The Pain of Others

Every day the photographs appear. They show the sadistic horror of the war in Syria. This is, always, quickly followed by an earnest, albeit repetitive, debate about whether this photograph will help end the war in Syria. The short answer, and the long answer, is: no. A photograph can sway public opinion—and even sometimes lead to political action—when the political will to “do something” already exists, at least in nascent form. Who, exactly, will a photograph of Syrian suffering influence? It is sheer sentimentality to ask photographs to do the work of politics and to make the choices that we cannot.