Does the end justify the means?

It is my job to read and monitor the English and BM newspapers everyday, and everyday I see horrifying pictures of death and maimed bodies that is placed so strategically for all to see and gasp over, especially in the BM newspapers - smack dab on the front page, back page and the right side of the newspaper. So it is understandable that I'm quite disturb over the non-censorship of these too-detailed pictures of human suffering.

Lately, there has been really horrifying pictures plastered all over the prominent pages, nothing has been done to curb these 'free press' liberties. Many people see these gory pictures and they shrug as if to say, "So what?" Well, this is not to say that these people do not care about the terrible things that are going on in our world, but they have grown blasé about the suffering of others. There are so many shocking pictures published these days that the shock of seeing one has worn off.

Printing a shocking picture has its uses but at some point we have to say, enough is enough. Why show pictures of a charred body with the identity of the victim plainly visible? Why show a body literally under the back wheel of an ambulance, and why show a picture with dead people littering the accident scene with the identity of the victims plainly visible and a few private parts showing as well? There are many questionable newspaper pictures out there. While I understand that printing pictures like that serves to warn and shock the public into awareness, I do not see why the identity or the name of the victim should be published. Think about the victim's family. What will they think when they see pictures of their love ones in such gory details? How will that affect them? Especially the children. What are they to think when they see papa or mummy under the wheel of a bus? Stuff of nightmares, methinks, and psychological disorder.

Nowadays, I hardly see any black stripe across a victim's or accused face. Let's take the Nirmala Bonat case. I agree that maid abuse is a terrible human infraction, as any abuse is, and it should be broadcasted to warn others and to stop the 'practice' taking the 'law' into your hands. But I still think that their identities should have been kept from the public. Especially the employer's face. We all know what she did was wrong and terrible and she should be punished for her crimes, but we didn't have to know what she looks like. It's like a witch-hunt. Reporters crowding around, pushing cameras into her face and all that. Maybe people booing on the sidelines. All that was missing was the stake, and maybe some rotten vegetables. She has young children. What about them?

I know, I know, many of you would think that why should we be so closed-minded or rather 'kolot'? That we should be allowed to decide and think for ourselves? I agree with that. I think that we need to be open-minded too about every thing too. That in order for growth, we need to take the good and the bad. But there are times when we should ask ourselves does the end justify the means? If the answer is yes, then that's good. But then everything is relative. It is easy for us to sit here and type what we think when we do not have to be the one to act.

Maybe there's a bigger picture to publishing the gory pictures but if there are, I don't see some of them. To me, they were printed just for sheer news value. That's just my take...