It is true, as Don Wycliff, the Chicago Tribune’s public editor, suggests in his recent column, that a picture is worth a thousand words and should be used judiciously (“What’s wrong with these pictures?” Commentary page, Oct. 19).
Why, then, one might ask, would the Tribune and Mr. Wycliff choose to run, for a second time on the commentary page, the very pictures that he claims caused the Tribune such a headache?
Words also can contain more meaning than is obvious, and Mr. Wycliff’s characterization of the murders of the Israelis as acts of “feral viciousness” and “essentially tribal” are clearly meant to apply to the Palestinians in the picture, not simply the act.
These terms are racist in nature, implying that the people in question have not reached a stage of civilization that is equivalent to that of our own.
Although I can assure you that this is not true of the Palestinian people, Mr. Wycliff admits in his article to a compulsion to drive home this “feral” nature with the photograph–twice.
Because Mr. Wycliff, in his noble quest for journalistic balance, doesn’t seem compelled to illustrate any “feral” or “tribal” nature of the Israelis, one must assume that the Israeli state-sanctioned murders of Palestinians bear the mark of civilization in Mr. Wycliff’s opinion.
Perhaps we should help “elevate” the civilization of the Palestinians by arming them as we do the Israelis?
