“I’m tired of all this ‘Voice of the voiceless thing’,” somebody (who’ll probably not want to be named and this is not a news report so why do the name changed thing) said somewhere sometime today.“Voice of the voiceless,” is something that’s what we’re always supposed to be…like it’s been drummed into our system ever since we started ‘journalism’ or picked up a camera to ‘do something’, to ‘make a difference.’ It’s like listed in our syllabus. (It’s listed right at the beginning somewhere cuz even I was in the class and I dropped out pretty early). I think it comes at number two or three under ‘Functions of the press’.

Everything we do is supposed to be this “Voice of the voiceless”. Everyone in this business you meet is looking for that story…that story of the people who’s stories have remained unknown…And you have to look at the intensity of the people, especially photographers…the people who capture those pictures that ‘speak a thousand words’, and you feel for these people without voices. A thousand bloody words. And some stories are like a coupla more thousand words. But, as I said a moment ago

(SHYT, I cannot think up this part here. So brb on that….like in about a year or two or more, if I’m still alive)

So, do we actually give a fuck about these voiceless? Do we actually care about their lives and their suffering and their misery? I think not. Really!

I mean sometimes we may actually ‘feel’ for them while other times we convince our selves for sometime that we do. But what we really care about is that a picture that’s worth a thousand bloody words (or a story of three thousand or more) is worth a thousand bucks (sometimes it may be more, and sometimes it may be less while other times it may just be worth the name and the fame, which in fact is worth a lot more that the direct 1000 bucks). Cuz one thing is for sure, misery sells and if done and marketed properly, it sells big…very very big.

Why oh why oh why? Why cannot we sell happiness? (Except when we’re telling the story of someone being happy through their misery that is) “Ah look how these street children are playing and laughing and smiling in this cold winter night?” “This woman cannot manage a second meal a day, but she seems she’s got this sweet infectious smile in this picture.” Ain’t that how we think. Picture of smiling beautiful people are good only for desktop wallpapers, posters and ads. Happiness and fun is not news. They do get into the papers, yes. But they’re good only for the entertainment pages. Of course the cute puffy faced little smiling kid does get into the front page from time to time and then there’s those instances of celebration…festivals, elections victories and other shyt. But who’s counting?

What’s the first thing that any person shoots when he or she gets a camera, or when she or he (with a shooting instrument, I mean the image capturing kind) leaves the airport of foreign country shoot? (After the traffic or road thing on the way to the hotel).

What do you (whoever may be lonely enough or without work to actually read this shyt) shoot in the above instances? Beggars of course. Beggars, street urchins,  laborers….anyone with torn and tattered clothes.

To be continued hopefully……..

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