50 Year Anniversary of “The Terror of War”

“The Terror of War.” Photograph by Nick Ut. CC BY 2.0

By Anna Van Boven

It has been 50 years since a napalm bomb was dropped on the small village of Trang Bang in South Vietnam, causing innocent citizens to flee their devastated community and producing one of the most famous anti-war photographs of our time. The photograph, titled “The Terror of War”, features a young child known as the “Napalm Girl” running naked from a cloud of smoke, screaming in pain. Capturing the immense tragedies that underpin war, the photograph moves viewers in a way that statistics alone, no matter how noteworthy, does not.

The “Napalm Girl” is now an adult. Her name is Kim Phuc Phan Thi. In an opinion piece for The New York Times titled “It’s Been 50 Years. I Am Not ‘Napalm Girl’ Anymore”, Ms. Phan Thi describes the impact that the bombing and the resulting photograph had on her life. Commenting on the exposure that photographs can bring, she says that “the thought of sharing the images of the carnage, especially of children, may seem unbearable — but we should confront them. It is easier to hide from the realities of war if we don’t see the consequences.”

This idea reflects a tool this site suggests to combat psychic numbing. When we feel disconnected from a problematic issue, we can build an emotional connection by picturing the individual lives that are behind the statistics.  Images allow us to do just that. At the time of its publication, “The Terror of War” strengthened the anti-war campaign, and fifty years later this photograph still tells the story of all children who are victimized by war, moving its viewers to take action.

For more stories about combatting psychic numbing through images, visit the following blogs:

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