Harsh photos have an important place in keeping people informed and keeping reality on the front burner. This is why they often win Pulitzer Prizes. As an example, I, for one, think we should be seeing a lot more pictures from the Ground Zero cleanup than we are.

Granted, pictures of starving kids are also sometimes used as ammunition for political agendas, usually to show people being "Oppressed by Amerika," and one has to watch out for this.

However, the same ammunition can be used both ways: there, but for the grace of political and economic freedom, go we. Although the left likes to project the illusion that if it were not for capitalist exploiters, places like sub-Saharan Africa would be a prosperous paradise, most reasonable people know that starvation and poverty are and have been the norms throughout the world and throughout history. Most reasonable people also know that the United States and other advanced nations are rare and wonderful exceptions to this.

Getting reasonable people to take that long extra mental step, and realize that capitalism and individual rights are the REASONS advanced nations are the exceptions....well, that's the bitch.

I'll keep plugging at it though.