A licence to abuse: Max Bowden on Abu Ghraib

“The scenes depicted in the photographs are a graphic example of what often takes place in a prison environment where controls and supervision are inadequate. Prison guards have been abusing inmates for as long as there have been prisons. In a now infamous 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University, in which one randomly selected group of students was permitted to play the role of “guards” over another group of “inmates,” abuses began almost immediately, and at one point involved forcing inmates into sexually humiliating role-playing. People don’t like to admit it, but the propensity for cruelty is in all of us, and it rises to the surface for many when they are given complete authority over other human beings. Add the unique environment of war, in which culture, religion, race, ethnicity, and ideology often separate guards from prisoners, and abuses are sadly and extremely likely.

The fact that the pictures were taken at all, and the cheerful expressions on the faces of the American bullies, suggest an atmosphere in which these soldiers had no reason to fear being punished for their behavior. It seems doubtful that the photos were meant to be used later to intimidate other prisoners, as has been suggested. If that had been so, the guards would probably have tried to look threatening. These photos have the appearance of grotesque souvenirs. The smiling faces of the tormentors suggest that apart from lacking moral judgment, these soldiers felt licensed to abuse.” [From The Atlantic.]

In Camera

At the head of Alan Hollinghurst’s interesting review of Peter Parker’s biography of Christopher Isherwood is this picture of Isherwood and W.H. Auden setting off for China.

Note the Smoking carriage sign behind them — sign of a vanished age. Being a photographic buff, my eye fell immediately on the camera hanging languidly from Auden’s neck. It’s a Leica. Shows impeccable taste. And then I was reminded of the famous Dorothy Parker joke. She reviewed Isherwood’s book, I Am a Camera, in one line. “Me no Leica”.

Unearthed images

A friend of Dervala’s was clearing out an old hard drive and came on some evocative photographs of the World Trade Center towers, including this lovely one.

She writes:”These are accidental portraits of the buildings that were the city compass (and camera hogs, too). We looked for them whenever we surfaced from the subway or climbed onto a roof deck. We triangulated from them on bridges and in strange conference rooms, and steered by them in tug boats and canoes. The towers were Downtown. More useful than True North, in the self-appointed center of the word.”