A World in Pictures- Tora Sellers

This is not just the Rage Against the Machine Self-titled album cover; This is a pivotal moment in modern history. Nothing displays the American embarrassment in Vietnam better than the photograph of Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation. The image captures the entire situation in the Vietnam of the 1960’s: freedoms and human rights of the majority literally going up in flames under the minority rule and oppression of a US-backed Diem regime. The photograph itself, when spread across the world, left the world appalled at both the South Vietnamese government and the United States.  This led to the swiftly executed coup d’état in Vietnam, supported in part by the CIA. In a time when emotions and tensions ran high, a single image came to represent the struggle of an entire nation. The gruesome image of the Buddhist Monk Martyred by the flame that consumes him will not be forgotten for the pivotal moment it was in history.