The above image has caused a great deal of controversy in the media recently. In the image, a police officer is pepper spraying a group of protesters on the UC Davis campus during an Occupy Wallstreet protest. Some have said that this image is unfair to the police officer, as he was doing his job. Others have said that it is a powerful image of the police brutality during the movement.
The image has gained a great deal of internet fame due to its exploit-ability in Photoshop transformations (a few of which are represented below). My personal thoughts on the incident pictured are not relevant to this discussion, but it is clear that the officer has gained a great deal of fame that he did not ask for.
While it may be clear that the officer is the object of photograph, it is also the observers duty to get the image out to those that did not witness it if they believe the act was unethical. This is true of most every photograph taken - those who are in the photograph cannot be the only ones considered when a piece is distributed. Otherwise, the event may never be brought to the attention of the masses. Any editing done to the photo would result in a swayed bias, and any failure to reproduce the image would leave the event unnoticed.
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