New York Times photographers Tyler Hicks (far left) and Lynsey Addario (center) stand with (from right) Times reporters Stephen Farrell and Anthony Shadid, and Turkish ambassador Levent Sahinkaya in Tunisia, soon after being freed by Libyan government forces. (Photo/Turkish Foreign Ministry)
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Thank God! Safe trip home. Now why don’t you stay out of harm’s way and leave that to our soldiers who are trained to be in such combat zones.
I just don’t agree at all: they’re risking their lives to get the truth out there for all of us. I so admire the sense of purpose, honor, commitment, and bravery with which they conduct themselves. They inspire me and, I hope, my students to make a difference in the world. Photographs so often move us to right action. Think of Eddie Addams in Viet Nam, for instance. (hope I spelled his name right)
Hogwash. They are adrenline junkies. I admire their work but this “purpose, honor, commitment and bravery” should be reserved for our troops in battle. And what if they had not been released? Are we gonna trade some weapons or nuclear secrets for their release? Or send in some Army Rangers to gain their escape? The risk far outweighs the reward of your so-called truth in a few photos, whatever the hell that is?
Re: Photography’s ability to illuminate; yes and no.
On Nguyen Ngoc Loan and his famous photograph, Adams wrote in Time:
“ The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them; but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. … What the photograph didn’t say was, ‘What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American people?’”
Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyen and his family for the irreparable damage it did to the General’s honor while he was alive. When Nguyen died, Adams praised him as a “hero” of a “just cause”. On the television show “War Stories with Oliver North” Adams called Gen. Nguyen “a goddamned hero!”
Adams took many photographs during the war, not just one. I think if you look closer at Hicks’ and Addario’s work, you’ll see more than that of “adrenaline junkies.” I would not want to trade nuclear secrets or anything like that for their release, and I doubt they would want this either; they know the terms under which they work. As a proud daughter of a Marine, I would never question the valor and other admirable qualities of our troops, but Dan’s post referred to Hicks and Addario, whom I hold in high regard; the efforts of one group in no way diminish those of another.
You chose him as an example of what you admire. His view of what he did was more nuanced than yours it would seem.
I admire them as well for their talent, work and now freedom. But I have been in a combat zone and no one really cares about your utopian truth. Adams was gifted but he certainly did not bring a greater awareness or early close to the Vietnam conflict. It was on the news every night. No one really cared as few do now. Semper Fi.