citizen, I'm highly offended by the juxtaposition of these two photos. I mean, this is a holy man, could you at least show SOME respect for him?

I absolutely mean no disrespect. Both of these stories broke today, and the conflict outlined here directly supports the images. I don't personally feel that putting them side by side, to have both viewpoints covered, shows disrespect to him. I hear what you're saying, he is a holy man and I have a great deal of respect — and I think taking a modern day look at what he's saying shows that.

I just don't think boobs and pope should be next to one another in a graphic format as this. The story, fine, but the photo is just sensationalistic and disrespectful.

I am with sy.

Would you throw up a picture of Muhammad next to some breasts?

To be honest I'm often very shocked at the biases shown in images on this blog.

Exactly.

As a Catholic, I don't think it's disrespectful. We should be able to handle this sort of thing without getting upset. Let's leave that sort of thing to the fanatics, shall we?

Thanks for calling me a fanatic.

And I do think it's disrespectful. Highly so.

I appreciate your thoughtful comments Syako. I'm actually truly curious about what element exactly you find disrepectful. Is it that the woman's torso is provocative? Should photos of the Pope only be shown singularly? I'm really truly interested in what you think.

Well when you start getting upset about a picture on a website, I would say that's how a fanatic would react. It's not personal, but let's put some perspective on this.

I think that the fact that an image of a Holy man, and in the eyes of the Catholic church an infallible human being once ordained is shown juxtaposed to women's breasts. That's just utterly sick.

Well you can have your perspective rac.

Citizen is free to do as she pleases, doesn't mean I can't express my distaste for the picture. That does not make me a fanatic, it is me expressing my opinion.

Rac that makes no sense. Saying that you are upset over a picture does not mean anyone is fanatical. You can have strong feelings with out the label of fanatic.

But they're not saying the Pope likes to grab tits. They're two unrelated stories. They're not commenting on the Pope, his Holiness or his infallibility. They're just pictures side by side on two completely separate stories. Citizen even said so. You're just reading something into it.

Well I think the pictures should not be side by side. Geez.

In fact the way their positioned it looks like it's actually the pope's torso, which is also pretty disturbing.

I think Rac's comment was a bit tongue in cheek, as usual. Let's not forget we don't see each other's faces or hear tone of voice. I don't think Rac is suggesting Syako is a fanatic, he's just associating her response with fanaticism. it's not an if-then statement, like IF she responds this way than she IS a fanatic. Also I don't think Syako is sitting there raging, she's just saying she doesn't like it.

well sometimes I don't appreciate all of the tongue in cheek. So.

rac it is a juxtaposition of the Pope with his hands out and open, and directly underneath is a relatively close shot of large breasts, and you are saying that there is NOTHING to read into? That Citizen is not insinuating anything? I feel you are not reading into the undertones enough.

And it is not as though this is going to lessen my respect for Citizen. My respect for her is not dependent on if I agree with everything she does and says.

As usual, I love the great debates that go on in the comments--and I'm really looking to you to educate me on your point of view. In my mind covering both stories, which are interconnected, and then preferencing one image over the other--either of the Pope, or of the Las Vegas side of the story actually showed more bias. I'd love to know the specifics of your point of view on the matter. I'm closely following the Pope's visit and the respect shown by the faithful really is amazing to see. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

I don't know what else you want me to say Citizen.

And you may not agree, but it seems like people can say and do whatever they want about Christians, especially Catholics, and no one bats an eye. It can get on ones nerves.

i didn't think much at all of the two pictures. I was a little confused at first by the connection of the two topics. I understand now why Citizen put them together. I don't really have a strong opinion about the pictures.

I'm sorry Syako. I definitely have felt similarly to you in the past about this sort of juxtaposition. I didn't catch it this time, but I totally get where you're coming from!

i live in vegas and i do think that sex trade needs to be regulated. in other parts of nevada it is. women in the legal brothels have body guards at their beck and call - waiting outside the doors to barge in at the first sign of trouble, guys are checked up before being able to have a girl, certain wages are kept. while illegal sex trade in the city itself is unregulated. moneys money and sometimes those women get raped and killed because they dont have proper protection. or they get beaten up by their protection (pimps). prostitution happens everywhere, its not just nevada. im sure in parts of any other state there are prostitutes. i dont think a woman should ever have to be a stripper or a prostitute, i think they would want it because they love their body and/or they love sex. for awhile that's what i WANTED to do. i have a brain, i'm going to college in the fall to study engineering, and i do well in school, but i love my body and im proud of what it can do, if i can have fun and love my body AND make money from that, hell yes. the problem is that too many people see the sex industry as degrading and immoral and a last resort, when really it should be about something else. my family is catholic and when they hear me speak and have opinions, my what a heated conversation. im not saying anything bad/against religion; but i also know that its not up to me to tell anyone else what to believe regarding morals and religion.

I also ordered the photos sequentially--first the Pope quote, and then the Vegas quote, though I can see that your interpretation of their positioning is much more imaginative than mine--but truly no hidden argument other than that.

cine.

Kris

I know. We've had it rough this past millennium.

Seriously, I am more concerned that Vegas is making prostitution legal. As a Catholic, I think that's a little more disturbing.

so youd rather have prostitution be illegal and women getting raped and killed and infected every day than have it be legal, that income still coming in for those that are in the profession and the women being safe, from prostitution being legal? whether you want to be a prostitute or not is your decision but its not up to you to decide what other women should do with their bodies?

Syako!

I have a blog, and sometimes something as simple as separating the photos makes a big difference. I hate it when my photos get "stuck" together and I can't freaking make a space between them. photos make their own kind of statement, and sticking two together is kind of like a run on sentence.

I wonder if it might have come off slightly different if there was the picture of the Pope, and then the transition paragraph, and then the boob photo positioned a little lower. just my idea.

"whether you want to be a prostitute or not is your decision but its not up to you to decide what other women should do with their bodies?"

If it is not up to us to decide then how to we regulate prostitution? How do we force women and men to get tested for STD's?

And it is sad when bad things happen to prostitutes, but they know what they are getting into.

That's what I was thinking of KS! Sometimes I can't figure out how to put pixs within my paragraphs when I blog.

I agree w/ Cine. They know what kind of Life prostitution will bring.

We learned in school that pictures are (worth a thousand words) just as easily biased as the words your pen writes. So as a journalist, and a blogger, I think it takes a lot of know-how to keep your articles as objective as possible even when selecting and positioning photos.

I wouldn't rather have prostitutes raped and murdered. Are those my only choices? No, I'd like to live in world where a woman doesn't have to sell her body for money. I'd like to live in a world where people respect the act of sex enough so that it's not a commodity and I pray that one day a mother, daughter or sister doesn't have to degrade themselves in order to live. I realize that's idealistic, but I do like to dream.

shop, it KILLS me sometimes. do you use blogspot? it's easy to create one, but there isn't a whole lot of user-friendliness in the photo uploading/paragraph positioing dept. I'm afraid to go into the HTML and screw everything up!

"We learned in school that pictures are (worth a thousand words) just as easily biased as the words your pen writes. So as a journalist, and a blogger, I think it takes a lot of know-how to keep your articles as objective as possible even when selecting and positioning photos."

Kris, I'm a HTML wiz if you ever need help PM me.

The Pope and Vegas have a little breathing room now. Thanks for your input everyone, excellent suggestion.

Yeah I used to use blogspot but it was so freakin frustrating. I was always afraid to mess up my HTML too. Now, I just use facebook to blog and vent. Nothing really speacial.

*special

We are whiners?

Why don't we have a pot and kettle emoticon?!?!?!??!?

And NO ONE said that breasts were disgusting, we said the juxtaposition was disrespectful.