Gruesome photos on facebook

[DogCalledRudis]

Me and my friends follow the events in Palestine, and there is a lot of scary stuff you won't see on mass media. But some of them friends are taking things bit too far i'd say... Sharing photos of dead bodies with skulls crushed, etc.
On one hand i understand that world needs to know, on the other... I'm freaked out to look at my home page. I'm already having nightmares.

I think it's important that the photos are shared. News reports listing numbers of casualties can help us avoid the reality of conflicts. Numbers don't look like people. Plus sometimes the families want the photos shared to raise awareness. I do think their wishes are more important than our's.

We can always choose to hide those photos from our newsfeeds.

tbh I have a friend working in Africa who sometimes posts horrific photos from the conflicts there. I did hide his posts from my newsfeed after a particularly awful photo popped up on my phone one day. But I do still check his page for updates as I think it's important to acknowledge what is happening elsewhere, how fortunate we are, and any actions we can take to help. But by checking his page rather than having him on my newsfeed, at least I can brace myself for the possibility I might see a photo of a massacre.

Facebook is the only way to stay in touch with some friends or relatives.

Well that's not true is it, if they have Facebook then they have an email account. Get their email addresses and come off Facebook (if you're being offended by it that is)

Exactly. Email is more efficient, totally private, and restricted just to the people you want/need to communicate with.
Those of us who used email before FB was invented are finding it quite unnecessary.

BBC had an interesting article on this.

Some of the images are being recycled from other conflicts.
m.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-28198622

However horrible it is for you to see those images, it's a lot worse for the people experiencing them :-(

Thank you for posting this, OP as I saw an awful picture on Twitter and the face of the child's father has stayed with me. There is no comprehension of how the little boy's parents must be feeling - wakening up each day to the loss of their child, losing their home, everything.
I wrote to a friend who is a psychiatric nurse and anti war campaigner to ask how he coped with such shocking imagery - how do you cope with seeing images yet not block the emotion behind the image?

This is largely why I deactivated my Facebook account.

Guess what? I still keep in touch with relatives overseas and I still know what's happening in the Middle East.

I think on some level people enjoy viewing these images and it worries me the way I think extremely violent pictures are becoming more and more commonplace. Probably largely in part because of Facebook.

These images will only be of any help to the victims if the people viewing them actually took measures to relieve the conflict in the middle east.

broken are they sharing the anti Semitic comments or an image of death or destruction with comments attached? If your friends are sharing anti semitic content then thats out if order. If they are sharing the images, then they are not ascribing to the views of the ignorant hopefully.

I logged onto see a post with photos of dead children. One particularly graphic and disturbing, then I got shouted at for saying I didn't want to see it.

My Jewish friends in facebook have not in contrast shared photos of dead Israelis.

Perhaps that is because until yesterday's single victim there have not been any dead to show for a very long time. Whereas over 200 Palestinians have been killed in the latest exchanges, including four children today who were playing on a beach well away from any 'terrorists/freedom fighters.

N.B. I am NOT taking sides here. Both sides are wrong - it's just that one side is much better trained and equipped for killing.

One way of not being offended by facebook is not to have it. It isn't the only way. I am very, very rarely offended by anything on my feed - I actually don't think I have ever been. Is it to do with the friends I choose, perhaps? THis is the other way of not being offended by facebook and still allows the effortless communication with family and friends who live elsewhere in the world.
In this case, OP, it is difficult as you (I assume) like your friends but dislike the graphic nature of some of their posts. Not sure what you can do about this, actually

However; when there have been terrorist attacks in Israel they Never show pictures of dead Israelis - if they did it would make people support them too.

Maybe because there aren't many dead Israelis

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/15/world/middleeast/toll-israel-gaza-conflict.html?_r=0

This is an extremely one-sided conflict and cannot be justified

Yanbu. My friend posted a video of a man holding half of his daughters body. It played automatically as I scrolled down so I saw it and it couldn't sleep all night. I would've liked the option to play it because I wouldn't have

My Jewish friends in facebook have not in contrast shared photos of dead Israelis.

As others have pointed out, there aren't many dead Israelis.

My Jewish friends on facebook are, however, sharing photos of dead Palestinians, because they are appalled at the violence being conducted by their country and want to make it clear that it is not in their name.

figgypudding to answer your question. One of my former jobs involved conflict zones, conducting and reading lots of interviews about atrocities, etc. You have to compartmentalise and focus on what you are trying to achieve. It's why it only suits certain personality types. Someone who is upset and traumatised isn't right for the role. It's not to say that you suppress your emotional response but you use it to provide momentum for your work which you have to believe is going to make a difference. Also, if your role does include managing such information then most organisations will provide some kind of training and/or support either prior or after particularly difficult assignments.

Girlwith the lion heart that actually made me run off to the toilet to vomit. That image is just too vile to complentate. (I really did puke)

Sorry shaky it was so awful, kept seeing it in my head over and over :( told him to put a warning next time, he refused

A few people have mentioned that it's disrespectful to share the photos or that Israelis don't share photos of their dead. There's a huge difference between the 2. the Palestinians have no voice, there's huge media bias, there is no justice for the Palestinians.From a lot of the images it is evident the parents of the brutally murdered children want the world to see, as that is the only way the world will realise the extent of the dire situation they are in. If I had not seen these images (which I haven't shared on my Facebook, just described in words the impact they have had on me ) I would not know what was happening. There is no justice for these parents to give them peace as Israel will never be held to account. Imagine your child was murdered and the world didn't care and there was no one to hold the killers to account, just super powers rewarding the murderers with more money and the murderers who killed your child were free to kill others. If anyone was in that dire situation I am sure they would want the world to know.
As for the Israeli soldiers they are the oppressors, why would anyone show photos of dead soldiers who have gone in to kill others.

In reply to the comment Israel don't show their dead, they don't need to the superpowers are behind them blindly, if one of theirs dies they are free to murder hundreds of Palestinians in revenge even when there is not one shred of evidence as to who has committed that murder. Israel has a voice which the people of Palestine don't. They are effectively living in a an open air prison. In a situation like this the oppressor Israel would rather the world didn't see what was happening .

I do agree with the posters of those photos that the world needs to know, and we are so fortunate that its only photos we get to see.
However, among those who view facebook are young children, pregnant women, people with fragile mental health -- freaking them out is no help to those victims of conflict. :(

In reply to the comment Israel don't show their dead, they don't need to the superpowers are behind them blindly, if one of theirs dies they are free to murder hundreds of Palestinians in revenge even when there is not one shred of evidence as to who has committed that murder. Israel has a voice which the people of Palestine don't. They are effectively living in a an open air prison. In a situation like this the oppressor Israel would rather the world didn't see what was happening .

Apologies posted the above twice by mistake