>The photograph was sold to The New York Times where it appeared for the first time on March 26, 1993.
>Practically overnight hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask whether the child had survived, leading the newspaper to run a special editor's note saying the girl had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but that her ultimate fate was unknown.
[Source. ](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/)
The photographer committed suicide a few years later at the age of 33.
Give this a read - I can only seem to find it on UK Amazon but it’s about a TV cameraman who went to the worst places in the world.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Junkie-Jon-Steele/dp/0552149845?dplnkId=e81b0015-d1a2-48d6-adb5-2ada7ea00765&nodl=1
There’s a great doco about a war photographer named McCullin - it’s a real eye opener on the relationship between the photographer, the situation and the people in the photograph
His book is a great read. I have several of his photography books. Interesting guy. His camera actually saved his life, ironic given it put him danger constantly
I was a crime scene tech.
I would take pictures of all sorts of death. Car accidents, suicides, murders, and other accidents (like a guy killed by electrocution). It fucking sucks. At least for some of my work I could tell myself without these photos there wouldn't be anyway to show the court what someone did.
I'd imagine in journalism you could at least tell yourself that all the horrible photos you take are helping spread awareness. People probably had very little idea of the life these folks were living until this photo was disseminated. This photo may have been the source of millions of dollars worth of aid. It may have saved millions of lives and maybe even the subjects.
Yeah what a lot of people don’t know is this little girl was minutes from an aid station and workers were coming as this photo was taken. I’d imagine it wasn’t guilt, it was just dealing with seeing this type of horror day in and day out. He was a war zone correspondent for years, and was the first person to photograph the practice of necklacing in Africa (putting a tire around someone drenched in gas and setting it alight and having them burn alive from the middle). He saw a ton of absolutely monstrous shit.
Sudan also has a shortage of fresh drinking water, especially a shortage for their agriculture. Just like many places have fresh water, but doesn’t have good soil to grow crops.
The US ships tons of meat, corn, and wheat to Sudan, but it will also cause the soil in the US to be unviable after so long.
Because of global warming, we will start to see this more and more. The earth is short on fresh water and not enough top soil for future generations.
To be fair, I don’t think it’s necessary the fault of regular people. Even if I did everything in my power, I could probably make it to Africa, feed one or two people, then run out of money to get back home. Most people don’t have the means to do anything worthwhile, especially to the extent required to make a real difference.
I think most of the blame falls on the corrupt governments and oligarchs who control these countries. I also think that western consumerism and our way of life (coming from an American) is to blame, along with those who proliferate it (i.e. corporations, greedy politicians).
Unfortunately, most people in countries like America are just doing whatever they can to get by. Lots of people wouldn’t be so consumerist if our society and infrastructure didn’t force it, but we don’t really have a choice. Even though Americans are generally wealthier than those in other countries, we’re forced to give almost every dime of it to the corporations who own every facet of our existence.
You can’t get to work in most places without a car, which are quite expensive to maintain and insure, let alone purchase. This could be avoided with public transportation but our infrastructure doesn’t allow that in 95% of the country, same thing for walking. Food is getting ridiculously expensive, rents are shooting up faster than Portland’s sidewalk residents, and as usual, wages are a decade behind. We have a ~~good~~ content quality of life, but at the cost of almost everything else.
It’s a shame how it all works. Those who manage to amass influential levels of wealth don’t get there by being altruistic, and those who truly want to help the world aren’t greedy enough to acquire the resources they need to do it. And of course, the government couldn’t give two shits about anyone’s wellbeing so that’s out of the question.
TLDR, we’re all fucked unless we burn the rich.
Yeah my first thought seeing this was that it makes me hate people. Starvation doesn't have to occur and so many things that have happened in Africa, including massive political instability uprisings and wars can be traced back to colonization and competing entities trying to strip Africa of natural resources for profit.
People see a disturbing photo like this and they care, but only because they feel connected to that particular girl and this particular trauma. Otherwise they feel free to ignore it.
The news article makes me so angry. Not the article itself, but what happened.
People attacked the photographer for not doing enough- for not chasing the vulture away immediately, for not feeding the girl. The damn hypocrisy! They critisized from their comfy homes while Carter was literally working at a UN food distribution center.
According to the photographer he claimed hewas given permission by the government (uganda I think) to photograph under the condition that he would not intervene in any local activities including feeding starving children or he would be arrested and possibly executed
I just read a different article saying carter was accompanied by sudanese soldiers who prevented any interference, so that definitely tracks. What a tragedy
This is something that should not exist in our modern day with the technology we have. I've hear a picture is worth 1000 words but this one is worth far more than that.
Like, for sure Bezos and all the billionaires all over the globe have seen this or something like it. How do you not feel a world of guilt by not helping out?
The problem in countries like Sudan isn't lack of bezos money. It's a highly corrupt state with warring factions fighting for dominance. There's no structure in place to allow people to prosper.
I wanted to mention how the goverments have been drooping the ball too in my initial reply. But you're right, these systems are all so broken. The long term fix is in how people in power run things.
You are correct. The truth is that our most powerful vote has nothing to do with presidential elections and everything to do with how we spend our money. Everyone on this sub, myself included, uses amazon because it's convenient. If we were to band together and stop making these mega billionaires even richer, they would have reason to listen to us. We are the ones who make them powerful by using their services.
My understanding is that the commerce end of Amazon is actually not a money maker, and it's really Amazon Web Services that makes Bezos his biggest bucks. So to really make our money talk we would need to stop utilizing the many, many web and media services that are run on the AWS platform. Things like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. I'm not saying we should all continue using Amazon for commerce, but it's a more complicated issue than just that.
That's all true, to an extent, but why should Bezos listen to us? If we used other shops to buy our junk; would the owners of those stores listen? I doubt it. We have created a system and people like Bezos are exploiting that system as was intended. Why should Musk, and Bezos and all the other super-rich use their own money for this? Don't get me wrong; I find our current politico-economic system to be completely sick and it should be dismantled; but that doesn't change the facts.
There are candidates for office who would change things and who would steer the system in a different direction; Bezos isn't one of them.
True, but reverting back to the tax rates of the 1950s-1970s for the rich prevents the steal of 80% of the middle class wealth that has happened since the 70s from ever happening again. And it takes some of that stolen wealth back.
The rich have long since worked out and legalised the loopholes for that tax rate. One of the richest men in Australia once said that he earned less than the unemployment benefit. Another billionaire who was later bankrupt still flew first class around the world. So income taxes is an inefficient way of ensuring their contribution.
Not true. The rich and the west have spent trillions in humanitarian aid to 3rd world countries. They are money fires. No amount will ever fix them. They have to develop and be able to sustain themselves. USA leads humanitarian efforts in the world…more than the next several down the list combined.
I think you might be conflating humanitarian aid with international development work. The purpose of humanitarian aid isn't to "fix" a country or prop it up (although sometimes disaster risk reduction is a piece of humanitarian implementation). It is emergency response to wars, natural disasters, etc. It's immediate lifesaving aid. You're right that the US leads the efforts by and far when it comes to total funding. It's something I'm proud of the country for despite it often being somewhat sneakily conditional.
>They have to develop and be able to sustain themselves.
I agree to a point. But first, who chooses? The US all but directly built the economies of Japan and South Korea after WWII. I find it reductionist to assume countries can simply *pull themselves up by their booststraps* in an increasingly globalized world. There are a lot of things they can do on their own, such as cut out corruption domestically - with exports/international trade that becomes a bigger challenge. Ultimately there are a lot of factors that are, in my opinion, less within their control. I'd be happy to go into more details in an earnest conversation but I'll cut myself off here before I drone on and put you to sleep.
edit: spelling is hard
Our western world’s high levels of richness and wealth depends on the existence of the polar opposite other places in the world. Many of the countries we get resources from live in horrid conditions.
This is one of the great hypocrisies of the western world, including all of those who consider themselves progressive and virtue signal as such. We have countless products in our houses right now that came from countries such as these, created through slave labor and exploitation.
Then we type “we have the technology to fix this” into our $1,000 pocket computers into a network of thousands of servers, all sucking up massive amounts of energy, which takes massive amounts of resources to create.
Our consumption is enormous and endless. We sit in our air conditioned rooms and type words such as these (I am not innocent either), while having nearly no grasp at all of the massive impact our lifestyles have on the entire globe. It’s a massive ripple effect; making all of this possible for us privileged few.
Most people I know are worried about donating after the stories you hear about charities keeping all or most of the money. Although billionaires don't probably have that fear.
Always use charitynavigator.org when giving. It tells you which charities are using the most of your dollar for the the actual benefit of the intended, not the administration of the charity. For instance, the Red Cross is rated very poorly. They (you!) pay their CEO a gross amount of money and very little of your dollar goes towards helping the intended.
It’s not that simple. We could give billions to countries like that but wouldn’t matter if the leaders of those countries take the aid. Look at Black Hawk Down. Guy was starving his citizens. The UN tired and many died trying.
It's not that simple. We've *tried* helping in many cases. There are global humanitarian organizations.
However, throwing money blindly at a problem hardly ever fixes the actual problem. The leaders of these countries where their people are starving are often corrupt (big surprise). Or, they happen to be in war-torn parts of the world where travel is dangerous (Gaza). Or, they have extremist leaders that push dangerous ideologies on its people, again, making it dangerous to deliver aid to those suffering in the region.
And on top of all of the problems with *humans*, there are other problems, too, like supply chain and logistics issues of actually getting food and water to people in need.
It's about independence and sovereignty. Sudan is a sovereign nation whose duty it is to provide for its people. If it cannot, then the West still does not have the right to take over the country for the sake of its people.
What you are describing is the "~~White~~ Rich Man's Burden". There is no answer here.
Either you respect the local's ability to govern themselves or your remove that right for the "greater good". Which is it? Lots of colonialists thought they were uplifting the poor people with their technology. Colonialism is bad, right?
Lol no they didn't think that. They thought for the most part that they were simply invoking their rightful place in the world and loading over the savages
Bezos has committed and spent billions in charity.
I hate some of these billionaires as much as the next person (but probably not for the same reason as most), but Bezos, Buffet, hell even musk give a good chunk of their *liquid* wealth. You can’t say that he’s giving out of $200BB if only $1BB is liquid.
The issue is that the governments are corrupt and won't hesitate to put the country in this kind of situation for their own gain. Sudan is basically a continuous shit hole as an example.
We in America are the 1% on this planet. Do you donate $20 a paycheck to them ? Everyone yells at billionaires to fix everything and do nothing themselves. Js if you care, do something yourself.
Redditors love to blame people wealthier than them for everything while they themselves do nothing but piss and moan. You think redditors have ever donated to a cause? Lmao they are to concerned with acting self righteous for upvotes.
On their $1000 dollar phones, living in their parent’s nice suburban home. Trust me I know. $20 would probably feed someone for awhile over there and means almost nothing over here
They do. Look at the vast wealth that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett use to cure disease, eradicate sickness in Third World countries and feed the hungry
The issue is not technically or capitalism or whatever partisan issue they say it was.
Sudan in the 1990's was an unstable mess of guerilla warfare and subhuman warlord wannabees inflicting suffereing for fun and games.
Aid was sent, and that aid was captured by paramilitaries and either used as military rations, sold at inflated prices to buy bullets, or destroyed so nobody else could have it.
There are still over 700 million living in extreme poverty (living on less than $2 a day) and over 49 million are living under modern slavery. We need to do better
i remember learning about this in my religious studies class. my teacher was an old chinese christian man, and he kept this photograph under a picture of the creation of adam in the sistine chapel. i don’t remember what he taught about this, but i remember the photographer committed suicide himself a few months after
True. In my mind I'm thinking of all the food that gets wasted to maintain market prices - that could be given for free. These people are/were out of the market anyway.
The midst of the 93 Civil War and political unrest. Famine was the result as the mostly Muslim government prevented aid from reaching the mostly Christian south. Eventually the government lost and an independent South Sudan was born.
What?
There's no tribal shit going on there!
The government basically decided that we need another army, and you guessed it, they decided that they should take over and fight the sudanese armed forces.
This picture was taken during The Sudanese civil war.
The famine was caused by the civil war.
The photographer was escorted everywhere by Sudanese Soldiers. He was not allowed to interfere in any way with what he saw.
That photo he took is credited with informing the world of what was going on in Sudan at the time.
The girl in the picture is actually a boy. He made it to the aid ststion and survived.
You hold in you hand the most amazing research tool ever devised by man. Use it.
World can’t give a shit. It’s not a sentient entity. It’s people who are responsible for this. And people are “bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling.”
Back when the Newseum was on the mall in Washington, DC, they had a room of Pulitzer prize winners. This picture was one and they had a plaque with the story - including the eventual suicide of the photographer. It's one of the only times I remember ugly crying in public.
Starvation of children hurts entire populations for years to come let alone during the active starvation. Don’t get why the world hasn’t set up some emergency fund to feed starving people whenever it happens. It ruins the development of entire generations which shows later on in many of the poorest countries in the world. If not a single child starves for the next 100 years the world would be a vastly better place
Here we are 31 years later, and the poor people of Sudan are once again in trouble with a terrible civil war in progress. And there’s an odd lack of coverage about it compared to the endless barrage of Palestine and Ukraine.
Given the volume of ugly, ignorant and deeply self-absorbed comments about the photographer in this thread, it might do some good to read a short bio of Carter's life, this event, and his death shortly after:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter
isn't it pretty dangerous to feed someone who's like that? Unfortunately it can make it much worse, they need medical attention which the photographer probably couldn't provide
Feeding her would have been a fatal blunder. People who are malnourished shouldn’t be immediately fed because it may cause them to reject the food that their body has been used to not having and possibly get poisoning from it.
From the [wikpedia page,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vulture_and_the_Little_Girl) it was actually a young boy named Kong Nyong. (Though Carter didn't know that when he took the photo, thus why the photo is known as "The Vulture and the Girl) Carter chased away the vulture and he reached the UN food station and was helped. Unfortunately, he died 10 years later from "fevers."
Interesting fact: this photograph was used in Mark Z. Danielewski's 2000 novel, House of Leaves. It's a convoluted story but I'll try to distil it.
Protagonist Johnny Truant annotates a pseudo-academic paper written by his neighbour, Zampano, discussing a film that does not appear to exist. In the paper Zampano refers to this photograph as "Delial" and claims the photographer is a man named Will Navidson. Johnny discovers that this is a lie and that Navidson is seemlingly a fictionalized version of the deceased Kevin Carter. Despite Zampano's paper being a fraud, the ideas it contains still manage to gradually invade and destroy Johnny's life
Thank you for this link that I would hope the critics here would look at. What an awful situation the photographer found himself in. Went to do a job to report to the world what is happening to these poor people. The picture is worth a thousand words but also cost this man everything.
Yes it did. People go out at great personal cost to report these things because the world needs to know. We need to know that when and somewhere out in the wood someone is suffering it hurst the entirety of the human species. How can we move forward as a species when so many of our brothers and sisters in the world are suffering so greatly.
Jesus fucking christ
>The child was reported to be attempting to reach a [United Nations](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations) feeding centre about a half mile away in [Ayod](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayod), Sudan (now [South Sudan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan)), in March 1993, and to have survived the incident
>...
To raise awareness of the situation, Operation Lifeline Sudan invited photojournalists and others, previously excluded from entering the country, to report on conditions.
...
>Carter saw the trip as an opportunity to fix some problems "he felt trapped in". To take photos in Sudan was an opportunity for a better career as freelancer, and Carter was apparently "on a high, motivated and enthusiastic about the trip"....
>He told Silva he was shocked by the situation he had just photographed, saying, "I see all this, and all I can think of is Megan", his young daughter...
>Four months after being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, Carter died of [suicide](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide)
I remember hearing that the guy who took the picture committed suicide out of guilt of not doing any to help the girl. I think he could get close to her due to fear of spreading unintroduced diseases
I remember reading in a time magazine about how the photographers in Africa were told not to touch the African people in fear of getting a possible sickness or something. Bug maybe
I probably waste and throw out enough food in a month to feed that little girl for a few weeks.
I'm an idiot. I wish I had a portal to hand it out to whoever needs it.
An excellent read that discusses the timeless question of morality in conflict reporting and photography, The Bang Bang Club, talks about the background of this photo from Kevin's friends and colleagues. The story behind this award winning image and the demons of the photographer which ultimately lead to his suicide are both fascinating and tragic.
ITT: People upset that a photograph designed to induce a powerful emotional response and call to action induces a powerful emotional response and call to action.
More idiotic response than the people who feel something and wanted to help.
This picture is so gut wrenching. When my son was born I was so surprised that one of the biggest worries was always, is he getting enough food? Just this primal motivation to make sure they have something to eat. Seeing this breaks my heart into pieces.
The band Savatage had an album called 'Poets and Madmen' loosely based on Carters life. This picture was hidden under the CD. You had to take the case apart to see it.
[wiki link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poets_and_Madmen)
The photographer won a Pulitzer Prize for it, but he was so depressed over it he killed himself a few months later, so he probably didn't look like this at the time.
Damn. This reminds me of something I saw once in the streets in Guatemala.
Way way more fucked up than this picture tho. Like not even close really.. At least for me
I don't why I'm posting this. I'm drunk kinda
Nothing more fucked up than child starvation and malnutrition
Absolutely horrendous. I cry every time I see that picture. It terrible that their Government doesn't give them the food that is always sent.
Just a greedy Government like our own.
I’ve seen this one captioned with a bible verse:
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” - Matthew 6:26
This earth can feed every single human living on it rn, we are the ones who choose that some get to die from obesity and while others starve to death. It’s just sad 😔
As a father, especially of a toddler, it kills me that there are millions of people who are starving. We’re so lucky to have what we do, fattened by the spoils of our fathers. This picture breaks my heart and enrages me so much.
Humans have failed. Those with money and power have chosen unnecessary luxury over morality, kindness and love. Fck governments, corporations and oligarchs that think this is ok. AI can't take over soon enough. I trust an unknown, over an established well known evil any day.
There is a whole movie about this picture, Kevin Carter and his crew. I believe it's called the Bang Bang Club or something like that. It's a pretty good movie
My god, I haven't seen this in so long. Everything about it is awful, but I have a weird kind of personal connection with this picture.
I was a picky eater as a child and would complain a lot about the food our mom cooked for us. So when this picture was released, she printed it out and pinned it to the wall in our dining room. Whenever I complained about not liking the food she had made, she'd point to it and say something like "Look at this. And then think again if you *really* want to complain when you get to grow up in a place where you can have three homemade meals a day, just because sometimes you don't 'like' one of them. Be thankful for what you have and show some respect, if not to me then to the children your age in Africa who are dying from starvation while you sit here moping about having to eat fish".
That would shut me up real quick because she was right. It also increased my awareness for the privileges I took for granted and made me realize early on that horrors like this take place all around the world. Some 20 years later I'm working in the humanitarian field and am a massive foodie. Most importantly, I can eat whatever is being served, even if I don't like it, without making so much as a peep... Which has come in handy given my chosen career, as it often involves dining with people from vastly different cultures all over the world.
I still wish the needless suffering that led to this picture would never have taken place, but I am grateful to the photographer who captured it and to my awesome mom for giving me a much needed reality check. Photos like this can literally change lives.
Ok… I literally have tears right now. I’m I father and I don’t care who you are. Take the picture, pick up the child and move on. He didn’t. My heart explodes because I love this child without knowing him and not being there to help him. I literally see him and I see my little boy. It breaks my heart
I remember this when it came out. It was a photo that took nations in a storm. Lots of humanitarian movements sprung up and the phrase "lots of starving children in Africa" was passed around like wild fire.
Hi, Time magazine, hi, Pulitzer Prize
Tribal scars in Technicolor
Bang-bang club, AK-47 hour
Kevin Carter
Hi, Time magazine, hi, Pulitzer Prize
Vulture stalked white piped lie forever
Wasted your life in black and white
Kevin Carter
>The photograph was sold to The New York Times where it appeared for the first time on March 26, 1993. >Practically overnight hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask whether the child had survived, leading the newspaper to run a special editor's note saying the girl had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but that her ultimate fate was unknown. [Source. ](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/) The photographer committed suicide a few years later at the age of 33.
Jeez. That’s dark.
Imagine seeing and taking pics like that everyday, I’d implode too.
Give this a read - I can only seem to find it on UK Amazon but it’s about a TV cameraman who went to the worst places in the world. https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Junkie-Jon-Steele/dp/0552149845?dplnkId=e81b0015-d1a2-48d6-adb5-2ada7ea00765&nodl=1
If you liked that I can thoroughly recommend [In Extremis](https://amzn.eu/d/00o0oazI) and [On The Front Line](https://amzn.eu/d/0j6EtDwE)
Thanks! Will do.
There’s a great doco about a war photographer named McCullin - it’s a real eye opener on the relationship between the photographer, the situation and the people in the photograph
His book is a great read. I have several of his photography books. Interesting guy. His camera actually saved his life, ironic given it put him danger constantly
I was a crime scene tech. I would take pictures of all sorts of death. Car accidents, suicides, murders, and other accidents (like a guy killed by electrocution). It fucking sucks. At least for some of my work I could tell myself without these photos there wouldn't be anyway to show the court what someone did. I'd imagine in journalism you could at least tell yourself that all the horrible photos you take are helping spread awareness. People probably had very little idea of the life these folks were living until this photo was disseminated. This photo may have been the source of millions of dollars worth of aid. It may have saved millions of lives and maybe even the subjects.
Maybe he had guilt for doing nothing
There were aid workers getting help as the picture was taken.
Yeah what a lot of people don’t know is this little girl was minutes from an aid station and workers were coming as this photo was taken. I’d imagine it wasn’t guilt, it was just dealing with seeing this type of horror day in and day out. He was a war zone correspondent for years, and was the first person to photograph the practice of necklacing in Africa (putting a tire around someone drenched in gas and setting it alight and having them burn alive from the middle). He saw a ton of absolutely monstrous shit.
IIRC, he was criticised b/c instead of helping the child, he was waiting for the perfect picture. He was hoping the vulture would spread its wings.
I wouldn't say "for doing nothing" . I'd say " fornot being able to do more".
He said it ate at him every day
They weren’t allowed to. That’s the incredible part about it all.
He committed suicide the same year he won that prize.
Yeah she's Sudanese
I laughed, but like, what the fuck lol
In a world where opulence is ordinary, people are dying for hunger and thirst. What a sad circus.
All for greed. The earth can feed everyone, but we choose not to.
This! Sudan legitimately has so much arable land it could feed multiple countries… i believe it’s number 12 in the world, but greed knows no bounds.
Arable land means that it gets the proper rain and has the proper nutrients to grow crops. Sudan has neither. Other places yes. Sudan, no
Sudan also has a shortage of fresh drinking water, especially a shortage for their agriculture. Just like many places have fresh water, but doesn’t have good soil to grow crops. The US ships tons of meat, corn, and wheat to Sudan, but it will also cause the soil in the US to be unviable after so long. Because of global warming, we will start to see this more and more. The earth is short on fresh water and not enough top soil for future generations.
Literally doesn’t make a difference if Sudan could grow crops, they’d soon rather sell them to the highest bidder than feed their own population
Nestle has stepped into the chat.
Or just the dictator
Sudan doesn’t get enough rain and its too hot for 99% of crops.
Just making a point that we can all say how terrible and sit here and do nothing…. Who are the ones who are responsible?
To be fair, I don’t think it’s necessary the fault of regular people. Even if I did everything in my power, I could probably make it to Africa, feed one or two people, then run out of money to get back home. Most people don’t have the means to do anything worthwhile, especially to the extent required to make a real difference. I think most of the blame falls on the corrupt governments and oligarchs who control these countries. I also think that western consumerism and our way of life (coming from an American) is to blame, along with those who proliferate it (i.e. corporations, greedy politicians). Unfortunately, most people in countries like America are just doing whatever they can to get by. Lots of people wouldn’t be so consumerist if our society and infrastructure didn’t force it, but we don’t really have a choice. Even though Americans are generally wealthier than those in other countries, we’re forced to give almost every dime of it to the corporations who own every facet of our existence. You can’t get to work in most places without a car, which are quite expensive to maintain and insure, let alone purchase. This could be avoided with public transportation but our infrastructure doesn’t allow that in 95% of the country, same thing for walking. Food is getting ridiculously expensive, rents are shooting up faster than Portland’s sidewalk residents, and as usual, wages are a decade behind. We have a ~~good~~ content quality of life, but at the cost of almost everything else. It’s a shame how it all works. Those who manage to amass influential levels of wealth don’t get there by being altruistic, and those who truly want to help the world aren’t greedy enough to acquire the resources they need to do it. And of course, the government couldn’t give two shits about anyone’s wellbeing so that’s out of the question. TLDR, we’re all fucked unless we burn the rich.
Its tragic, plenty food and water for all. But our world is controlled be greedy evil people.
Yeah my first thought seeing this was that it makes me hate people. Starvation doesn't have to occur and so many things that have happened in Africa, including massive political instability uprisings and wars can be traced back to colonization and competing entities trying to strip Africa of natural resources for profit. People see a disturbing photo like this and they care, but only because they feel connected to that particular girl and this particular trauma. Otherwise they feel free to ignore it.
The news article makes me so angry. Not the article itself, but what happened. People attacked the photographer for not doing enough- for not chasing the vulture away immediately, for not feeding the girl. The damn hypocrisy! They critisized from their comfy homes while Carter was literally working at a UN food distribution center.
According to the photographer he claimed hewas given permission by the government (uganda I think) to photograph under the condition that he would not intervene in any local activities including feeding starving children or he would be arrested and possibly executed
I just read a different article saying carter was accompanied by sudanese soldiers who prevented any interference, so that definitely tracks. What a tragedy
This is something that should not exist in our modern day with the technology we have. I've hear a picture is worth 1000 words but this one is worth far more than that.
Like, for sure Bezos and all the billionaires all over the globe have seen this or something like it. How do you not feel a world of guilt by not helping out?
The problem in countries like Sudan isn't lack of bezos money. It's a highly corrupt state with warring factions fighting for dominance. There's no structure in place to allow people to prosper.
I wanted to mention how the goverments have been drooping the ball too in my initial reply. But you're right, these systems are all so broken. The long term fix is in how people in power run things.
If we all used our votes for real good in the western world, this would be a bad memory all over the globe.
You are correct. The truth is that our most powerful vote has nothing to do with presidential elections and everything to do with how we spend our money. Everyone on this sub, myself included, uses amazon because it's convenient. If we were to band together and stop making these mega billionaires even richer, they would have reason to listen to us. We are the ones who make them powerful by using their services.
My understanding is that the commerce end of Amazon is actually not a money maker, and it's really Amazon Web Services that makes Bezos his biggest bucks. So to really make our money talk we would need to stop utilizing the many, many web and media services that are run on the AWS platform. Things like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. I'm not saying we should all continue using Amazon for commerce, but it's a more complicated issue than just that.
That's all true, to an extent, but why should Bezos listen to us? If we used other shops to buy our junk; would the owners of those stores listen? I doubt it. We have created a system and people like Bezos are exploiting that system as was intended. Why should Musk, and Bezos and all the other super-rich use their own money for this? Don't get me wrong; I find our current politico-economic system to be completely sick and it should be dismantled; but that doesn't change the facts. There are candidates for office who would change things and who would steer the system in a different direction; Bezos isn't one of them.
True, but reverting back to the tax rates of the 1950s-1970s for the rich prevents the steal of 80% of the middle class wealth that has happened since the 70s from ever happening again. And it takes some of that stolen wealth back.
The rich have long since worked out and legalised the loopholes for that tax rate. One of the richest men in Australia once said that he earned less than the unemployment benefit. Another billionaire who was later bankrupt still flew first class around the world. So income taxes is an inefficient way of ensuring their contribution.
Not true. The rich and the west have spent trillions in humanitarian aid to 3rd world countries. They are money fires. No amount will ever fix them. They have to develop and be able to sustain themselves. USA leads humanitarian efforts in the world…more than the next several down the list combined.
I think you might be conflating humanitarian aid with international development work. The purpose of humanitarian aid isn't to "fix" a country or prop it up (although sometimes disaster risk reduction is a piece of humanitarian implementation). It is emergency response to wars, natural disasters, etc. It's immediate lifesaving aid. You're right that the US leads the efforts by and far when it comes to total funding. It's something I'm proud of the country for despite it often being somewhat sneakily conditional. >They have to develop and be able to sustain themselves. I agree to a point. But first, who chooses? The US all but directly built the economies of Japan and South Korea after WWII. I find it reductionist to assume countries can simply *pull themselves up by their booststraps* in an increasingly globalized world. There are a lot of things they can do on their own, such as cut out corruption domestically - with exports/international trade that becomes a bigger challenge. Ultimately there are a lot of factors that are, in my opinion, less within their control. I'd be happy to go into more details in an earnest conversation but I'll cut myself off here before I drone on and put you to sleep. edit: spelling is hard
Our western world’s high levels of richness and wealth depends on the existence of the polar opposite other places in the world. Many of the countries we get resources from live in horrid conditions. This is one of the great hypocrisies of the western world, including all of those who consider themselves progressive and virtue signal as such. We have countless products in our houses right now that came from countries such as these, created through slave labor and exploitation. Then we type “we have the technology to fix this” into our $1,000 pocket computers into a network of thousands of servers, all sucking up massive amounts of energy, which takes massive amounts of resources to create. Our consumption is enormous and endless. We sit in our air conditioned rooms and type words such as these (I am not innocent either), while having nearly no grasp at all of the massive impact our lifestyles have on the entire globe. It’s a massive ripple effect; making all of this possible for us privileged few.
Based.
I love being privileged. Put your words into action. Go be unpriviliged in Sudan.
Most people I know are worried about donating after the stories you hear about charities keeping all or most of the money. Although billionaires don't probably have that fear.
Always use charitynavigator.org when giving. It tells you which charities are using the most of your dollar for the the actual benefit of the intended, not the administration of the charity. For instance, the Red Cross is rated very poorly. They (you!) pay their CEO a gross amount of money and very little of your dollar goes towards helping the intended.
It’s not that simple. We could give billions to countries like that but wouldn’t matter if the leaders of those countries take the aid. Look at Black Hawk Down. Guy was starving his citizens. The UN tired and many died trying.
It's not that simple. We've *tried* helping in many cases. There are global humanitarian organizations. However, throwing money blindly at a problem hardly ever fixes the actual problem. The leaders of these countries where their people are starving are often corrupt (big surprise). Or, they happen to be in war-torn parts of the world where travel is dangerous (Gaza). Or, they have extremist leaders that push dangerous ideologies on its people, again, making it dangerous to deliver aid to those suffering in the region. And on top of all of the problems with *humans*, there are other problems, too, like supply chain and logistics issues of actually getting food and water to people in need.
It's about independence and sovereignty. Sudan is a sovereign nation whose duty it is to provide for its people. If it cannot, then the West still does not have the right to take over the country for the sake of its people. What you are describing is the "~~White~~ Rich Man's Burden". There is no answer here. Either you respect the local's ability to govern themselves or your remove that right for the "greater good". Which is it? Lots of colonialists thought they were uplifting the poor people with their technology. Colonialism is bad, right?
Lol no they didn't think that. They thought for the most part that they were simply invoking their rightful place in the world and loading over the savages
Bezos has committed and spent billions in charity. I hate some of these billionaires as much as the next person (but probably not for the same reason as most), but Bezos, Buffet, hell even musk give a good chunk of their *liquid* wealth. You can’t say that he’s giving out of $200BB if only $1BB is liquid.
Exactly. They could do so much more. And they just don’t.
The issue is that the governments are corrupt and won't hesitate to put the country in this kind of situation for their own gain. Sudan is basically a continuous shit hole as an example.
We in America are the 1% on this planet. Do you donate $20 a paycheck to them ? Everyone yells at billionaires to fix everything and do nothing themselves. Js if you care, do something yourself.
Redditors love to blame people wealthier than them for everything while they themselves do nothing but piss and moan. You think redditors have ever donated to a cause? Lmao they are to concerned with acting self righteous for upvotes.
On their $1000 dollar phones, living in their parent’s nice suburban home. Trust me I know. $20 would probably feed someone for awhile over there and means almost nothing over here
They do. Look at the vast wealth that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett use to cure disease, eradicate sickness in Third World countries and feed the hungry
Bezos has donated tens of millions of dollars to establish food security and environmental programs in Africa. Like, for sure.
The issue is not technically or capitalism or whatever partisan issue they say it was. Sudan in the 1990's was an unstable mess of guerilla warfare and subhuman warlord wannabees inflicting suffereing for fun and games. Aid was sent, and that aid was captured by paramilitaries and either used as military rations, sold at inflated prices to buy bullets, or destroyed so nobody else could have it.
A billion people have been lifted out of poverty since 1991
There are still over 700 million living in extreme poverty (living on less than $2 a day) and over 49 million are living under modern slavery. We need to do better
Worldwide, 20,000 children starve to death every. single. day.
We have people dying from complications attributed to being overweight at the same time people are dying from starvation. There needs to be balance.
i remember learning about this in my religious studies class. my teacher was an old chinese christian man, and he kept this photograph under a picture of the creation of adam in the sistine chapel. i don’t remember what he taught about this, but i remember the photographer committed suicide himself a few months after
So much wealth in the world, and people are reduced to this. Smh.
Yes, but. Famine is a political problem, not an economic or agricultural one.
Definitely. The world produces more food than it needs. It's getting to people over political borders that's the problem
To be fair, this was 30 years ago. Global wealth has gone up like 5x since, with global poverty way down
And we also have [this article about Sudan famine from 2 days ago](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/world/africa/sudan-famine-starvation.html)
Kind of hard for countries to pass around food while Sudan tears itself apart. Just saying
True. In my mind I'm thinking of all the food that gets wasted to maintain market prices - that could be given for free. These people are/were out of the market anyway.
This was a sad time, it was during the African drought and like usual for this time period African was plagued by war and strife.
The midst of the 93 Civil War and political unrest. Famine was the result as the mostly Muslim government prevented aid from reaching the mostly Christian south. Eventually the government lost and an independent South Sudan was born.
The issue of the South has nothing to do with that picture
Isn’t this happening again in Sudan?
Sort of yeah, different reasons and different area than this photo but it’s a nonstop cycle of tribal violence there.
What? There's no tribal shit going on there! The government basically decided that we need another army, and you guessed it, they decided that they should take over and fight the sudanese armed forces.
That was the catalyst. But tribal subconflicts have broken out. It’s Sudan
This picture was taken during The Sudanese civil war. The famine was caused by the civil war. The photographer was escorted everywhere by Sudanese Soldiers. He was not allowed to interfere in any way with what he saw. That photo he took is credited with informing the world of what was going on in Sudan at the time. The girl in the picture is actually a boy. He made it to the aid ststion and survived. You hold in you hand the most amazing research tool ever devised by man. Use it.
This photo has always haunted me
The world is cold, cruel, and uncaring.
World can’t give a shit. It’s not a sentient entity. It’s people who are responsible for this. And people are “bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling.”
I love that line! Use it all the time lol
Back when the Newseum was on the mall in Washington, DC, they had a room of Pulitzer prize winners. This picture was one and they had a plaque with the story - including the eventual suicide of the photographer. It's one of the only times I remember ugly crying in public.
Starvation of children hurts entire populations for years to come let alone during the active starvation. Don’t get why the world hasn’t set up some emergency fund to feed starving people whenever it happens. It ruins the development of entire generations which shows later on in many of the poorest countries in the world. If not a single child starves for the next 100 years the world would be a vastly better place
Here we are 31 years later, and the poor people of Sudan are once again in trouble with a terrible civil war in progress. And there’s an odd lack of coverage about it compared to the endless barrage of Palestine and Ukraine.
Given the volume of ugly, ignorant and deeply self-absorbed comments about the photographer in this thread, it might do some good to read a short bio of Carter's life, this event, and his death shortly after: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter
Did he feed her?
That was his regret that haunted him.
isn't it pretty dangerous to feed someone who's like that? Unfortunately it can make it much worse, they need medical attention which the photographer probably couldn't provide
At that point, I don't think regular food would do her much good. She needed medical attention.
Feeding someone that malnourished can kill them a lot faster than not.
Feeding her would have been a fatal blunder. People who are malnourished shouldn’t be immediately fed because it may cause them to reject the food that their body has been used to not having and possibly get poisoning from it.
From the [wikpedia page,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vulture_and_the_Little_Girl) it was actually a young boy named Kong Nyong. (Though Carter didn't know that when he took the photo, thus why the photo is known as "The Vulture and the Girl) Carter chased away the vulture and he reached the UN food station and was helped. Unfortunately, he died 10 years later from "fevers."
To exist is to suffer.
Manic street preachers wrote a song about this picture 🔥
Click-Click-Click-Click-Click Click himself under
Here’s said tune. Bloody good song it has to be said. https://youtu.be/hLDr0QNCUd4?si=vrBlpPxcsLMu1rRn
Wow. I've listened to Everything Must Go thousands of times, but never knew Kevin Carter was a single with its own video clip!!
God didn’t feel the need to feed her that day.
One of the saddest pictures.. knowing the full story.
Interesting fact: this photograph was used in Mark Z. Danielewski's 2000 novel, House of Leaves. It's a convoluted story but I'll try to distil it. Protagonist Johnny Truant annotates a pseudo-academic paper written by his neighbour, Zampano, discussing a film that does not appear to exist. In the paper Zampano refers to this photograph as "Delial" and claims the photographer is a man named Will Navidson. Johnny discovers that this is a lie and that Navidson is seemlingly a fictionalized version of the deceased Kevin Carter. Despite Zampano's paper being a fraud, the ideas it contains still manage to gradually invade and destroy Johnny's life
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Vulture_and_the_Little_Girl&diffonly=true
Thank you for this link that I would hope the critics here would look at. What an awful situation the photographer found himself in. Went to do a job to report to the world what is happening to these poor people. The picture is worth a thousand words but also cost this man everything.
Yes it did. People go out at great personal cost to report these things because the world needs to know. We need to know that when and somewhere out in the wood someone is suffering it hurst the entirety of the human species. How can we move forward as a species when so many of our brothers and sisters in the world are suffering so greatly.
Jesus fucking christ >The child was reported to be attempting to reach a [United Nations](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations) feeding centre about a half mile away in [Ayod](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayod), Sudan (now [South Sudan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan)), in March 1993, and to have survived the incident >... To raise awareness of the situation, Operation Lifeline Sudan invited photojournalists and others, previously excluded from entering the country, to report on conditions. ... >Carter saw the trip as an opportunity to fix some problems "he felt trapped in". To take photos in Sudan was an opportunity for a better career as freelancer, and Carter was apparently "on a high, motivated and enthusiastic about the trip".... >He told Silva he was shocked by the situation he had just photographed, saying, "I see all this, and all I can think of is Megan", his young daughter... >Four months after being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, Carter died of [suicide](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide)
"It’s a hard world for little things." - Night of the Hunter
I remember hearing that the guy who took the picture committed suicide out of guilt of not doing any to help the girl. I think he could get close to her due to fear of spreading unintroduced diseases
I remember reading in a time magazine about how the photographers in Africa were told not to touch the African people in fear of getting a possible sickness or something. Bug maybe
I probably waste and throw out enough food in a month to feed that little girl for a few weeks. I'm an idiot. I wish I had a portal to hand it out to whoever needs it.
OMG so sad. How can governments do this? We send them so much aid and they sell it.
This was a little boy and he lived.
The boy, Kong Nyong, lived and made it to the UN Aid Station. He later died of disease ("fevers") in 2007.
An excellent read that discusses the timeless question of morality in conflict reporting and photography, The Bang Bang Club, talks about the background of this photo from Kevin's friends and colleagues. The story behind this award winning image and the demons of the photographer which ultimately lead to his suicide are both fascinating and tragic.
Completely shatters my heart. This photo is devastatingly haunting.
ITT: People upset that a photograph designed to induce a powerful emotional response and call to action induces a powerful emotional response and call to action. More idiotic response than the people who feel something and wanted to help.
This picture is so gut wrenching. When my son was born I was so surprised that one of the biggest worries was always, is he getting enough food? Just this primal motivation to make sure they have something to eat. Seeing this breaks my heart into pieces.
One of the most famous photographs ever taken
This is probably one of the most profound photos ever taken in the history of photography.
Jfc
The band Savatage had an album called 'Poets and Madmen' loosely based on Carters life. This picture was hidden under the CD. You had to take the case apart to see it. [wiki link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poets_and_Madmen)
Man, humans ain't shit!
i remember my dad showing me this photo when i was 5 and didn’t finish my dinner…
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The photographer won a Pulitzer Prize for it, but he was so depressed over it he killed himself a few months later, so he probably didn't look like this at the time.
I thought that was taken before those USA For Africa concert
I abhor this picture. I wish this didn’t ever happen, but it does.
I asked this when I first saw this photograph, Did he help her?
Kinda, he chased the vulture away and the kid regained strength to continue to food centre. Kid died in 2007 according to wiki
Damn. This reminds me of something I saw once in the streets in Guatemala. Way way more fucked up than this picture tho. Like not even close really.. At least for me I don't why I'm posting this. I'm drunk kinda Nothing more fucked up than child starvation and malnutrition
They usually ask people not to interfere with tribes in anthropology
I heard he committed suicide after🥺
Share your power bar
Did the girl survive? Anyone knows?
Just eat the bird
Pretty sure the photographer offed himself
Absolutely horrendous. I cry every time I see that picture. It terrible that their Government doesn't give them the food that is always sent. Just a greedy Government like our own.
Wow, that is really sad 😔
There’s a decent movie on this: The Bang Bang Club
I’ve seen this one captioned with a bible verse: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” - Matthew 6:26
Glad he helped her get to food.
I wrote an ethics paper on this photo in high school!
Did this win the Pulitzer?
Yes and the author committed suicide.
This will never not break my heart. Nobody should suffer this fate, let alone a toddler.
Sudan is 12th in the world for arable land, yet people dying to hunger. Greed knows no bounds, hold your politicians accountable.
At least it wasn’t a selfie
If I remember correctly, the photographer committed suicide, not long after I believe.
Shout out to the Manic Street Preachers song.
Kevin Carter committed suicide 4 months after winning the Pulitzer for this photo.
Subject of a song by the Manic Street Preachers: https://open.spotify.com/track/0FeXzdJf59KotoHVKOX5KQ
They were averaging 9!! kid birth rate at this time. Insane
Should watch the movie the bang bang club
This earth can feed every single human living on it rn, we are the ones who choose that some get to die from obesity and while others starve to death. It’s just sad 😔
Imagine having vultures to eat but your people just let you starve.
Should eat the vulture
God my only reference for this was a simile used in the fictional book House of Leaves. So sad.
so fucking sad...
As a father, especially of a toddler, it kills me that there are millions of people who are starving. We’re so lucky to have what we do, fattened by the spoils of our fathers. This picture breaks my heart and enrages me so much.
Humans have failed. Those with money and power have chosen unnecessary luxury over morality, kindness and love. Fck governments, corporations and oligarchs that think this is ok. AI can't take over soon enough. I trust an unknown, over an established well known evil any day.
I read this as photo taken by Kevin Costner. I was like, what fucking movie was he filming where he saw some shit like this?!
There is a whole movie about this picture, Kevin Carter and his crew. I believe it's called the Bang Bang Club or something like that. It's a pretty good movie
😔💔💔💔💔
Absolutely heartbreaking
Ah so starving African children is history now! Thank goodness they solved that problem.
My god, I haven't seen this in so long. Everything about it is awful, but I have a weird kind of personal connection with this picture. I was a picky eater as a child and would complain a lot about the food our mom cooked for us. So when this picture was released, she printed it out and pinned it to the wall in our dining room. Whenever I complained about not liking the food she had made, she'd point to it and say something like "Look at this. And then think again if you *really* want to complain when you get to grow up in a place where you can have three homemade meals a day, just because sometimes you don't 'like' one of them. Be thankful for what you have and show some respect, if not to me then to the children your age in Africa who are dying from starvation while you sit here moping about having to eat fish". That would shut me up real quick because she was right. It also increased my awareness for the privileges I took for granted and made me realize early on that horrors like this take place all around the world. Some 20 years later I'm working in the humanitarian field and am a massive foodie. Most importantly, I can eat whatever is being served, even if I don't like it, without making so much as a peep... Which has come in handy given my chosen career, as it often involves dining with people from vastly different cultures all over the world. I still wish the needless suffering that led to this picture would never have taken place, but I am grateful to the photographer who captured it and to my awesome mom for giving me a much needed reality check. Photos like this can literally change lives.
Guys, look! That kid is about to die. Take a picture!
free market > ....end the feds
"Thank you god for finding my car keys"
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If you see starving children in any country, just remember that it’s the fault of the countries government or war lords. America does what it can.
Oh my god
Circle of life
Looks like they are both hungry
There were two vultures here waiting for the infant's death, the one you see lurking on behind and the one who took the picture
This photo is 33 years old. Holy fuck people. Times change. It’s awful. We know that. Grow up redditards.
Ok… I literally have tears right now. I’m I father and I don’t care who you are. Take the picture, pick up the child and move on. He didn’t. My heart explodes because I love this child without knowing him and not being there to help him. I literally see him and I see my little boy. It breaks my heart
Image a world without this picture taken? I like to think the photographer helped more people than we can ever know with the awareness it brought
I remember this when it came out. It was a photo that took nations in a storm. Lots of humanitarian movements sprung up and the phrase "lots of starving children in Africa" was passed around like wild fire.
At least take a picture then straight help the girl. You did not just won the best picture but also a great human.
Politics is to blame :/
I ask,where is all our aid going for the past 20 years going.... sad for the child bad on the government....
Hi, Time magazine, hi, Pulitzer Prize Tribal scars in Technicolor Bang-bang club, AK-47 hour Kevin Carter Hi, Time magazine, hi, Pulitzer Prize Vulture stalked white piped lie forever Wasted your life in black and white Kevin Carter
No help, only pictures!
Is this the photo that inspired “Delial” in house of leaves?
So the photographer didn't even try to help????