In her 1977 book On Photography, Susan Sontag questioned whether images of violence had the power to shock people into moral action. There were simply too many pictures of too many horrible things — crime, poverty, the war in Vietnam —to expect any to move public opinion. She wrote: “Cameras miniaturize experience, transform history into spectacle. As much as they create sympathy, photographs cut sympathy, distance the emotions.
Could photos of gun violence save lives?
In her 1977 book On Photography, Susan Sontag questioned whether images of violence had the power to shock people into moral action. There were simply too many pictures of too many horrible things — crime, poverty, the war in Vietnam —to expect any to move public opinion. She wrote: “Cameras miniaturize experience, transform history into spectacle. As much as they create sympathy, photographs cut sympathy, distance the emotions.
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