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September 01, 2006
The photo below depicts a man falling from Manhattan's World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City. The unknown subject was one of the people (dubbed "jumpers" by the press) trapped on the upper floors of the building who apparently chose to jump to certain death, rather than die from the heat, fire and smoke. They did so until the tower collapsed.
Richard Drew, The Falling Man, 2001
The image is controversial, especially in the US. The media's self-censorsed the photograph, preferring instead to print photos of acts of heroism and sacrifice. The picture appeared all over newspapers on September 12, but never appeared again. The image was deemed to be too confronting and it was derided as disrespectful, voyeuristic and exploitative of the tragedy that tore at the heart of the US.
Shaun Best, 2001
The media were seen by the American public as being irresponsible and immoral. They exposed children to a brutal and honest truth? What truth is that? What is being exposed?
Update: 5 September
Kim Huynh provides an answer in an op ed. in the Canbera Times. He says that the violent reaction is in part explained by the falling man's defiance of two of the great narratives of our times:
The story of the modern forward-looking individual tells us that we must strive until the very end, if only because this is as good as it gets. From this perspective, each of us exists at the centre of the universe and, with enough will, can overcome any obstacle.The Christian story also urges us to carry on in the face of hardship because you never know when God will bestow his miracles. Even more compelling is the knowledge that there is only one sin that the Almighty cannot forgive - suicide. These grand stories are woven together to form the very core of what it means to be American today.
That makes sense.
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Little bit raw too at the time.