MB Answer: I believe that we (the media and the global public) are patterned in our responses to the Horn of Africa famine as a result of the collective media fatigue leftover from the 1980’s. Therefore we are not seeing these images with fresh eyes, but rather with exhausted eyes. The details are very real and very important, but rather than help the situation I would argue they make it worse by playing the same note of devastation that no one really wants to keep hearing. The images of starving and dead women and children are easy to come by and are accurate renditions of the famine, but who really wants to see another one? This might seem very crass but it is meant to be very honest. What would happen if an image of a lush coffee forest was flashed on the screen instead? Of a lake? Of a healthcare facility that is working? Of an eye health initiative where 1,000 people are cured from blindness in one week? I don’t think any of these would take away from the famine but they might just allow hope to come into the conversation and thus inspire action instead of further deaden the response.