Duggers 20th Baby- Stillborn and Photographed

          I felt this article was sort of a follow-up on an article I posted a while ago about the famous Dugger family expecting their 20th child. Well, as I'm sure you've heard,  the baby was pronounced dead inside the womb. Now, honestly, anyone in their right mind would not have another child knowing they had health issues and after popping out 19 already. Many professionals thought this high risk pregnancy would end badly and surprise surprise, it did. I personally don't care how many kids Michelle Duggar already has, I don't think they're "polluting the planet" as some people do, I simply believe that she shouldn't have taken that risk. The article wasn't really about that though, it was about all the hate the family was receiving for taking pictures of their dead child. One photograph of the tiny feet and another of  the baby's hand holding Michelle's. I really don't care, taking photos of your ead child should be completely up to the family.
           The article definitely revealed our society's squeamishness about death. As the author mentions, " In some rural cultures, the death of a young child is cause for singing and dancing — even passing around the body. In another era, you might wear the delicately woven hair of your dead relative in a ring on your finger. You might hang a coffin plate on the wall of your home. And you wouldn’t think that was creepy or weird at all. Your beloved dead would be there, not just shunted off to the cemetery, but an acknowledged part of your life."  (Williams). I agree, I mean, it was their child so it should be up to them. And, a photograph of the feet and hands of a child that is dead are not much different then a photograph of one that is alive. Relax people.The author throws in some sappy pathos evidence in at the end of the article. She writes, "We live in an age in which we can chronicle every moment of our lives via our omnipresent cameras, yet we shudder at the idea of taking – and sharing – the image of a lost baby. For families who’ve endured the pain of pregnancy loss, though, that image will forever be all they have.... And who’s to say that what is to some just a “sick” photo of a dead fetus isn’t, to her parents, simply their child?...A picture. Something that proves that the child they desired was real. And that, just for a moment, they could hold her hand." (Williams). I thought the article was well written, persuasive, and revealed a huge truth about our society today.

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/why_did_the_duggars_photograph_a_stillborn_baby/