The abhorrent power of the photograph of a 5-year-old held by ICE
An image like this could once change history. Can one still?
School officials in Minnesota say that the prekindergarten student was used “as bait” by ICE, in an apparent attempt to gain access to the adults inside the private house where he once lived. That act, the use of a boy too young to understand the political game in which he became a pawn, mirrors in a perverse and deeply disturbing way the power of the photograph. The photograph stirs empathy and compassion, the same emotions that ICE agents apparently used to entice adults into making themselves vulnerable to capture.
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A universal moral image works because at some level we share a universal moral conscience. There are certain things that, when seen, compel us to action in a way that transcends all other concerns.
It is universal because the suffering of a child cuts across race, nationality and ideological divisions. It is universal because it takes precedence over all other concerns. A child in distress demands action now. The world stops for a moment, and decent people do what is absolutely, immediately necessary.
Among the most deeply distressing things this image represents is the instrumentalization of compassion. ICE didn’t place a box of candy or a $100 bill on the front stoop of the house, hoping to tempt people out. They used a child to appeal to the most innate and essentially human impulse to show care, concern and protect — to capture those who care for him. They weaponized decency, the last incorruptible defense we have against absolute misery and evil.
https://archive.is/LwbMg#selection-227.0-227.65
No words...
= new reply since forum marked as read
SAID NO ONE EVER.
He is being such a good boy. Just look at his little face! He doesn't seem to be wearing any gloves. I can't stand it!
I'm so sorry Liam! When I was 5 years old in the 1950's, our country was nothing like this...
We used to be the "good guys."
These two people, merged into one, are the cause of all this woe.
To hide their crimes, they unleash hundreds of other crimes.
Trumpstein.
I can take much more of this.
I don't believe a photo has been published with his kids, and they're all under 5 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Miller
Katie Miller has taken the name of her husband Stephen, so she wouldn't be allowed to vote according to the Repukes. Neither would Melania Trump, for that matter. When they figure out that they'd be disenfranchising nearly ALL of their own women, I think it will put the kibosh on that stupid plan.
