How does the human mind work? Science teaches us that the brain shoots electric pulses throughout the body to send messages to other cells and organs in order for them to function properly. What we learn in social studies, however, is that the mind, specifically the hippocampus, can be affected in war and causes many stressed soldiers to suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A significant percentage of the people who experienced great horrors of the war in Vietnam were among many throughout history to develop PTSD. The memories haunting these soldiers were only ever forgotten after death.
Can any memory within one individual’s brain be exactly the same as one within another’s? In her essay, “Regarding the Pain of Others,” Susan Sontag leads us to believe that this is impossible and every memory is unique to the person who experienced it. She goes on to debate a different type of memory called collective memory, which is “not a remembering but a stipulating” (Sontag 261). She continues with her thought and explains how images often portray what we believe the event or occurrence looked like. This is very interesting because many corrupt governments used massive amounts of propaganda images to influence their people and society into thinking there was nothing wrong. The communist government of Soviet Russia used many controversial images to trick the general public into believing whatever they wanted them to.
Many other governments have used this tactic to persuade the viewers to their point of view. The United States, for example, used the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter saying “We Can Do It,” which supported the woman’s role in World War II. This image patriotically encouraged women nationwide to do whatever they could for their country, whether it be filling in at jobs where their husbands had once worked or working in factories to create new weapons and ammunition for the war. The Nazi government of Germany during the Second World War also used many influential propaganda images to control its people; anti-Semitic illustrations and cartoons of the vast German army heavily contributed to changing many people’s thoughts on the war.
Many war photographs have a similar effect on people, causing them to change their beliefs or opinions on the war and governments involved. Also in her essay, Sontag earlier describes the photography of Sebastiao Salgado, who captured many incredible black-and-white war images. His photographs are very explicit and the viewer can truly sympathize for the people in them. The majority of the images are not gruesome or gory, but they still depict suffering and hardships: people are struggling to survive and can barely support their own families in Latin America and many other poverty-stricken nations.
http://www.archive.worldpressphoto.org/search/layout/result/indeling/detailwpp/form/wpp/start/29/q/ishoofdafbeelding/true/trefwoord/year/1984
People migrate, like birds flying south for the winter, to find shelter and food elsewhere. Perhaps they are fleeing from an unseen enemy in the distance. There is much struggle and the look of fear is unmistakable on the faces of these people. The photo was taken in 1984 and won first prize in News Features stories in contest held by Magnum Photos. This photo shows an entire community can be affected by a certain incident. The people in the photo obviously can remember this much more vividly than the viewers or the photographer himself because they were truly impacted by the event. The photographs, however, develop the perception of people’s thoughts on the war and help them understand what really happened.
Salgado began his work in 1973, and in 1986, he published his first book titled Other Americas (UNICEF par. 3). In the book, he included many photos he took in Latin America of the poor, sick, and elderly trying to survive in an unbelievably brutal environment. He writes how much people can do and support those in need by actually contributing and caring, without giving thoughtless material possessions that wouldn’t really have any real use to those distraught people. Salgado believes those who can afford to help these people in need should do so by participating in these people’s lives and helping to build a better environment locally (UNICEF par. 2). The whole idea behind his photography is so the people who see them and truly care will do something to help.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/consciencianegra/3004715503/
The photo above shows a young boy staring with curiosity at the photographer and his camera, wondering what Salgado could be doing with such a strange-looking device. Surely the child has never seen a camera before and can’t imagine what it could be used for. The boy is wrapped in tattered rags, which sag and fit improperly around his emaciated body. Taken in 1997, this photo portrays to the viewer how horrible it must be to live in such poverty-stricken parts of the world. The boy probably won’t remember this day when he’s older, but those around him might and if they ever see this photograph, it will affect them much differently than any of the other viewers. If I were to see an image of myself from when I was younger, say twenty or thirty years from that date, I would probably reconcile for a significant amount of time about my past and how much I’d changed since then.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sebastiao+salgado+photo&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1437&bih=711&tbm=isch&tbnid=si9LdUxTeEbMTM:&imgrefurl=http://thephotobook.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/sebastiao-salgado/&docid=uJxRgJwhHdlp5M&imgurl=http://th
The above photograph shows a family doing the daily household chores of washing clothing, collecting food and wood, etc. Multiple people do these activities because they don’t have the luxuries that many citizens of first-world countries were born with. The photo was taken in 2006 and very much shows how, if these people were shown this photograph, they would have a much different reaction to someone who isn’t used to the hardships that seem so natural to these impoverished people. I feel that I can truly connect to this photo because it reminds me of a time I was vacationing in Hawaii and I saw a homeless family on the side of the highway, doing their daily activities in a similar fashion. When I first saw this photo, I was astounded and really sympathized for the people captured in the image.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sebastiao+salgado+photo&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1437&bih=711&tbm=isch&tbnid=hTIqSRtqMLWFpM:&imgrefurl=http://www.distritoglobal.com/sebastiao-salgado/&docid=Xjj6txneXgriWM&imgurl=http://www.distritoglobh
The above image impacted me the most of the four because it reminds me of my own little brother laying in his bed, with the sheets pulled up to his neck. It sorrows me to even think of what it would be like to see him wrapped up like that with several other children on the ground, huddling together for warmth in a thin piece of cloth. Although I do not know what it really feels like to be in poverty or live in horrible conditions with fatal diseases, I cringe at what it must be like for them and hope they survive.
The children, probably not even seven years of age yet, have suffered more already than most North Americans have suffered in their entire decades of life. Sontag writes that “for photographs to accuse…they must shock” (260). This image definitely disturbs the viewer and makes them wonder what could possibly cause such horrible devastation and poverty. The viewer can see fear and uncertainty in their eyes. The photo was taken in 1973 and the viewer can wonder if these people are still alive and what they are doing today if they are still alive. If these people could look back and see this photo, how would their memories of it differ?
Salgado has gone around the world collecting images of those suffering war or poverty or both. Susan Sontag was very clever for using him in her essay because it relates so well to her central idea and theme: “Salgado’s migration pictures group together, under this single heading, a host of different causes and kinds of distress” (258). Memory itself is very strange because every person remembers an event differently than someone else even though that person may have gone through the exact same experience. Imagine how people will remember today ten years from now.

Posted by Shaz at 2:27 PM