Photo Tells a Thousand Words

There's a saying that a photo tells a thousand words. But people tend to forget, that the thousand words tend to be distorted by the people who tell the narrative. And along the way, the message is lost.

So whenever I come across a photo with photo narration, I'll try to verify the source photo first, especially if the photo is being said to be linked to interested parties.

This photo is an example. The recent humanitarian crisis in Myanmar saw hundreds and thousands of Rohingyans running away from their own country fleeing persecution and murders.

To whip up support, many people begin sharing photos of what they thought are evidence of persecution and murder.

Unfortunately, for people like me who have seen this photos countless of times, this degrades the value of the story.

Worst still if the photo is being seen by someone who had seen the photo with a totally different narrative. This person here had seen this photo being narrated as victims of Nigerian branch of Daish, Boko Haram.

Same photo, similar narrative, used to inflame religious support.

In all, this degrades the actual suffering of the Rohingyans. Their story will be lost and be accused as false by their detractors.

So if you want to help the people you support, use real photos with real stories.

You want to know the actual story? This photo was the aftermath of a oil tanker truck accident in Congo in 2010.