Graphic Photographs

SantiagueroRD

Bronze
Apr 20, 2011
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Good Morning, I have been told over the years that the reasons for the publications of gruesome photographs are that Dominicans are rooted or only one generation removed from the Campo life and not squeamish. The old timers here probably remember their first experience of watching either chicken or pig slaughtering. The second more compelling reason is that over the years Government sponsored murders were frequently described as traffic accidents. The Mirabal sisters being the most notable example. Perhaps some other more traveled board members can answer does this happen in other emerging countries?
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
21,843
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yahoomail.com
Ignorant peoples have always enjoyed a morbid fascination with the dead.
Dominicans MAY BE SAID to carry that "fascination" to a new level!
I have lived in many 3rd. world countries, but never where hundreds of people can stare at dead bodies for HOURS!
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Castle

Silver
Sep 1, 2012
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I think it is just that morbidness sells. The only difference being that here they can publish it freely with no consequences.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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There has to be a cultural difference - I noticed this when watching British and Spanish television while I was growing up. Unlike the BBC, RTVE news reports often showed gore and corpses in lingering detail. On one memorable occasion, a basketball player was injured or killed in a road accident near Madrid. By the time the TV crew arrived at the scene the casualties had already been taken to hospital or the morgue. They showed a few bloodstains on the road and the reporter apologised sheepishly for not providing photos of the victims.
 

ctrob

Silver
Nov 9, 2006
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Good Morning, I have been told over the years that the reasons for the publications of gruesome photographs are that Dominicans are rooted or only one generation removed from the Campo life and not squeamish. The old timers here probably remember their first experience of watching either chicken or pig slaughtering. The second more compelling reason is that over the years Government sponsored murders were frequently described as traffic accidents. The Mirabal sisters being the most notable example. Perhaps some other more traveled board members can answer does this happen in other emerging countries?


I watched my mother and grandmother twist the heads off of chickens when I was a young kid. It didn't affect me the way you describe. I think it's much different then that. I think it's just a different attitude towards the reality of life.

Take sex for example, they have a much different attitude towards it then you will find in North America. When I was a kid (in ohio), my brothers and I weren't allowed to say "sex" or "pregnant", or be within earshot of the aunts, female cousins, etc when they were discussing a pregnant family member. We had to try to listen thru the door. :bandit:

But I've been at a friends house in the campo where a pregnant female will just pull out a boob (in my presence) to show her friends how swollen they are. No big deal. Had my mother witnessed something like that, she would have passed out in shock.

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto....
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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personally i do not mind seeing all this gore. maybe i am a primitive campesino who remembers pig slaughtering (i do and it was traumatic). maybe it is because i freely admit i am desensitized by our western - not so advanced - culture. watch any american horror movie and the stills would show much worse. yeah, of course, a movie is "not real". but those dead bodies in dominican press look far less realistic than corpses in movies. dead body has this waxy, puppet like appearance. even death looks better photoshopped. :ermm:

also, remember that an average dominican will see dozens of dead bodies by the age of 20: people still die at home (elderly) or on the street in full view (accidents); caskets are open (family and friends) and saying last goodbyes by kissing or holding a hand of someone who has passed away is normal (even i paid respect this way to miesposo's grandmother). a grainy picture is not a big deal...
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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I remember going to the velorio of a cousin of my husband's who was killed in a road accident, and his niece, who was only about 7 or 8 at the time, tugging at my sleeve and saying ?no quieres ver el muelto? :ermm:
 

tee

Bronze
Sep 14, 2007
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Cabarete
Simple, regardless of the circumstances of how the person passed away, the culture here has a very different view on death than our cultures. We have a tendancy to turn off all thoughts of death as it is just way too upsetting, and graphic images just enhance those feelings. Here it is the complete opposite, dead is dead. It might sound cold to some of you but that is how it is here. Of course they grieve, and they do that more than we do as the grieving process goes on for 7 years, but the way they look at a lifeless body is completely different to the way we do.
 

Bronxboy

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2007
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My father used to buy El Vocero de Puerto Rico in NY when I was a kid.

The graphic pictures depicted were not for the squeamish. Not sure if the newspaper continues to post graphic pics though.
 

Lucifer

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Jun 26, 2012
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?no quieres ver el muelto? :ermm:
A dear cousin--and one and only relative in Houston--died as a result of car-motorcycle accident, and at the funeral home, family and friends kept their eyes on the body for a while. I can't do that... not even for a yoctosecond.
 

Castle

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Sep 1, 2012
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Call me heretic, but I think velorios is one of the most barbaric customs. I never go to those. I think that if you look at the dead body of someone you knew, that will be the perennial memory you will have of that person, and it's not fair.
 

Lucifer

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Jun 26, 2012
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Call me heretic, but I think velorios is one of the most barbaric customs. I never go to those. I think that if you look at the dead body of someone you knew, that will be the perennial memory you will have of that person, and it's not fair.

I want to be cremated, so I could meet my baker.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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A friend (not from the DR) whose mother died when she was 9 is still tormented by the memory of being made to kiss her goodbye.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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A friend (not from the DR) whose mother died when she was 9 is still tormented by the memory of being made to kiss her goodbye.

I was 9 when my grandfather died, and I remember my mother asking me if I wanted to kiss him goodbye. I said no, and I remember being creeped out about it.

Since then, as an adult, I have kissed several people goodbye [on their forehead] at their wakes. I don't have the unease that others seem to have. When my mom died three years ago, I didn't like the way they fixed her hair so I redid it. My daughter was with me [this was all before anyone else was there] and she remembered how Mom always had her fingernails polished, and she ran to the store to buy remover and pink polish, and did her nails one last time. Daughter is half-Dominican, I don't have an excuse :nervous:

I do find it rather creepy and gruesome when Dominicans start taking photos of the deceased in their coffin. I've never seen any other ethnic group do that except Latinos.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
watch any american horror movie and the stills would show much worse. yeah, of course, a movie is "not real". but those dead bodies in dominican press look far less realistic than corpses in movies.

Tell me about it. I don't like looking at dead bodies anywhere but apparently it has become a fascination for a lot of people, including Americans. BTW, the last horror movie I saw was Halloween 3.
 

jrhartley

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Sep 10, 2008
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it used to be the same in every country before political correctness stepped in - its not deemed correct now to look at motorway pile ups so we look down on people who stare
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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philippe ari?s wrote a fantastic book about the attitude of man towards death and he calls our contemporary death "savage" because it is so repressed, hidden from the view, taboo. death in DR is still "tamed". it happens in the open: on the street, under a watchful eye of random spectators; at home, with care and love of the family. a funeral and a wake are public affairs, parties, almost, with family, friends and neighbours paying respects and staying on to chat, comfort each other, gossip.

i six years in DR i must have looked at hundreds of pictures of corpses and body parts. i look, i note, i forget. but i stopped watching horrors long time ago because they were scaring the living daylights out of me, after watching i would have nightmares for days. but the real dead? not scary at all.
 

puryear270

Bronze
Aug 26, 2009
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I do find it rather creepy and gruesome when Dominicans start taking photos of the deceased in their coffin. I've never seen any other ethnic group do that except Latinos.

From my experience: Mexicans and Salvadorans also take pictures of the deceased, with people posing next to the casket. Their newspapers also contain gruesome pictures. I can't speak for other Latino countries.