Assignment #2 Go Upstream
While searching for photos that might be doctored or possibly too bizarre to be true, I came across a photo on Twitter of a young Syrian boy sleeping next to his parents' graves. Immediately my heart sank, "How sad is this?", I thought to myself. This has to be real, right? What evil person would put something like this out there if it weren't true?
I did a little digging. First I did a google image search. I added the words, "Syria boy sleeps parents grave" to the search bar. Well that was enough to pull up quite a few articles in relation to this photo.
Indian and Paksitani Twitter users unite with hashtag #SayNoToWar
First, I clicked on the above link, posted on the site: "Gulfnews.com" The article talks about how Twitter users have been using this photo along with the hashtag #saynotowar to take a stand against the conflict in the middle east. Seems like this really had some credibility, but I continued to click on a few more sites, which all came to the same conclusion: FAKE!
Photographer shocked at how photo was 'twisted'
The real story behind the photo doesn't even have anything to do with Syria. It was taken in Saudi Arabia by amateur photographer, Abdelaziz, who used his nephew for the shoot. He had posted it on Instagram, using it to portray a fictional scene. It was then taken by others on social media, and used for a whole different agenda.
El Jadida, Morocco- A picture of a boy lying asleep between his parents’ graves has gone viral on
Just a few minutes of investigating is all I needed to find out if this photo was real or fiction. Not only was I able to find out that the picture was a fake, but I was also able to trace it back to the photographer, as well as the backstory behind the real reason the photo was taken.
