Is this a staged photograph?
Maybe it is, maybe its not. Does it really matter? This simple yet powerful image so simply illustrates the difference between good and evil. It so simply states the difference between cowardice and bravery. It so simply states the difference between everything that is wrong with this world and everything that this world should be.
It is not uncommon to read of, or hear about yet another cleric or religious fanatic or terrorist state riling against the west and its' way of life. It is not uncommon for these same people to hold up western society as a reason to justify their particular brand of hatred and brutality saying they denounce western civilization as evil.
Perhaps it is easy to paint someone with guns who stands between you and your ideological goal as being the bad person, the evil western society that is out to get you. Unfortunately for those people, their own actions dictate otherwise.
When your ideology takes away peoples rights to life, their rights to their own freedom, their rights to live without fear of persecution, then your ideals are wrong. That may be a "western" value I am placing on an "eastern" fanatic, but when you rely on butchery to attain your goal, perhaps there is something fundamentally wrong with your goal.
My vote will always go those who shield the victims. My vote will always go to those who stand up for the weak, fight for the weak and protect them from harm.
Is this image staged? It doesn't matter. It symbolizes all that is good about mankind.
