bystander suffering

We are the ones who watch the suffering of others

But who are we?
What have we done?

Twenty-six years after the publication of "On Photography", Sontag once again made a sharp attack on the complexity of photography ethics, media, and social reality. "Looking at the Pain of Others" inherits Sontag's extremely nuanced observations and her ability to comment on classic photographs. This book further examines images of war and suffering, and examines the social significance and impact these images contain or cause. , put forward some different views from "On Photography".

Is watching the suffering of others to remember lessons, or to satisfy lustful tastes?
Does it make us empathize with the irreparable pain in our lives, or does it make us insensitive?

Timeless War Image Theory

The word "Regarding" in the English title of the book means both "related" and "watching". This book is translated as "watching", which means that the flood of images in modern society makes people tend to "stand by and watch"? In the face of these sufferings, even if we feel compassion, are we still consuming the suffering of others? This book makes us rethink the use and significance of images, and more directly points to the nature of war, the limitations of sympathy, and the responsibility of conscience. On the other hand, the book also re-examines the history of human wars from the perspective of "war photography."

Photography book without any photographic images

Although this is a book about photography, there are not a single frame of photographs. Sontag believes that photos cannot make the statement that "war is hell" or "this war is completely unnecessary." She emphasized that this is the work that words have to do.