An overdose of such photographs would be unhealthy. But in proper proportion they can help us to understand something of what has been sacrificed for the victories we have won. Against a tough and resourceful enemy, every gain entails a cost. To gloss over this grim fact is to blur our vision. If we are to behave as adults in meeting our civilian responsibilities, we must be treated as adults. This means simply that we must be given the truth without regard to fears about how we may react to it.
This quote is from a Washington Post editorial from Sept 1943 about Life Magazine's decision to show a photo of three dead American soldiers. Part of a really interesting illustrated essay in the NYT about the debate around the subject of showing casualties. I wonder if the debate in some form goes back even further to the civil war and other battles around the invention of photography in the 1860's, though the ability to print and disseminate photos in newspapers and magazines wasn't there.
