h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been working for some time on an Entry about the South African photojournalist Kevin Carter, who committed suicide in 1994.

To be honest, it's been very difficult and often depressing work. I've read some very difficult and disturbing accounts, and I've had to tone things down quite seriously for the Entry. I'm glad I've finished; it's been keeping me awake at night, and part of me wishes I'd never started it. Getting it this far is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Writing it has been like walking to the edge of a great abyss, over and over again, and I've barely even been able to log on for a few days.

I want to put it through PR, but would anyone fancy having a read of it first? I've become so involved with the story that I'm not sure if what I've written is any good, and the words seem to swim before my eyes. It's at A19243000 if you fancy a look.

I'm up for it Skanky & if you like, we can discuss it via MSN or email if you prefer.



zdt

Wow, that's some pretty powerful stuff there, Skanky. I hope you're feeling better now

The entry is well written, I think.

"in March he was in the black homeland of Bophuthatswana, which was seen as a bastion of apartheid, being a semi-autocratic African state within South Africa."

Did you mean semi-autonomous? The wikipedia page on Bophuthatswana seems to indicate semi-autonomous makes sense, anyways.

Rich, put it through to PR. It's a magnificent piece of work.


lil xx

I concur
WN

Thanks, Terri, but I'll pass on talking about it in depth. I don't like to write an Entry unless I think I understand what I'm writing about, and filling in the bits I didn't know much about was quite harrowing on this one. Some quotes I've read, and some of the pictures I've seen, have left me staring blankly at the ceiling in the dark for a long, long time. Before I started this, it was just another tragic story, but it's become far more to me than that. It's become intensely personal, which is why I wanted to post here before I put it up for review - let my friends read it first.

Jodan, you're right; thanks for that. I think you can understand how intense this has been for me, so I really appreciate you taking the time to read this - it's great to see you around.

Wilma and lil; thank you very much. I *know* I can write about the coast path, about places, animals, about fripperies like Gary Brolsma or cricket. Can I write objectively about brutality and suicide? Maybe I can. Thank you.

I'm in no rush; I'll wait to see what tomorrow brings, to see if anyone else responds here, before I decide whether or not to PR this. This is a really, really big deal for me, so if anyone has anything negative to say it would be great to get it in my journal first. Although I've tried really hard to be objective, it still feels very close.

Holy cow Rich, this is seriously powerful stuff. Your telling of it really took my breath away. I think I saw that image before. I almost certainly did, but it just hit me like an express train seeing it here again a few minutes ago. I mean, what would anyone do in a situation like that? Isn't it a travesty to think that the man's life was destroyed by one photo, and the the attack on him by people who never went where he went and never experienced what he witnessed?

Huge credit to you to write this and to do so so eloquently too. The essence of a good entry is one that takes you on a journey, grabs your attention and holds you in its grip right to the end. Yours did this in spades, mate.

I did notice a few small things. It seems petty of me in this context even to suggest them, but they will help the entry in a small way.

"smoked a cigarette and talked to God" - man, I would not put any links there. Our full attention should be on that phrase. No distractions needed.

There are a few places where you use the word "and" a little bit too much: "Vigilante gangs roamed the townships, targeting commuters in particular, and the four would move among the workers at dawn". Two sentences would be better here.

"It was an intensely dangerous business, and there was little safety in numbers; whites simply could not enter the townships." Again - maybe just 3 short sentences. This may add to the mood you want to create.

Maybe look again at the use of the word "and". I have a habit of doing this myself so you are in good company here.

It's a good entry on a difficult subject, Rich. Damn good.

It's a fine piece, I'm sure it will be appreciated for a long while. Not only as a testimony to Carter, but as a prompting to those who have not seen the pictures.

As for the criticism leveled at him. They key point here. Is "where is the sin". That might sound preachy, but hold on. People can criticize Carter for not saving one child, but they should be slower to judge him. His photographic witness brings to the world a shaming question. "What did YOU do to prevent this?"

All of the pictures on the site you link are of acts that could have been avoided, they are acts of man inhumanity to man. Hate of man, is not the opposite of Love of man (Hate can be a positive, e.g., hate of cruelty). The precise opposite of Love is Indifference.

There is another picture in the “Big Bang” set in which there is a board with the writing "Remember life owes you NOTHING, you owe everything to life!!!". I wish folks would take that to heart.

If we choose to we can irradiate poverty in this world by 2015-2020 by converting a fraction on what we spend on defense to poverty initiatives. We need to stand up to tyranny and abuse in a unilateral way, and not put our states political and economic interest first (I’m thinking about the inability for the UN to get concerted action rapidly together over Darfur) The indifference we show to others is what is offensive, and it's time we started to hate it with a passion.

I wish someone could have got to Carter in his depression. So many suicides could have been avoided if they had a friend to talk to, to give them a perspective, who's to say what haunted him and made him think his life served no purpose, or the guilt was unforgivable, or the ego unrecoverable, whatever...

When you feel it's too much and despair
That your life has lost purpose and where
All you want is to cry
And in bed all day lie,
You're depressed – but I care, I'm still there!


At some point depression becomes such a clinical issue that a person is no longer able to pull themselves out of it without professional help. The best advice he was given was to get to a psychiatrist. A sensitive logotherapist who would;

a) show him that he did indeed serve a purpose,
b) that the criticism people leveled at him, was best returned to those that judged him,
c) his actions where understandable, and if in retrospective he would do something different, forgivable,
d) and if he had a bruised ego, maybe he just needed counseling to help pick himself up and recognize that his real worth was elsewhere, and not in the opinion of others.

Thanks for bringing this entry to my attention.

A very powerful entry Rich, well done
I can certainly understand how difficult it must have been researching for this

Beautifully written.

It's good, it's good
It's tactful
I hope he found peace.
a random reader

Traveller in Time with eyes wide shut
"Indeed a careful dance between writing about the horrors of taking pictures as it is 'news' and at the same time feeling the emotions of these horrors while the photographer is beeing part of it.

"

An absolutely excellent piece Rich, I thoroughly agree with all earlier comments.

Scorp

Of course Skankyrich I'll have a look at it if you want me to.
I definitely understand where you are coming from when you say you are dreaming about it. I dream about my entries too nd how to make them better. Sometimes its good to take time out from entries and revisit them with new eyes, go write something else for a while and come back to it. I'm the entry got you down.

Hi SkankyRich

I came here via terri & yoda - sorry for popping up so unannounced.

I read your entry and it was a fantastic, fascinating read about a period I was too young to understand in depth at the time.

One thing I noticed in the section about his education you say he studied 'pharmacy' before being drafter - should that be 'pharmacology'?

Anyway, this entry should sail through PR and will look great on the Front page, if you decide to go that route.

cheers ismarah

Fair play Rich. I started writing and researching on this one and I know what you mean when you say you found it hard going. I'm going to print it out, have a read, and get back to you in a day or two.

Hang on before you, KB - I'm going through it at the moment as Woodpigeon suggested, and revising one or two sections, especially the parts on the Sudan and Tokoza. Nearly done

Ok, thanks very much for the comments so far!

Woodpigeon, I've broken up a few sentences and removed the links. To be honest, I didn't even think about 'creating a mood' until you mentioned it. With that in mind, I've re-written some of the section in the Sudan as well. Thanks very much - your posting made me think about it more. It's been very hard for me to dissociate myself from it enough to see it as a piece of writing, if that makes sense, so rather than 'petty' that was very helpful indeed.

There are some interesting thoughts there, Pilgrim. I think the criticism was purely over his decision not to help the child, which sounds like fairly lazy morals to me. I didn't want to discuss it in the Entry, though - hopefully the reader will be able to decide for him/herself after reading. I've tried to be very careful in not giving my own views.

There's a difference between pharmacy and pharmacology, ismarah - pharmacy is more about dispensing and treating minor ailments, whereas pharmacology is studying specific interactions of drugs with the body. I too studied pharmacy for a year

Thanks to everybody for taking the time to read and comment; I'm more grateful than you can imagine. I've ordered Silva and Marinovich's book on the Bang-Bang Club, so I won't be PRing this until I've received and read it. I'm sure there's a little more to be said. In the meantime, please feel free to carry on reading and commenting

"after sleeping through three alarm clock for his first flight out, he then left the crucial films on the return flight and lost them."
--> alarm clocks

I'm left feeling slightly week after that. Creating a mood? You've got one.


I'm going to do a little proofreading, because I'm on fairly firm ground there and it'll calm me.

The pressure also told on the photographers; marijuana was frequently smoked to relax, and though Carter himself always denied taking it himself, if was frequently mixed with tranquillisers for a longer 'hit'.

The pressure also told on the photographers; marijuana was frequently smoked to relax, though Carter always denied taking it himself. It was frequently mixed with tranquillisers for a longer 'hit'.


Driving back, Carter heard on the radio that Oosterbroek had been shot dead while Marinovich was seriously injured

... and Marinovich...


after sleeping through three alarm clock for his first flight out

... the alarm clock ... (?)


Thank you, Skankyrich. This is incredible.

TRiG.