When a human looks at a picture about a certain subject, they generally have different thoughts about the subject than if they are reading about it. Pictures in a way emotionally sway people's thoughts into being more convinced on a subject. If someone sees a picture of an injured puppy and the picture is an add for an animal foundation, they would be very likely to donate to that animal foundation. If someone sees a picture of a city burning when the picture is bashing a political candidate, they would probably have worse thoughts of that candidate.
While we do not realize it, everyone has this problem with pictures. It seems images have more power on the human mind than words do. Advertisers know we think like this, and therefore use it to their advantage. This is why we need to think before we act after seeing a picture. It is kind of like some of the commercial adds for unique products; They often look too good to be true. If humans always made decisions based on pictures, our world would be in a horrible amount of turmoil.
Take, for example, Paul Revere's photo of the Boston Massacre. While in the Boston Massacre the British were only aggressive with a few colonists, Revere's photo shows the British shooting non-stop at multiple colonists. While after knowing the real story this picture seems pretty silly, it influenced a large amount of colonists. This was a main reason the colonists started to have bitter relations with the British. If people had just taken a second to look into the story before making rash decisions based on a picture, they may have avoided the whole revolutionary war.
Overall, humans just are not in control of their thoughts when it comes to pictures. I admit that I myself have trouble controlling this, but I know it is wrong. Pictures never tell the story, no matter how detailed a picture is. Therefore, one cannot say they know all about a subject after seeing a picture, for often, they do not even know the background of it.
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