Wow..I remember that girl from the cover of National Geographic. Thanks for finding her update, Mr. Meowgi.
Because all hollywood movies are 100% fake, right? The movie is based off a historical nonfiction book. The people that raised that flag were exploited and used by the Government after this to get war bonds, there was also another group of people that put up a flag in the spot before them, the "grand picture" was just a group of people replacing the flag with another one. Sure it has a great overall meaning of taking over Iwo Jima, but the dirt behind it makes it meaningless to me.
Here is the story of finding her: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0311_020312_sharbat.html
whether Hollywood movies are 100% fake or not is irrelevant. i'm not even arguing that what you said isn't correct. my point is, if you're gonna say something like that the last thing you want to base your judgment on is Hollywood.
This thread seems appropriate for these photo essays. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3686 The Night flight in Uganda photo essay is depressing.
He lived, but his injuries were ridiculous : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Oliver_Denny "Upon arrival at the hospital, Denny suffered a seizure. Paramedics who attended to Denny said he came very close to death. His skull was fractured in ninety-one places and pushed into the brain. His left eye was so badly dislocated that it would have fallen into his sinus cavity had the surgeons not replaced the crushed bone with a piece of plastic. A permanent crater remains in his head despite efforts to correct it."
The reason I have always loved the following pic and the one Zion posted with the Buddhist monk setting himself on fire : I don't think there is any way you can show greater conviction for your beliefs than be willing to die for them without killing or injuring others.
From that wikipedia link, it looks like later on a couple of them got what they probably deserved : "After a few jury changes, the jury arrived at a verdict of not guilty for all charges except a felony count of mayhem for Williams, and one misdemeanor assault charge for both Williams and Watson on October 18. Watson was then given credit for time served and was released. As the families of the defendants celebrated the lesser sentences, Denny surprisingly approached Damian Williams' mother Georgina and hugged her. Other family members then exchanged warm embraces and words of reconciliation with him. The outcome of the trial was said to be "payback" for the acquittal of the four police officers charged with beating Rodney King. For weeks afterwards, public debate about racism and whether the verdict was just or unjust raged on. As the debate continued, Williams was denied bail and sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison on December 7, 1993 by Judge Ouderkirk. Damian was released early for good behavior in 1997. On December 5, 2003, he received a life sentence for murdering a drug dealer, in July 2000. He will not be eligible for parole until he serves 47 years. Miller was shot in a nightclub on February 1, 2004 and died from his wounds soon after."
