Michael Jackson Death Photo Hits Internet

It is amazing to some that anyone would want to see a Michael Jackson death photo. In fact, to some it borders on some type of psychological disorder that anyone would want to see the death photo or photos of anyone, let alone the Michael Jackson death photo that "Entertainment Tonight" published and subsequently became a hot internet search topic. But Michael Jackson's death photo wasn't the first death photo and it certainly won't be the last.

Depicting the dead in photographic format is almost as old as the photograph itself. People through the years would take photos of their departed loved ones and friends as momentos of them, keepsake reminders of a person who held a position in their lives. Law enforcement agencies began using death photos as a way of identifying the dead and offering verification that a certain desperado had indeed met their end. In fact, it was quite common for artists' renderings of the dead to appear in newspapers to help document that certain persons had died or had been killed. Death photos became an even more reliable form of documentation. This no doubt grew from the inability of those from afar needing verification of a death but, for whatever reason, could not personally view the body themselves. And it might also be noted that having a photographic rendering of the dead person also allowed the disposal of the body in a more timely manner. Public displays of bodies for public viewings had its drawbacks (decomposition probably being the worst of those).

Michael Jackson's death photo seems to horrify some, but does not seem to bother most. Those shocked sometimes label those that purposely seek out death photos as sick, depraved, even warped individuals that need counseling. Although it is true that there are some who get some kind of vicarious thrill out of looking at photos of the dead, most are simply in the need of assuaging some level of morbid curiosity. They look not only for confirmation of the dead, but find pictures such as the Michael Jackson death photo a way of accepting someone's death. It has even been suggested that death photos simply allow many who could not otherwise mourn a chance at grieving, giving those person's who could not otherwise "view" the body of the deceased a chance to do so from afar or vicariously.

But famous person death photos have often been published -- and just as often been the subject of much public criticism and scorn. It was one thing to splash the death of a notorious outlaw on the front page of a newspaper, but carrying actual photographs of the anything involved with the deaths of many beloved public figures usually carries with it the price of at least partial public condemnation. Such was the case with the publishing of the pictures of David Carradine. Although many wished to see the death photos, there were many who were just as satisfied that David Carradine's family threatened a lawsuit against any exposures of the late actor's final moments. (It also must be noted that the manner in which the body of David Carradine was found and the subsequent death photo taken of his naked, hanging body not only made the photo objectionable to family but many others as well.)

And death photos have become far less commonplace over the decades. People have become less accustomed to seeing an image of an actual person such as is seen in the Michael Jackson or David Carradine death photos. They have become far more accustomed to proxy killings and deaths that have been provided by fictitious and non-fiction accounts in literature and through images brought to them via television and theatrical release. As time went by and actual death photos became far less common, the amount of public indignation that arose when those photos actually made it to an outlet became far greater.

However, the internet has seemed to tip the balance once again toward the sensationalist and the graphically expository. No doubt the anonymity of the user and the poster have contributed greatly to the trend. Viewing photos of the dead in the privacy of one's own home does not carry the same disapproval as does a public admission to viewing what is considered by some as objectionable.

The Michael Jackson death photo is simply the latest in a documenting procedure that has been going on for centuries. Public displays of the dead have been a part of the human experience for quite some time. It simply had fallen out of vogue, become marginalized. But private viewing on a computer monitor or on a smartphone screen has changed all that. Photos and videos of graphic death scenes from around the world can be found at the click of a cursor-led mouse.

And since the "Michael Jackson death photo" phrase has become a hot search topic, as did "David Carradine death photo," it would seem that there will undoubtedly be a return to publishing death photos as a common (if sometimes objectionable) practice.

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The Michael Jackson death photo at ETOnline.com.

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Source:

ETOnline.com

Thai Rath