Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Coffins

Really, it isn't my intention to talk military every day, it's just that these issues keep coming up.

Now the federal government has banned photographing flag-draped coffins of soldiers, which is really odd because, while the US government did implement a similar ban recently, I hadn't heard anything about it being an issue in Canada.

I have opinions on this, but they don't matter.

The opinions of only two groups of people matter:

1. Families and other survivors of deceased soldiers
2. Soldiers themselves

Does it bother the survivors if their deceased loved-one's coffin is photographed? Would it bother the soldiers if their coffin were photographed after their death?

If so, they shouldn't photograph them. If not, it's fair game as much as any other occurrence.

Some rhetoric is equating photographing the coffin with photographing the mourners. This is not an apt comparison. Consenting to photographs of one is not equal to consenting to photographs of the other.

I can tell you that I would not want my picture taken while mourning, but I would not mind if a picture were taken of my coffin, or if a picture were taken of a loved one's coffin. If the casket were open, I might feel differently, but a flag-draped casket obviously isn't open.

But that's just my opinion, and it counts for nothing here. The issue should be left up to soldiers themselves and their survivors. Not elected officials, not military policymakers, not voters. Just the people directly affected.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As you probably know, the ban here in the US is largely related to the coffin photographs having been used in the past as part of ant-war protests.

There have been so many US soldiers killed (and a lot more wounded/maimed) that the half-staff flags are not really an option. That loses impact as far as making a point, because the flags would be lowered all the time.

Flag-draped coffins still have the desired effect, though. Kind of hard to ignore. And Bush knows it. Hence the ban.

I agree it should be up to the families. If they want to make a political statement, they should have that right, in my opinion. The government should not be making the decision, either way.

impudent strumpet said...

From where I'm sitting, photos of the coffins don't seem like a political statement in Canada. Others may or may not agree, but to me it has always come across as factual report. Here's a coffin, here's the name of the person in it, here's how they died, maybe a few statements about them or reactions to their death, and in the last few paragraphs a quick summary of what the hell we're doing in Afghanistan for those who came in late. It's striking and symbolic and on the front page ever single time, but it never struck me a political until today, when the published coffin pictures specifically to show what they aren't allowed to publish, and the fact that they aren't supposed to publish them came up in every article.