parent can have the associations you are describing; which were my and all parents' associations, I am sure... it had to take a little angel to fly to sky to finally see some movement from our useless and sold politicians. But this is another discussion.
2
The dead,little boy washed up on a Mediterranian shore,is just one of all innocent small boys and girls dying every day all over the world.How is it that those things can happen,despite the supposedly great advances in living conditions amongst the poor,hungry and opressed?Are there not fundamentally wrongs in our societies?
5
The Boy on the Beach is maybe the most wrenching photo I have ever seen. Another is the boy with his hands raised in the Warsaw Ghetto:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/Lens/2010/10/20101007-KDS-Ho...???
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/Lens/2010/10/20101007-KDS-Ho...???
1
To me the most disturbing thing about this image is that somewhere there is a smuggler that put this boy and his family on a rickety boat that was destined to sink as it was most likely overcrowded and not sea worthy. Why aren't we looking for this criminal, who likely charged thousands to those desperate enough to pay it for a glimmer of hope of a better life?
6
The picture of the little boy on the beach tears your heart because he appears so innocent. All civilized societies have a responsibility to protect the innocent and young children are the most innocent people in the world. And they are not being protected.
1
Great writing. Questioning if this photograph is too graphic is like a mother asking if he's dressed warm enough. It doesn't really matter, it's disingenuous. One could lie to a child who saw this and asked why the sleeping boy was being carried. So it's not too graphic. It's not under-graphic, it's just graphic enough. Anyone sensitive to the sensitivities of the 'too graphic' camp has too much power over the curtain between realities. The 'too graphic' people will live. The man who carries the boy shall live, the tourists unaware only meters away will live. They're going to be OK. The boy shall not and that's because he is not sleeping. We are.
1
I hope that
In anther life, this poor little boy live in peaceful world. Without war.
In anther life, this poor little boy live in peaceful world. Without war.
2
Why is this picture effective?
Well....just like the crime scene photos from Sandy Hook galvanized action on gun control.......
You cannot ignore brutality, cruelty, and inhumanity when it inflicted on children.
Witnessing the true horror moves people to confront the reality, the horror
Oh wait........
Well....just like the crime scene photos from Sandy Hook galvanized action on gun control.......
You cannot ignore brutality, cruelty, and inhumanity when it inflicted on children.
Witnessing the true horror moves people to confront the reality, the horror
Oh wait........
1
We have all heard a picture is worth a thousand words. Aylan's picture is worth one thousand million words in my opinion. Everything in that photo brings about a touching realness that makes me weep again and again. He lays there exactly in a pose like my grandchildren asleep in their cribs. The policeman carrying Aylan shows how absolutely lifeless the little boy is. These are heartbreaking photos that have truly opened my heart as well as my eyes. I would give anything to have been able to share my home with that family given the chance and with what I know now.
1
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/aylan-kurdi-the-syrian-toddler-drowned-bodrum...
Surely it is this photo that has provoked all this response, & not the mediated image that heads this NYT article?
Surely it is this photo that has provoked all this response, & not the mediated image that heads this NYT article?
This article is a better written version of what I was telling my husband. The reason I cried for this one child on and off for days even though I have seen pictures of so many children ravaged by war before is that he looks like my son. I don't mean that he looks exactly like him, but that he looks loved in a way I recognize. He has a nice haircut so you can see his ears are just a little too big for his head. He has a red shirt and it looks nice with his brown hair. He has his nice shoes still on - and if you're a parent, you know we buy or receive shoes just a little too big so they'll grow into them. This is a child who, unlike so many other children, at least had a chance. And then he washed up on a shore when he should have been in Canada with his aunt and cousins and his parents. This is why people in my Twitter feed who are grizzled veterans working on refugee and violence issues cried for this child - because it could have been theirs and it could be yours. And I am not proud that I didn't cry for so many other kids, but this is why this one I can't look away from.
2
This massive migration of people to other countries which are not equipped to care for them is becoming a world problem, and needs to be dealt with by a world organization such as the United Nations. Camps need to be provided to insure a safe place for them until they are able to return to their homes. Those who are profiting by placing them in unsafe boats should be stopped. To assume ( as many of them have stated ) that these countries they are flooding into will be able to give them the necessary things to sustain them is unrealistic. I have heard, in the media, of complaints about having to be put into a camp, but that would be the humane thing to do, other than ship them back to the countries from which they came. There is a hint of madness in the entire situation.
I shall be 87 on the 10th September and though I believe there is a God I confess that there is no evidence that he punishes the evil and rewards the good. Indeed, man's history suggests that whether we are good or bad may not be God's business. On the other hand, it is our business to rescue our brothers and sisters, young or old, if only to remind us that it is not our business to keep watch over God who may be keeping watch over us and our failure to save that litte boy.
4
What kills me is...
why can't we solve the "Assad Crisis"?
why can't we solve the "Assad Crisis"?
2
Perhaps there is tremendous empathy because Aylan, since he just drowned, has none of the visible signs of the horrors of war and has not yet decomposed. As was pointed out in this article, this 3 year old toddler looks like he is innocently just taking a nap. It also helps that Aylan is cute, fair skinned, well dressed and looks well nourished and cared for, not showing the ravages of starvation. This toddler has all the qualities that draws the nurturing instincts out of Adults.
All of this toddler's qualities draw us closer to him vs being repulsed by the ghastly physical aspects of war we normally see visited upon the bodies of children such as maiming, deprivation, etc.
Unfortunately, Aylan has now become the poster child for all the misery which has resulted from the Syrian civil war.
All of this toddler's qualities draw us closer to him vs being repulsed by the ghastly physical aspects of war we normally see visited upon the bodies of children such as maiming, deprivation, etc.
Unfortunately, Aylan has now become the poster child for all the misery which has resulted from the Syrian civil war.
5
It was because every (real or potential) mother's and father's heart saw a child in a dangerous situation and wanted to scoop him up and take him out of harm's way ... but it was too late.
2
12,000 children dead from the syrian war, and 2,000,000 refugees.
this photo encapsulates a fragment of the misery of others.
there but by the grace of god go we.
this photo encapsulates a fragment of the misery of others.
there but by the grace of god go we.
2
This family was trying to flee Turkey where they were refugees already to go to Europe (probably Germany). We can talk and weep all the way but this reflects the wrong choice of this boy's family. Do we also see endless editorials about each boy or adult crucified by Daesh or other Islamists (unless they are straying Westerners)? And the boy apparently was buried in Syria -- a perilous journey back by the father. Photo on all Western media's front pages and TV stations, columnists and journalists debating... the Western public opinion was properly aroused.
Mr Homans misses two key details: the boy was pale skinned enough to pass as white, and his face was not visible so white Americans and Europeans were free to superimpose Caucasian features in their imaginations.
This is why so many white people were able to empathize, because the child looked like one of their own and was not just another dead brown body.
But I guess I should not be surprised that a white journalist is unable to see the effects of race.
This is why so many white people were able to empathize, because the child looked like one of their own and was not just another dead brown body.
But I guess I should not be surprised that a white journalist is unable to see the effects of race.
1
The power of the visual image is one reason that our nation bars photojournalists from taking pictures in war zones unless they are embedded with troops. On top of that, our military reviews and censors any embed photos that it thinks might be too upsetting.
American photojournalist Zoriah Miller had to leave his embedded position in Iraq after he posted photos of dead American soldiers:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/25/iraq.middleeast
Note that the NY Times has posted very few photos of the Iraqi and Afghan and Libyan and Yemeni and Somali and even Syrian three-year-olds killed by our bombs. Is that because our nation is worried that we might protest our wars if we realized that we were killing human beings who resembled our loved ones?
We humans have the capacity to distance ourselves from reality. But the familiar details (kind of clothing worn, lack of disfiguring trauma, etc.) in the photo of Aylan were able to get past our usual protective emotional barriers of denial.
American photojournalist Zoriah Miller had to leave his embedded position in Iraq after he posted photos of dead American soldiers:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/25/iraq.middleeast
Note that the NY Times has posted very few photos of the Iraqi and Afghan and Libyan and Yemeni and Somali and even Syrian three-year-olds killed by our bombs. Is that because our nation is worried that we might protest our wars if we realized that we were killing human beings who resembled our loved ones?
We humans have the capacity to distance ourselves from reality. But the familiar details (kind of clothing worn, lack of disfiguring trauma, etc.) in the photo of Aylan were able to get past our usual protective emotional barriers of denial.
14
The military, contractors, and war mongers in Congress and the media learned during Viet Nam that when citizens see the horror of war in the faces of innocent victims - whom they dehumanize by referring to them as "collateral damage" - we are appalled. Once that feeling is absorbed, we are moved to protest. Consequently, we have not been allowed to see American soldiers wounded, dead, or their caskets unloaded from arriving aircraft. The army controls the images and content of how much we are allowed to know about our country's military escapades. We like our wars sanitized.
These dead children, their mothers, fathers, relatives are experiencing fear and a living hell caught in conflicts they neither started nor participated in. They are Syrians and they are also the children of Gaza where schools, homes, and hospitals were turned to rubble in last year's war against the Palestinian people.
The Syrian people were perhaps expecting a bloodless revolution when they began their protest against Assad during the Arab Spring. We did nothing to help them when they cried out for it. It is only in the photo of the little boy that we get to see what we have turned our back on in Syria, in Gaza, in Africa.
We see how little we care for the wars in our back yard. We see our own moral failing. Then we vote to sell more weapons to armies all around the world. It is one of our biggest remaining exports. Money counts far more than human life. Turn your back. Go shopping.
These dead children, their mothers, fathers, relatives are experiencing fear and a living hell caught in conflicts they neither started nor participated in. They are Syrians and they are also the children of Gaza where schools, homes, and hospitals were turned to rubble in last year's war against the Palestinian people.
The Syrian people were perhaps expecting a bloodless revolution when they began their protest against Assad during the Arab Spring. We did nothing to help them when they cried out for it. It is only in the photo of the little boy that we get to see what we have turned our back on in Syria, in Gaza, in Africa.
We see how little we care for the wars in our back yard. We see our own moral failing. Then we vote to sell more weapons to armies all around the world. It is one of our biggest remaining exports. Money counts far more than human life. Turn your back. Go shopping.
1
It needs something to stir emotions and spark empathy. The photograph of the little boy Aylan Kurdi drowned off the coast in Turkey just depicted the tragedy writ large. Rest is swift action and movement.
Does Michelangelo's first Pieta require explanation?
8
Ah, but it was painted, not drowned.
Empathy is more, far more, than a measure of distance from one experience to another. Physically it has to do with mirror neurons, emotionally it often has to do with a mix of boundaries, permeable boundaries, and a willingness to go to a place which is not comfortable. Not "home." It often is rooted in our personal experiences of trauma - if you know trauma you recognize it in someone else. This picture is not, to my eye, stronger than that of Phan Thi, few photos compare with the horror of that moment. It is irrevocably different - and the devil is in the details. No living child would sleep towards the water....and so your mirror neurons fire, your limbic system does a double take and out comes the neurochemistry of love, of caring, of connection and its wrenching. But this is wrenching because it conveys quiet, not action like Phan Thi. Too much quiet. Perhaps that's why it speaks so loudly, across the noise of the cluttered, unruly social media.
14
These photos remind me of what we don’t see.
As one example, sub-Saharan West Africans wanting to reach Europe cross the Sahara from Mali. They head for Morocco to enter Europe through Spain, or Libya to enter through Italy.
Many have been abandoned in the middle of the Sahara by their smugglers, to disappear in a sea of sand instead of the Mediterranean Sea.
No pictures, no sound bites. Just oblivion.
As one example, sub-Saharan West Africans wanting to reach Europe cross the Sahara from Mali. They head for Morocco to enter Europe through Spain, or Libya to enter through Italy.
Many have been abandoned in the middle of the Sahara by their smugglers, to disappear in a sea of sand instead of the Mediterranean Sea.
No pictures, no sound bites. Just oblivion.
17
REDAVEG: Excellent point. Having worked in west AFRICA and having known many who sought to reach Europe from Agadez in Mali and thence to Europe, I just hope that none of my friends were among the dead and missing, and that they made it to one land of abundance or another in the West. I know firsthand the frustration of many born in third world AFRICAN nations who incarnate the work ethic, but r reduced to idleness and to selling inexpensive items on the streets of Dakar or Ziguinchor to make the bare minimum to survive. It is a life of hopelessness, and as I have mentioned, there r few "portes de sortie."But the situation of the economic migrants, who had homes in Turkey, but decided they were not good enough, and had the means to pay smugglers to help them reach Europe--"ce n'est pas pareil!"Some of them were even wearing LACOSTE shirts, and spoke at least passable English, which meant to me that they do in no way correspond to the image of the 'poor and downtrodden."I have a novel idea: Why not let the PEOPLE, CITIZENS IN Germany of elsewhere decide, THROUGH A REFERENDUM, whether they want to tolerate the presence of hundreds of thousands of these middle class migrants, among whom there is certainly a percentage of "subversive delinquents," before a decision is made to accept them or deny them entry. The cost of organizing such a ballot would be minimal, compare to the social and economic burden of accommodating them in the long run.
One powerful photograph, Silence.
5
I love children, brave lions, and giant redwood trees. But, my concern is not universal. So, we see kids drown, hunters kill lions, and redwood forests clear cut. The bestial nature of mankind is well known.
4
When the woman who photographed little Aylin lying prone on the beach and then held by the Turkish policeman, she was asked that question. She said she had been photographing migrants for 3 years - including children killed. But she said something about this particular scene, which later included the brother, had wrung her heart and hoped it would finally resound with the public.
It was the photographers eye catching what we see. A small helpless, innocent body, clothed carefully, for their last dangerous trip. And when photos were shown of the two boys smiling with their father, one's heart twists even more. Such happiness and joy destroyed!
But little beautiful Aylin became the symbol of all the others we didn't see in their drowning.
For me, It was his thin little lifeless legs, silent and no longer running, shod in slightly oversized shoes meant to hold his growing feet that punched me in the chest.
It was the photographers eye catching what we see. A small helpless, innocent body, clothed carefully, for their last dangerous trip. And when photos were shown of the two boys smiling with their father, one's heart twists even more. Such happiness and joy destroyed!
But little beautiful Aylin became the symbol of all the others we didn't see in their drowning.
For me, It was his thin little lifeless legs, silent and no longer running, shod in slightly oversized shoes meant to hold his growing feet that punched me in the chest.
22
why all the PC? Show the photo everyone's talking about.
8
The opposite of PC isn't crudeness. It's sensitivity. It is perhaps insensitive to show the photo. That's not my judgment to make, it's the editor's. I also don't need to see the photo to know how horrible the situation is.
Where is our outrage and empathy for the starving and dying children right in our own cities? I have empathy for the whole planet, the flora and fauna included. But reality is nothing will stop the human condition from deteriorating. Nothing short of extinction.
9
I have been asking the same question. The world catches a glimpse of these images, reflects back a glimmer of outrage, and moves on. The father bereft of his family said something akin to, 'I want nothing more life.' Heartbreak fades to distant silence.
In the US our collective attention has been staked to a bit of manufactured indignation in Kentucky. Outrage everywhere over a procedural issue decided within hours and never in doubt. The manufactured outrage and willful ignorance will continue for years to come.
Yet here in South Florida a 19 year old working a thankless job for little money found himself unfairly vilified across the country almost before his shift was done.
'There is no sense in talking. I am nineteen. And colored.' Outrageous truths we refuse to see, acknowledge, or address right here at home.
In the US our collective attention has been staked to a bit of manufactured indignation in Kentucky. Outrage everywhere over a procedural issue decided within hours and never in doubt. The manufactured outrage and willful ignorance will continue for years to come.
Yet here in South Florida a 19 year old working a thankless job for little money found himself unfairly vilified across the country almost before his shift was done.
'There is no sense in talking. I am nineteen. And colored.' Outrageous truths we refuse to see, acknowledge, or address right here at home.
Extraordinarily touching piece. Thank you. These words and insight help many of us better identify our own tearful haunting feelings and emotional reactions to this innocent child with his little brown shoes that keeps pulling at our heartstrings; not wanting to let go. If only.....
6
Not even this picture will actually make a difference. When will the arabs come to their senses? Why does this affect the West, but not the arab / islamic people? We know why.
14
It affects Arab/Islamic people even more. But their reactions are rarely if ever covered by the media. So it looks like they don't care which simply serves to reinforce prejudice against them.
When will we stop arming the world's governments? When we will stop propping up dictators? When we will understand that all humans are our relatives? Never. As you say, we know why.
1
"There’s ample psychological research suggesting.. people underestimate the suffering of those who look different ..knowledge of another group’s .. suffering simply leads people to assume they have a higher tolerance.."
Maybe. As a fairly educated Mom, in the heart of NYC, with Lots of Laws, and 2 children suffering deeply from abuse, not one mandated reporter did their job.
e.g. as I tried to PROTECT my children, this is the terrifying reaction of a "professional" Ellen / Re: Your child
"Ellen - he (the father) is out of town as far as I know - assume she still has no key to the apartment - have no doubt that he is also intent on punishing her - we have to decide where this is going - if she continues to respond to him in the same manner, I fear that he is going to up the ante considerably - right now he is enraged and I do not expect him to be cooperative in any way - I will try, but expect little response - Bill" (Ph.D = famous in NY circles) or this
"Dear Doctor L:
My father is accusing me of taking drugs and drinking. I am not, and thus
find this whole shebang rather disturbing. Could you please understand
that I need to have him off my back? I don't know why he appears to be
setting me up like this."
People don't care about the suffering of their next door neighbors, nor do mandated reporters do their legal job….what's obscene is if you cannot protect your children on your own turf, how do you organize your thinking around this horrific tale of this dead child.
Maybe. As a fairly educated Mom, in the heart of NYC, with Lots of Laws, and 2 children suffering deeply from abuse, not one mandated reporter did their job.
e.g. as I tried to PROTECT my children, this is the terrifying reaction of a "professional" Ellen / Re: Your child
"Ellen - he (the father) is out of town as far as I know - assume she still has no key to the apartment - have no doubt that he is also intent on punishing her - we have to decide where this is going - if she continues to respond to him in the same manner, I fear that he is going to up the ante considerably - right now he is enraged and I do not expect him to be cooperative in any way - I will try, but expect little response - Bill" (Ph.D = famous in NY circles) or this
"Dear Doctor L:
My father is accusing me of taking drugs and drinking. I am not, and thus
find this whole shebang rather disturbing. Could you please understand
that I need to have him off my back? I don't know why he appears to be
setting me up like this."
People don't care about the suffering of their next door neighbors, nor do mandated reporters do their legal job….what's obscene is if you cannot protect your children on your own turf, how do you organize your thinking around this horrific tale of this dead child.
Ellen, I am sorry for what you and these children must be suffering. Your post is confusing and concerning. Mandated reporting works poorly at best, and the requirement for family services to "keep families intact" is often followed as a dictum, without thought for the situation at hand. If you can, get the children and yourself into therapy. Ask for someone who will "accept assignment." Be relentless, use your anger to focus on the goal. I'm so sorry.
2
Why people need a picture to trigger their emotions is beyond me. Any person the least interested in the population of the world knows that hundreds or thousands of children die every day of preventable causes. This mad rush to sob the loudest about this picture makes me scared for the human race. People seem to be openly admitting that if they're not looking at a picture they don't much care about the welfare of anybody else.
17
The child died because of his father's decisions and actions.
As did his mother and brother.
His father decided to put his family in mortal danger when they were not in danger in Turkey.
Thousands of children die all over the world every day, of starvation, disease, conflict, neglect, pick a reason. I don't spend my days crying about it.
This one didn't have to. His father chose the risk, for money.
I don't really understand why you are all crying about it. It's sad, but it is his father's fault.
As did his mother and brother.
His father decided to put his family in mortal danger when they were not in danger in Turkey.
Thousands of children die all over the world every day, of starvation, disease, conflict, neglect, pick a reason. I don't spend my days crying about it.
This one didn't have to. His father chose the risk, for money.
I don't really understand why you are all crying about it. It's sad, but it is his father's fault.
18
You are so deeply perceptive
5
Thank you, sir, for pointing this out - of course, it is the father's fault. It is his fault that he was seeking to better his children's future; to do what is best for his children - as all fathers and mothers of this world do. Stuck in a refugee camp is no future; it's no life - it's full of despair and lost hope. But, of course, it was his fault not to be blessed with the extraordinary fortune of being born in a land of safety and peace. How right you are sir . . .
10
Oh, thanks. Guess your comments solve everything.
It is a manful statement about human nature that we react much more strongly to this photo than to the 1000s of words about the crisis that preceded it.
Michal Moore called for the release of photos of the slain children from Sandy Hook. By analogy, perhaps that is the necessary step required to motivate progress on gun control.
Michal Moore called for the release of photos of the slain children from Sandy Hook. By analogy, perhaps that is the necessary step required to motivate progress on gun control.
26
That is what Emmett Till's mother did. It seems to have been worth it.
8
Aylan's pictures are right up there with the Oklahoma bombing infant, the 9-11 woman covered in dust and the burning child in Vietnam.
8
Thank you, Mr. Homans. I have remarked to several friends: "This has been going on for months (drownings by the hundreds). What made Europeans & Americans finally take notice?" Now I know.
4
I have to ask- What does the UN do anyway? Evidently nothing! Why aren't they meeting in New York to put an end to this madness? Let's put global warming on the side burner for now and deal with elitist regimes in Mexico, Nicaragua, Syria, Nigeria, Burma, Ukraine and dozens more and call these plutocrats to the table and demand they start taking care of their own people!
This is ridiculous in this day and age, we allow governments to operate so selfishly. Let's stop allowing leaders of these elitists regimes passage to the U.S. and tell them they can no longer buy second homes or educate their spoiled kids here, until they start providing stable living conditions for their citizens.
Why can't we have a leader in the White House with a backbone and start calling these people out? How many more 3 YO's need to die?
This is ridiculous in this day and age, we allow governments to operate so selfishly. Let's stop allowing leaders of these elitists regimes passage to the U.S. and tell them they can no longer buy second homes or educate their spoiled kids here, until they start providing stable living conditions for their citizens.
Why can't we have a leader in the White House with a backbone and start calling these people out? How many more 3 YO's need to die?
8
I will not accept your inflammatory comment about the leader in the White House. How many hundreds of problems does he hear of, how many of those is he able to do something helpful about? Don't you remember his first four years of trying and being met with rebuttal for everyone of them?? And it continues as though he is the alien and as though the deniers and screamers are the virtuous ones.
2
The UN has by design been given very, very limited power to do anything. The world' major powers don't want to have to answer to anyone. The UN needs permission through multinational resolutions.
1
Yes, let's put someone "with backbone" in the White House. Presumably you mean one of the swaggering Republicans who promise that war is the answer, just as George W. Bush and his "advisers" did. Yeah, that's the ticket--invade a foreign country to prove you have a backbone and then there will be no elitists running things and no dead children. That worked so very well in Iraq, didn't it?
1
Nothing new in the human domain. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Saturday_(photograph)
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all lessons of history."
―Aldous Huxley
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all lessons of history."
―Aldous Huxley
3
We are more moved, more interested, more excited by the demons in us. I wish I understood why so few take the charitable, kind, loving, helpful way. Surely leads me to believe we have ever so much more evolving to do, especially because it seems from my limited perspective that we are moving downward. If there is a word "devolve," then we must flee from it and do our best to begin climbing upwards. And I do not mean to gain more riches.
1
Why that picture? Because it could be my son. If I was born in a different time and place it could have been.
2
But weren't they safe in Turkey? Why did they leave? Doesn't the father bear responsibility for putting his family at such risk?
He was not seeking safety - he was seeking a better life. Understandable, but it is not justified to put your family at such risk for a better life. Now the boy does not have a better life, he has no life.
He was not seeking safety - he was seeking a better life. Understandable, but it is not justified to put your family at such risk for a better life. Now the boy does not have a better life, he has no life.
23
If you dig deeper, the father paid a lot of money, much more money, extra money for a *safe* passge on a large safe power boat, but what he got was a tiny raft. He like countless of the dead are dying due to the action of sloppily executed and horrifically cruel and callous smugglers. They steal thousands from those they transport, then do a horrible "bait and swich" at the last monent, when the money has been transferred. They pack people into obscenely unworthy and unsafe cars, transports, boats and ships, they just do not care. If a boat meant for 20 is holding 55, and it starts to sink, too bad. Perhaps all will drown. Perhaps the Christians or some other minority will be thrown overboard at gunpoint - or executed on the spot. This appears to be how these terrible peole think.
The crisis is terrible, but it is far worse do to these "misery profiteers" - war barons of the lowest kind. Remember, for every sealed truck full of bodies or sunk boat, there is a person or persons that crammed them in then locked the door. There should be an international manhunt for such monsters.
The crisis is terrible, but it is far worse do to these "misery profiteers" - war barons of the lowest kind. Remember, for every sealed truck full of bodies or sunk boat, there is a person or persons that crammed them in then locked the door. There should be an international manhunt for such monsters.
I don't understand why the UN can not do more to help such people in Turkey and surrounding Syria. To let them have schools, medicine & as near normal lives until it is safe to return. Working with the Turkish Government. They had a good life in Syria before the War. They longed for that again - to be normal.
Do a bit of research. The father paid for a yacht, took precautions any reasonable person would have considered. But the smuggler brought a rubber dinghy instead knowing the father would have no choice at the last moment.
It could happen to absolutely anyone.
It could happen to absolutely anyone.
Refugees. Not migrants.
12
Illegal immigrants and the future bodes ill -- far more illegal trans-national migration of H. sapien as the degradation of the human condition accelerates. The future in plain sight.
3
When refugees arrive in this country, they are legal immigrants who are provided with embarrassingly little assistance for only a few months, especially considering that many do not speak English, which makes finding employment very difficult. I am sure in certain quarters even that small assistance is resented. Its an attitude of "never give nobody nothing 'cause its all taken from me." This is the nasty face of libertarianism.
On "The Boy on the Beach":
The dead boy on the beach, Aylan, is his unknown parents' son; he is everybody's son now. I don't believe there's or was a single human being in the world who wanted Aylan to die. All the comments inspired by the heart-breaking picture of dead Aylan on the beach reveal the depth of inner torment it has triggered. That makes me ask the unanswerable question: Why are hundreds of thousands of children that human beings bring into the world being killed or made to suffer when no one really wants them to die or to suffer? The answer is not imponderable: We have become a massive lot of passive creeps repressing our moral ire at inhumane treatment of the very beings we usher into the world to love and care for. That, to me, signifies the death of SOUL.
How much longer should the collective SOUL of humanity remain dead?
The dead boy on the beach, Aylan, is his unknown parents' son; he is everybody's son now. I don't believe there's or was a single human being in the world who wanted Aylan to die. All the comments inspired by the heart-breaking picture of dead Aylan on the beach reveal the depth of inner torment it has triggered. That makes me ask the unanswerable question: Why are hundreds of thousands of children that human beings bring into the world being killed or made to suffer when no one really wants them to die or to suffer? The answer is not imponderable: We have become a massive lot of passive creeps repressing our moral ire at inhumane treatment of the very beings we usher into the world to love and care for. That, to me, signifies the death of SOUL.
How much longer should the collective SOUL of humanity remain dead?
11
Keep them in their own countries but send them food and medicine.
8
That the child was well dressed, fair skinned and dark haired means that the majority of the middle class population in Europe & North America would instantly feel "this could be my child". That he lay face down increases this reaction by covering his facial features, along with that gut wrenching anxiety of uncertainty - is he really dead? That he was a toddler - the age of maximal cuteness and yet still so vulnerable. And most importantly, he was alone; humans are not moved by a picture of a mass of dead bodies in the same way as for one little boy. Had they tried to fabricate a more empathy inducing scenario I suspect it would not reach the perfect combination of triggers of the first photograph of little Aylan. Hopefully some good will come of this, and other families spared the same fate.
34
Yes, the children. The past and the future of the human world.
In addition of children who are innocent victims of the follies of rulers, there are other children used as props to launch wars.
In 1991, a major US public relations firm, presented fake testimony of how Saddam Hussein's soldiers had gone into hospitals after they had invaded Kuwait and thrown babies out of their "incubators". This was an image conjured up as "testimony" before the U.S. congress, as a reason to evict the Iraqi invader, and return the Emir to his gold plated throne in Kuwait City.
After the failure of diplomatic efforts, then Sec. of State James Baker explained the reason for the launching the Gulf War in 1991 at a press conference in Geneva with these words: "Jobs, jobs, jobs" - meaning oil, oil, oil! They are powerful words in the West, not "life" or the fictitious "babies" in this case.
Rest and play in peace, Aylan, with others like you - where ever you all are - safe from a cruel heartless world.
In addition of children who are innocent victims of the follies of rulers, there are other children used as props to launch wars.
In 1991, a major US public relations firm, presented fake testimony of how Saddam Hussein's soldiers had gone into hospitals after they had invaded Kuwait and thrown babies out of their "incubators". This was an image conjured up as "testimony" before the U.S. congress, as a reason to evict the Iraqi invader, and return the Emir to his gold plated throne in Kuwait City.
After the failure of diplomatic efforts, then Sec. of State James Baker explained the reason for the launching the Gulf War in 1991 at a press conference in Geneva with these words: "Jobs, jobs, jobs" - meaning oil, oil, oil! They are powerful words in the West, not "life" or the fictitious "babies" in this case.
Rest and play in peace, Aylan, with others like you - where ever you all are - safe from a cruel heartless world.
6
I was 19. I was pregnant. I lived happily in Sarajevo. Than the War came. We were told by the West: "Don't dream the dreams! Don’t believe that the outside world will save you; don’t imagine that there really is such a thing as an international community – let alone that it will guarantee your human rights.!" Lord Owen EU peace negotiator. 14,000 civilians are murdered, 1,500 children are murdered. I was lucky. My unborn baby was lucky. Two of us manage to escape the besieged city. My son was born in neighboring Croatia and he became immediately a refugee. The the Croats and Bosniaks stared the war and I had to flee to different country. Where? How? I managed to get to Australia. Legally. Than THE photo hit all major world newspapers that ended the war (US ended the war not EU). And I could safely return to my country, my home! IT IS ALL ABOUT ONE PHOTO! Sounds familiar? Please you tell me why! All goodsmart people said it will happen new Bosnia in Syria, at the very same beginning! But...I could quote again Lord Owen the fames EU peace negotiator. Syrians do not care about your jobs. Or your country. Once they had it all. They just try to survive. What is so hard to imagine. So if it is about ONE photo and this would be it I expect that the war would end now in Syria so they could return to their homes/their dream....
4
The photograph reminded me of my own nephew when he was that age, and I kept coming back to the picture trying to convince myself the familiarity cannot be all that same, in a desperate bid to eradicate the terrible image from my mind and to distance myself from the situation. A futile exercise on the human mind so far.
1
The answer to this article's question of why previous pictures of dead Syrian children didn't motivate people as they do now is that, prior to now, dead Syrian children did not fit the anti-western western media's agenda of destabilising western civilisation by allowing hoards of low skill low education immigrants in to destroy our way of life. Now that the media we sees a way forward for its anti-western agenda they will plaster them wall to wall in an attempt to drive public opinion in their directon.
1
Another of the heart-breaking qualities this image is that the body of the little boy had made it, in a sense, to a better future - ashore in a western country, safe from the carnage, in the arms of a person ready to offer compassion. His body made it to the promised land his parents wanted for him, but he himself did not.
2
A picture is worth a thousand words so the saying goes.
This one shows the failure of language. That true horror makes language appear comedic and all present concerns trivial.
This one shows the failure of language. That true horror makes language appear comedic and all present concerns trivial.
11
I wrote a blog post about the dead boy on the beach--it's up on HuffPost now--and I also made special mention of the shoes, saying he looked as if he was dressed for the first day of preschool. My granddaughter is four and how many times have I put on her shoes with those Velcro traps before walking her to school? I spent much of yesterday shedding tears at inappropriate moments and trying to imagine how Aylan could have been saved. The Dad said he didn't have enough money left (after paying the smugglers) to buy life vests. I just read that Germany and Austria have agreed to open their borders to the immigrants. Maybe this is Aylan's memorial?
8
For me it was the age and the familiar position, as if he was peacefully asleep; I have a toddler girl, and she sleeps like that too. I never cry reading or watching the news in Europe - I'm a EU citizen and the wave of refugees worries me. But I imagined that tiny body could be my daughter, and it simply broke my heart. Those little hands turned up, and that little head washed by the waves; the photo doesn't even evoque gruesomeness, but it is terribly sad in this mixture of peacefulness and death. When I first saw the photo, I started crying instantly, and I've been constantly crying seeing it again and again for the past 3 days. I can only image us fleeing the war, having to put our little one through such an ordeal. So, so sad.
29
Yes, I have a four year old son that sleeps just like that - looking so peaceful...except of course, he's not face down in the waves. I can't stop crying every time I see Aylan. I can't even type his name without crying. This doesn't mean that I haven't done anything for the Syrians before this, but my commitment is renewed. Aylan made me feel this crisis like I haven't before.
7
Charles Homans, so beautifully said. This is the classic dilemma of ingroup empathy vs outgroup empathy that we humans struggle with. Thanks for shining the light.
9
Right on the nose, however I think there is more to the collective empathy forming for Syrian migrants. I was inspired by this quote from elsewhere in the NY Times about the defiant march from train stations and refuge camps to the German border:
"See what we did?" said the Pied Piper who started it all. "We threw away all of our clothes and property in Syria to get a better life for our kids, to teach them how to live -- not how to beg."
I would like that man to be my fellow American. I apologize for my obvious bias, but not really--like many Americans I feel there is a great risk in welcoming 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...' but I would gladly received your energetic, your intelligent masses who know better than to cower to tyranny.
The White House petition to receive 65,000 refugees has doubled in 24 hours, I hope Obama takes swift and decisive action to assist with this crisis.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/authorize-and-resettle-syrian-...
"See what we did?" said the Pied Piper who started it all. "We threw away all of our clothes and property in Syria to get a better life for our kids, to teach them how to live -- not how to beg."
I would like that man to be my fellow American. I apologize for my obvious bias, but not really--like many Americans I feel there is a great risk in welcoming 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...' but I would gladly received your energetic, your intelligent masses who know better than to cower to tyranny.
The White House petition to receive 65,000 refugees has doubled in 24 hours, I hope Obama takes swift and decisive action to assist with this crisis.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/authorize-and-resettle-syrian-...
21
Thanks for this article. Your comments about relatability are thought-provoking, and have made me consider how we in the the first world have responded differently to the crises in Darfur and in Syria. I wonder if we should be stepping up to sponsor Sudanese refugees as well as Syrians.
5
Thank you for writing this. I questioned why I was sobbing this morning when I saw the photo. I thought I had just reached a point of complete exhaustion from the endless news stream of tragedies. But, Mr. Homans is correct. Right or wrong, I wept because he reminded me of my nephew when he was that age. The image was tangible.
11
Your emotions are being used against you by the anti-western western media whose agenda of open borders is designed to drive out civilisation into the gutter.
9
Insightful and touching description. Thank you, Charles Homans.
16
On Facebook and Twitter, images, the latest outrage, and "causes" go viral mostly because of narcissistic social media user behavior. Wealthy liberals have the luxury of showing that they care about a dead boy in a distant land by posting pictures of him and imploring the world "to do more" (conveniently not getting into the messy details). With a few keystrokes and a click of a mouse, they can display their humanity and get gratifying likes and retweets in return. All their friends will learn just how noble they really are (not).
Nobody cares about the boy, nobody cares about millions of refugees on the other side of the planet. Look at actions, not words. Even acknowledging that our foreign policy is largely responsible for the crisis seems to be an insurmountable task. But keep patting yourselves on the back for showing how much you care.
Nobody cares about the boy, nobody cares about millions of refugees on the other side of the planet. Look at actions, not words. Even acknowledging that our foreign policy is largely responsible for the crisis seems to be an insurmountable task. But keep patting yourselves on the back for showing how much you care.
33
And it is still more than Republicans do.
As for "nobody cares," tell that again to those of us who protested the US invasion of Iraq day after day after day, through all the shouts and accusations and spitting of "Traitor," because WE were paying attention to the warnings that scenarios like this would result.
Your vitriol is misplaced.
As for "nobody cares," tell that again to those of us who protested the US invasion of Iraq day after day after day, through all the shouts and accusations and spitting of "Traitor," because WE were paying attention to the warnings that scenarios like this would result.
Your vitriol is misplaced.
4
Exactly! Then, come Christmas, they will haul out the same faux concern and buy a toy they like for a young poor child, ignore the older siblings, and excoriate their mother for being poor the day after New Years.
I asked myself the same question yesterday. I blogged my answers - and had several possible reasons.. Why was I so haunted and distressed?
Was it because of the associations we Australians (I am an Austratlian New Yorker) have with the beaches of Turkey and the deaths of 10,1000 Australian men in WWI - an event we remember every anniversary on Anzac Day?
Or was it the clothes and they way he was lying - face to the side on his stomach with his bottom slightly raised like toddlers in their own beds. I remembered my own children slept that same was.
I identified as a parent. He looked like my grandson. He looked more real than other distressed or dying children in far away developing countries or war zones.
Also he was dead. It was the finality of it. Unlike other children whose images we see, there was no hope.
Was it because of the associations we Australians (I am an Austratlian New Yorker) have with the beaches of Turkey and the deaths of 10,1000 Australian men in WWI - an event we remember every anniversary on Anzac Day?
Or was it the clothes and they way he was lying - face to the side on his stomach with his bottom slightly raised like toddlers in their own beds. I remembered my own children slept that same was.
I identified as a parent. He looked like my grandson. He looked more real than other distressed or dying children in far away developing countries or war zones.
Also he was dead. It was the finality of it. Unlike other children whose images we see, there was no hope.
25
USA also needs to accept refugees and open its doors to these children. We can not watch from afar and think we are doing our share or just send money. I hope President Obama will speak up soon and help to solve this refugee crisis. If we can send airplanes, tanks, and missiles to the Middle East, we can also bring these children here and allow them to have a chance in this life.
35
I agree, but WWTS (What would Trump say?) After all, they are just Arabs or something, not really white. Probably terrorist who just want to steal our jobs. Can we track them "like FedEx packages"?
We have an entire reactionary right-wing that cannot grasp that the children who risked their lives last summer to cross our southern border were, like little Aylan, trying to escape dead threats and terrible violence. If they cannot find compassion for those children, why would they have compassion for these?
We have an entire reactionary right-wing that cannot grasp that the children who risked their lives last summer to cross our southern border were, like little Aylan, trying to escape dead threats and terrible violence. If they cannot find compassion for those children, why would they have compassion for these?
i have no words
3
it was the symmetry...the lighting...a perfect tragedy almost romanticized in the world of Instagram and Facebook....of distant societal world...digitized and altered....not too grim....the perfect posture...no blood or grim...not grotesque....a Shakespearean tragedy.
And just on the side was the big brother....covered in cloth....definitely bloated and dead...forgotten...no one remembers the name...no hashtag for him or an obituary.
No memes...no coverage.
In short to answer your question....it was just a good photograph...a good composition...nothing more or nothing less.
And just on the side was the big brother....covered in cloth....definitely bloated and dead...forgotten...no one remembers the name...no hashtag for him or an obituary.
No memes...no coverage.
In short to answer your question....it was just a good photograph...a good composition...nothing more or nothing less.
6
You would only understand the real deep pain if you have your own kids!
I am big and tough guy but my son is in the same age and similar look/body.
I never cried so much in my life by just looking at this child's picture!! The pain and sorrow just erupts within mili seconds
I am big and tough guy but my son is in the same age and similar look/body.
I never cried so much in my life by just looking at this child's picture!! The pain and sorrow just erupts within mili seconds
4
Me too. I've been crying for days bc of my four year old. It doesn't mean I didn't care or help before!
1
You have been the translator of my feelings. Firstly I was and still am struck by the shoes. Its been only at most 2 years he is walking. Perhaps its his only pair of shoes. And then by the way he lays on the shore as a baby sleeps in his bed. And then how normal he looks by his outfit as if it would matter his clothes were any different. A baby died brutally and many more like Aylan haved died.
36
The power of a photograph, the power of your words. I have been torn up about this photograph, this image, this preposterous wrongness. You are completely right. It should hurt. It must hurt. And our pain must lead to action. I pray that it be so.
40
Brother,
you are right. we are mourn for Aylan and dont want to see any more Aylan dead body in sea beach in the world
you are right. we are mourn for Aylan and dont want to see any more Aylan dead body in sea beach in the world
The photo reminds me of the fireman with the child in his arms after the Oklahoma City bombing, heart rending, shocking and staring into the abyss of the evil we humans are capable of.
35
I have been haunted by these two photos - the one on this page and also the one of Aylan lying on the beach - for three days. My boys are one and three and they are my world and they lie on their beds just like that and yes the shoes too...
But it is not just the fact that Aylan still has his red shirt and shoes on.
The policeman who recovered Aylan's body treated him with dignity and love, or so it seems to me. I too am sure he has his own children. Like the photo of the fireman with the child in Oklahoma City, this makes it all the clearer to us sitting at our computers or phones no matter where we are that this was a little boy, a human.
I don't know how but I believe that Aylan is in some better place. I pray for his father, and for that policeman, and for all of us.
But it is not just the fact that Aylan still has his red shirt and shoes on.
The policeman who recovered Aylan's body treated him with dignity and love, or so it seems to me. I too am sure he has his own children. Like the photo of the fireman with the child in Oklahoma City, this makes it all the clearer to us sitting at our computers or phones no matter where we are that this was a little boy, a human.
I don't know how but I believe that Aylan is in some better place. I pray for his father, and for that policeman, and for all of us.
Heartbreaking. Just truly heartbreaking.
10
"The boy on the beach has little in common with the other images of children in extremis that have caused the world to pause, however briefly, and contemplate its brutality. I’m thinking of Nick Ut’s napalm girl in Vietnam, Kevin Carter’s starving, vulture-stalked child in
Sudan."
But the Napalm Girl is still alive. The boy on the beach is not. Neither is his brothe nor their mother.
Sudan."
But the Napalm Girl is still alive. The boy on the beach is not. Neither is his brothe nor their mother.
1
"Napalm Girl" - anonymous at the time served its purpose - ultimately forcing the US out of Viet Nam with an "honorable peace".
1
Yes, except he wasn't an emissary of war. He was a kid growing up in Turkey. The UN refused to classify his family as refugees and Turkey refused to grant them exit visas.
Here's my question: Why did his father elect to place his children in such mortal danger?
Here's my question: Why did his father elect to place his children in such mortal danger?
41
Very simple. Had they stayed, they would have all been killed. They took the chance and lost.
11
Your comment only illuminates the desperation these parents must have felt, to take the risks they did.
5
I'll tell you why: Because it was what it was more convenient to the father. Everything everyone does is always for himself. Don't forget.
12
So now even in death we need grades and scales!!
How much grades we will give the drowning??
And those who died by a barrel bomb or air strikes will have more or less grades??
Don't know why, but now it is like this! We need to know how much sorrow we should have for each death incidence?
OK, who will decide the scale and the grades for each death? Will it be a global newspaper? Or field activist? Or Facebook activists?
Now we have scales for humanity according to popularity of the picture, shame on us, shame on humanity.
How much grades we will give the drowning??
And those who died by a barrel bomb or air strikes will have more or less grades??
Don't know why, but now it is like this! We need to know how much sorrow we should have for each death incidence?
OK, who will decide the scale and the grades for each death? Will it be a global newspaper? Or field activist? Or Facebook activists?
Now we have scales for humanity according to popularity of the picture, shame on us, shame on humanity.
12
No need for too much noise. People have changed little, if any the last several thousands of years.
1
Well said Yamen. You, my friend, have nailed it.
The whole thing has been so distressing for years now that I am past it. For sure, I am angry at all those complicit in this child's death: Assad, ISIL, his father who paid $$$ to take him, the People Smugglers, Merkel for encouraging them by tearing up policy on a whim, and we whose representatives kicked the hornet's nest with their illegal war last decade. But I look at that picture and just see another dead child among multitudes.
No one is denying that this whole situation is awful beyond comprehension. What sets me on edge is the way seemingly everyone is applying their own moral sliding scale of awfulness to the situation all of a sudden. They tweet and 'like' that picture on Facebook (in itself a horrible sick thing when one stops to think) imploring us now to sign a petition (just click here) all because they're now upset that a young boy drowned. By implication they're revealing that they care less about the death of every soul already lost in these crises. An aid worker taken hostage and beheaded on camera, or a Jordanian pilot burned alive in a cage, or anyone simply unlucky enough to die off screen, all score lower on the awful-o-meter than this poor boy in most people's eyes, it seems. That's truly depressing to me.
The whole thing has been so distressing for years now that I am past it. For sure, I am angry at all those complicit in this child's death: Assad, ISIL, his father who paid $$$ to take him, the People Smugglers, Merkel for encouraging them by tearing up policy on a whim, and we whose representatives kicked the hornet's nest with their illegal war last decade. But I look at that picture and just see another dead child among multitudes.
No one is denying that this whole situation is awful beyond comprehension. What sets me on edge is the way seemingly everyone is applying their own moral sliding scale of awfulness to the situation all of a sudden. They tweet and 'like' that picture on Facebook (in itself a horrible sick thing when one stops to think) imploring us now to sign a petition (just click here) all because they're now upset that a young boy drowned. By implication they're revealing that they care less about the death of every soul already lost in these crises. An aid worker taken hostage and beheaded on camera, or a Jordanian pilot burned alive in a cage, or anyone simply unlucky enough to die off screen, all score lower on the awful-o-meter than this poor boy in most people's eyes, it seems. That's truly depressing to me.
4
IMO that's the wrong interpretation. There's this old saying: Seeing is believing. A photograph has a reality to it that a written account simply does not. Read about the devastation caused by a natural disaster--or by war, read about beheadings or mass shootings, read about the deaths of scores of children, and depending on how well the writer wrote and how sensitive we are, the happenings may touch us or they may not. But for most of us, even if we are horrified by what we've read, it remains fairly well removed from reality, it's an abstract idea in our minds. But SEE it and then it becomes far more real and far harder to ignore. One of the things that helped the anti-war movement immensely during the Viet Nam war years was the photographs and televised pictures coming back from that ravaged country. It's one of the reasons that the U.S. military (and all other governments and fighting organizations) strive to control what the public sees. They know that "a picture is worth a thousand words."
1