Moral Relativism at the Associated Press

The Associated Press has run a picture of someone’s son dying of wounds suffered in the Afghan War despite repeated pleas from the son’s parents.

While reasonable people can debate whether or not any photos of this sort are appropriate for publication, the facts in this case do not reach that question. To ignore the wishes of the parents regarding photos of their dying son is reprehensible. This is particularly the case where, as here, the AP could have waited until they were lucky enough to have photos of the dying child of someone who was comfortable with publication of such photos.

The AP has tried to justify the action as necessary to illustrate the cost of waging a war. Putting the best possible gloss on AP’s actions, the organization’s failure to understand the subtleties of this situation speaks volumes about the moral relativism that permeates the organization. This failure to understand becomes particularly clear in an article from AP entitled AP and the Death of a Marine with their end justifies the means logic being applied throughout.

There is only one fact of import here: the AP published a photo of someone’s child dying despite their pleas. That AP management has to live with forever. But perhaps they are indeed too base to be bothered by that reality or even remotely comprehend how evil their actions were.