This Pulitzer prize winning picture shook the conscience of the world in 1993. And as with anything that radical, criticism did follow.
A member of the Bang-Bang club, Kevin Carter was already famous with his fellow mates for uncovering unimaginable atrocities happening in Africa before 1993. I don't know if he was motivated by fame or was just rash. That is a moot point. That is no point actually. When this photo was released to the press, people were appalled all over the world to see the conditions in Africa ( its still no different. Please note I am not trying to discredit the United Nations.They are doing more than they could ever do to save the forsaken place ). The picture did generate the right kind of press. But along with it came the critics. The questions that started popping around were - why did Kevin leave the little girl in the parched land without helping?He was accused of 'waiting for the right moment' to get the photograph to be as 'dramatic' as it is. He was also accused of tampering the picture. Soon,his personal life was uncovered:he did drugs,had unstable relationships...yada yada yada.
Who are these people?What right do they have to question his conscience? Have they ever been to Africa? Can't believe the nerve of these people to rake up his personal life. So what if he did drugs? This man witnessed unimaginable things. Things like 'necklacing'. Had the courage to stick to a profession that was a constant threat to his life. And for whatever reason it might be, he did uncover them. So how do these armchair critics get the right to comment about the rightness or wrongness of the picture or Kevin himself? Have they ever been in such a position themselves? Are they peers in the same profession who have witnessed the same as Kevin?Have they even tried to put themselves in Kevin's place,or his frame of mind? I know what would happen to me if I'd put myself in his frame of mind. Explode and self destruct...that is what would happen. No self righteous person would be even able to comprehend the meaning of the photo beyond what it was meant to. Anything beyond is just plain academic ( plain stupid that is ) for the sake of doing it or for a living ( if it for a living,maybe it is partially justified ). People need to shut up if they can't do anything but complain about it. So what I am saying is that this picture and Kevin are beyond such bourgeois questioning. The man's dead. He killed himself unable to bear the trauma of what he saw in his life ( and also because of personal issues ). No amount of LSD/opium/pot/heroin would ever give relief to this kind of pain. Maybe death did. How 'convenient' for the critics right? So lay off him.
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