Glenn's Junk Chest

An assortment of Glenn's writings, photography, gaming resources, flash movies, and other creative output.


Thursday, December 15, 2005

Photography: Ethics Test

Ok, well, Clotho's website seems to be having a little hiccup, which means none of the graphics on my blog, including the photo of the day, are currently working properly. So, to keep you occupied while we wait for the DNS to clear, here's a small ethics test that's apparently been circulating among photographers. I first saw it from Mr. Mark in a discussion thread on Flickr.

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally. No one else will know, so you won't be fooling anyone but yourself if you give anything but a truthful answer.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you have to make a decision. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please read slowly and thoughtfully, giving due consideration to each line. Here is the situation:

You are in Florida; Miami to be specific. There is chaos all around caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. A flood of biblical proportions. You are a photo journalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is unleashing all its destructive fury. Suddenly you see a man floundering in the water. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris.

You move closer...

Somehow the man looks familiar. It is George W. Bush, President of the United States!! At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under... forever.

You have two options: -you can save the life of G. W. Bush, or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful men.

So here is the big question, and please give an honest answer.




Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?



Hopefully photos will be working again shortly, until then, check out my Flickr Photostream if you want to see the new photo of the day. (I typically post each photo of the day to Flickr in the morning.)

Update: I've changed the address for the photo of the day links so that they use the IP address rather than the DNS system. This should fix the problem in the short term. In a week or so, when things have settled down, I'll change it back.

5 Comments:

At 8:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ahh, good to see the liberals still think that killing those with whom you disagree is not only morally acceptable, but humerous!

Long live the fascist left!

 
At 10:42 PM, Blogger Glenn said...

Ah, always nice to see an unthinking ideologue drop by. Your remark is characterized by three unthinking idiocies.

1) All "funny" humor is characterized by someone's pain, discomfort, or humiliation. This is not a new observation, and is fairly well documented. Acknowledging that something is funny certainly doesn't require it espouse realities you would actually wish to occur, much less believe morally upright.

2) You suggest that I've advocated killing those with whom I disagree. This is a deliberate exaggeration and twisting of a position that was clearly adopted entirely in jest. Leaving aside the weakness in your own position that such inelegant debate tactics expose, don't you worry that it reveals you as someone who can't take a joke? People have been claiming that liberals have no sense of humor for years. Wait'll they get a load of you.

3) Fascism is "an authoratarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and/or social organization". You can make the ridiculous argument that the left would be fascist if they were in charge, but it's obviously totally irrelevant to the joke, so calling it an example of the fascist left is clearly just your attempt to dig in and parrot your unthinking insult of choice. Since everyone knows you didn't innovate the insult, let's call you what you are, exactly the kind of unthinking, artificially indignant, sound-bite spewing sheep the right loves to number among its supporters. I'm sure that pleases you.

However, it makes me kind of sad. I've made plenty of strongly political posts, with serious unfunny arguments about real world issues that are important to all of us. If you want to come by and get all indignant right-wingy, why don't you respond to one of them with a well-thought out argument, instead of coming across all stupid by overreacting to a joke.

 
At 9:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL. Hiliarious. I needed that. Been having a bad week and this made me smile again. Thanks!

 
At 11:42 AM, Anonymous Mike said...

The first commenter is ridiculous. I'm conservative leaning, and I think that this post is absolutely hilarious. The humor isn't so much the situation, so much as the set up and delivery. Masterful!

 
At 12:02 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

First the anonymous coward and obvious right wing zealot who posted the first comment is the REASON my answer is....

Let him drown and get the shot!

Scott Bourne
I Said That

 

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