Life is all about survival….and as hideous as it sounds….if you do not survive , nothing else really matters does it ? We humans make extraordinary loud talk about having broken free from the primeval animal instincts. Even most moderate theologians, who’ve submitted to the theory of evolution, retrace all their acceptances in the loose statements of the kind.
“Agreed, man evolved from monkeys…but the distinguishing moment was when god breathed soul into a man…and thus distinguished him from all other animals.”
……and thus it is, that humans are supposed to be extraordinarily different (behaviorally i.e.) from all other species to have ever inhabited the earth in a few billion years of its existence. Then there come your way scenes such as this which make a complete mockery of the so-called altruistic, philanthropic, and ‘herd-benefit-nature’ of humans.
The photograph , which made headlines and shocked the entire world, shows an obviously malnourished ( high grade PEM) child in famine stricken Sudan, crawling desperately towards a UN food camp , with no other human in distant sight with its movement being traced and stalked by a vulture. The carrion bird awaiting the oppressive sun to drain the last dregs of energy from the child , so that it might make an uncommonly large feast…and perhaps feed its own starving younglings as well.
….and the entire scene witnessed and captured on film for posterity by a photographer, who then fled the scene…..the child was never seen or heard of again. Kevin Carter, the photographer, won the Pulitzer prize for his efforts, but took his own life a few months later in the wake of global condemnation against his so obviously inhuman action ( or should we say , the lack of action).
It is , of course , extraordinarily easy and oh-so human to follow the rest of the world in condemning Carter….but as stark and poignant as the scene may be….it merely moves me to a sardonic grin, at yet another example of mankind having failed to live up to its boast of ….well….humanity , shall we call it. Ultimately, everything is about survival. Of the child’s and the vulture’s intentions, there can of course be no doubts….. Mother Nature at its barest…a tooth and nail struggle for existence.
But what of the man…..is it really a different scenario for him….. all would say , he is no different from the vulture, hunting for a prize feast , and ultimately grotesquely inhuman….but I’d venture , that even as the bird , when faced with nature at its ugliest , he’s merely followed his natural instincts. Instincts honed over generations , from the ape… the reptile…the invertebrate ….back to the bacterium ancestor whose genes in some form or the other had passed into him. As with the vulture, all he sees is an opportunity which would give him (and his family) better scope and longer duration of feeding (by virtue of the photograph).
Many would say that the analogy is not applicable, as his chances of survival are not significantly affected were he to help the child, even after clicking the photograph….a point which merely strengthens my argument. The argument that the actions of Carter were not well-thought, calculated, cold and unemotive antipathy….but merely a numbing of all higher human neural centers and a response to the law of the jungle……of which we still retain stronger roots than any of us would care to comprehend or admit.
It is all very well to rain criticism, but place others in Carter’s position, and I’m willing to take a wager, that most people would act in a similar manner. Some of the most powerful images from history have been of disasters….wars, floods, famines, genocides, earthquakes etc . ….and those that have captured the same have won renown and repute , but I scarce think any of these people would have stopped to address the subjects of their photographs…..maybe to use their shirts to bandage a bleeding limb , or perhaps give a sip of water from their flasks.
Somehow all the childhood notions of morality, humanity, sense of duty seem to take beating when confronted by such stark scenarios….and while not all behaviour may be akin, I scarce think it is wise to predict, let alone condemn…..
After all…. “Let him not vow to walk in the dark who has not yet seen the night fall”….and human reactions in the dark , are best not predicted.
7 comments:
Well, you know my standard critique! The child is black. Granted that the picture is an example of the struggle for survival at its barest...but how/why discount the soco-historic forces?! It is no longer a pre-historic jungle that we inhabit. There is a 'UN Food packet' somewhere in the picture...not to forget that the photograph has been highly accalimed in the glittering artistic drawing-rooms of the white world...I am somehow unwilling to suspend and ignore all the historical forces that have led the child by hand to its place in the picture...
For praise...very well-written (yet again!)
I totally agree....but my idea was not to discuss the circumstances which brought the child to the condition in the photograph.....things like that have been written about and debated at much length....I only wanted to talk about the survival angle...and well...the criticism of the journalist which led to his suicide.
It is interesting that you posted this blog two days after i had an argument over this same topic with a friend of mine. He was praising the photo no end saying it was an amazing moment to capture.
But i contradicted, that at that moment,even after taking the picture the least he could have done was to taken the child UN relief camp. Then he could have had the glory of having taken an amazing photograph and lived on to enjoy it as well.
The one reason why pictures like these have become so common in today's world is because, most people are like Carter who would prefer to sit back and watch rather than do anything.
To quote Martin Luther King, "The world suffers not because of the actions of the bad, but because of the inaction of the good."
I think this picture portrays that quote very well.
@ Akash
I do not choose to be judgmental...it is only too human to be so...and that is the purpose of the blog...to attempt to bring out that it is basic instinct which drove the photographer...and no amount of indoctrination in so called human values might have altered his actions.
Very well written. I am not convinced that Carter's actions were caused by his basic instincts. To take Akash's point forward , Inaction is not a basic instinct. Its a learned reaction. If you read up on Kevin Carter , a White photo journalist from South Africa , quite a few presumptions based on prejudices can be made and none of them relate to any basic instinct. The guy was the first to photograph executions by "necklacing". Just reading about what "necklacing" is gave me goose bumps. Hard for me to imagine someone photographing the same. But then most "necklacing" are public cases with crowds leading these "public executions". Does that indicate Sadism being a basic instinct ? Maybe a longer post on Inaction awaits us ...
@ Prasun....
You think others might have done dfferently to Carter ?
Likes of your Barkha Dutt and Vir Sangvi and the rest of the Indian circus....they're all the same...all scribes...pretty much the same as all other humans....deeds ruled solely by motivation of personal gains and glory. Not sadisim...but merely...
'One man's misfortune is another's treasure'.
its a tremendously sad sight...there is so much of pain all over. i just think instead of writing about it, people should take action about issues thay feel strongly about. the world will be a slightly better place then.
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