On Tuesday morning when I walked into the office, our doorman gave me the morning paper as he does every day. Ratchet music was blasting from my Beats By Dre headphones as I looked at the cover of The Post, then I cut the music off.
I read it from the bottom up: ‘Doomed. This man is about to die!’
The image altered my day. I wouldn’t have looked at the picture if I knew it was there. I had no choice. This image was embedded inside my head, and the grisly death of Ki Suk Han has been the talk of New York every day since.
There’s constant debate over whether The New York Post should have posted the picture. There’s also been debate over why the bystanders present didn’t bother to help pull Suk Han to safety.
The image made my stomach turn, but after an hour or so, I noticed that no one was talking about the man who pushed the guy, or the guy who got hit. The majority of the conversations I saw online were all about the New York Post and the photographer who snapped the picture.
It was then that I said to myself and wrote on one of my friend’s Facebook status updates: that photo is the money shot.
I stopped being mad at the photographer despite how the photo made me feel. I realized that freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, the guy who took the shot, took the perfect shot.
He did his job. As a journalist, he has to tell the story, regardless of how much the truth of what happened might hurt or make us feel uncomfortable. The Washington Times wrote an article titled “New York Post Criticized by Jealous Competition” where Peter Bella writes, “This is the type of image Pulitzer and other prestigious prizes are awarded for.”
I couldn’t agree more. Recognition and success comes from having the brass to make tough decisions like the one photographer Abbasi made.
Which brings me to the point of the bystanders who failed to help Ki.
As much as it pains me to say this…
They didn’t have to help him. I don’t blame them for not risking their lives to save another man. I wish someone would have jumped down there and grabbed him up to safety so his daughter could hug her father one last time, but that didn’t happen.
I think that is why the image makes everyone so angry, because it puts us on the platform with the folks who were physically there on that dreadful day, then makes each of us question what we would have done if we were there. The photo is brilliant because it feeds us the same self guilt the eye-witnesses felt.
That’s my theory. But why does the above photo make you upset?
~ Blog Xilla Follow Me On Twitter
Xilla is the Sr. Entertainment Editor for GlobalGrind.com as well as CEO of the number 1 relationship blog BlogXilla.com/M2TB.com. He has been featured in XXL, The Source, Essence, LA Times and is considered one of the premiere bloggers in the industry. Follow him on twitter @BlogXilla
