Agadir – Long ago, in 1976 on the Apache Indian reservation in White River, Arizona we (Foreign exchange students in the US) were to spend a fortnight within Apache Indian tribal society and culture. During our pre-departure orientation, we had a briefing in which we learnt among other things Apache Indians did not tolerate under any circumstances that foreigners take photos of them. They regarded the act as very unfriendly. When somebody takes a photo of an Apache Indian, according to their belief, the person is indulging in a potentially dangerous act of “soul destruction” of the person being photographed.
Apache perception of photography and taking photos has to a lesser degree been shared by certain nations and cultures round the world. In Arab societies for instance, people were very suspicious of foreigners taking photos of them. The act was regarded as an intrusion on people’s privacy on the one hand and as a vicious assault on their values, beliefs, integrity and national pride on the other.
Long before the advent of photography, western civilizations had a very effective means of transmitting information about other nations’ cultures and civilization; paintings. European painters were sent to territories overseas to have a ”feel” of indigenous societies and transmit that “feel” back to their countries. The same was not religiously permissible for Muslims as Islam prohibited any graphic representation of human beings or any other living creatures. That prohibition was a great hindrance as written reports alone most of the time failed to transmit the exact reality of or about things, people or events to Caliphs and decision makers. Armed with accurate reports and clear paintings of other societies and realities, counterpart decision makers in Western societies were very efficiently put in the picture as “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Paintings and later photos were, among a multitude of other reasons, means to have a clear idea about one’s opponents, rivals or potential enemies.
The prime reason for having or owning paintings and/or photos has mostly been for noble reasons; personal, national or otherwise. Yet nowadays, some photography and video-taping may unfortunately be used to threaten, coerce or manipulate people towards ends planned and designed by vicious individuals or groups.
In the Western world, Paparazzi who relentlessly track down politicians or VIP’s and take unauthorized photos of them, sometimes in their very intimate privacy and situations are a significant case in point of pervading people’s privacy and assaulting their intimacy. The photos the paparazzi journalist takes are most of the time ways to build his own image through tarnishing other people’s reputation and destroying their public images. No morals or ethics can deter or bar these people’s way from inflicting damage to others as a way to achieve some sort of journalistic ‘reputation.”
Everywhere in the world, technological advances with smart phones and other gadgets allowed electronic photography to spread almost everywhere even in the most remote areas of the globe. Things that once were considered top secret devices owned only by secret services are nowadays put in the hands of millions and millions of simple and not so simple people. A great percentage of these people can be viewed as honest and responsible citizens but others can be truly labeled as ill-intentioned and vicious. They can take photos or videos of targeted individuals or people when the latter least expect them to go on to post them on social media and make the devastating effect they wished to inflict on those poor people.
A great part of the Apache perception of photographing as a “damaging evil act” to the photographed person or people, has thoroughly been maliciously put into practice. How many destroyed souls, how many broken households, how many rekindled enmities and how many divided societies will this ravaging phenomenon take before it gets regulated; outlawed and punished. Until then, go on taking and enjoying your regular photos and/or videos and at the same time figure out some potentially effective solution to this serious societal ailment. The picture is transmitted to you as food for thought; your take on it can make a world of difference.
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