Image: iStock
The fact that we can watch our fetus on ultrasound is amazing. But I wonder if it is just as interesting to a neighbor or a friend or acquaintance who has watched scores of ultrasound images of their own, of their friends, of their family and millions of ‘netizens’. Maybe they were interested when they saw an ultrasound for the first time in their lives. “Oh goodness, we never knew medical science can allow us to watch this now, it’s brilliant!” Or maybe they were super interested when it was an ultrasound of their own baby.
Then it would get monotonous with the subsequent glimpses – because in reality they all look the same to the layman’s eyes. If you still dare to show them your latest ultrasound report, it will be reciprocated with a minimalistic smile. “How different is this from the past report, God alone knows,” they will secretly wonder.
Moreover, even the ultrasound images aren’t spared from the narcissistic posts on social networking sites or elsewhere. Some might push a ‘like’ for no reason – just how ‘awesome’ does it seem to them? Do they really figure out the ‘head or tail’ (literally) of it? I bet not.
But my heart will go out to those moms who are vulnerable to fake admiration. Suddenly I am also surprised at the naivete of these women who are old enough to be mothers, but cannot gauge their neighbor’s disinterest in the fetus that is growing in her. Perhaps they would be interested in the baby one’s it’s born or as it is growing up, but certainly not when it’s in the womb – not of theirs (men are not counted) but that of a third person.
Unless of course there is something supernatural about it. Something that they could weave stories around. Something that could ‘stir’ their minds. Something that could turn out to be unusual. Like the ultrasound image that went viral showing a ‘demon’ sitting beside the fetus.
The photo was posted on the ‘Creepy’ subforum on Reditt. At the first glance, it looks normal, but it has got something unusual in it. And it’s not too hard to figure it out. While the image shows the fetus relaxing in the womb, on the right-hand side, there is a pattern that freaking looks like a demon that is almost grinning at the fetus! While some people have likened it to a Hindu goddess, some have likened it to a mermaid. Some have thought it is the face of Satan that is haunting the image. Some could even see a screaming face on the left side of the baby.
Apparently the ultrasound technicians were unable to answer what made the image show the face of a demon, but added that they had never seen such a thing before. There is no medical explanation for the scan that has appeared as it has appeared to millions of viewers.
However, given that the human mind has the proclivity to draw images of clouds, of dots, of the patterns on the walls or curtains or shades, or just about anything; it might simply be a case of yet another optical illusion.
But that’s not the concern here. I am trying to drive home the point is whether those who made the picture go viral had the conscientiousness of what the mother of the baby might be thinking in the meanwhile – would she be terrified at what was being propagated about her ultrasound scan? Would she brush it aside as a joke? Would she sob? Would she laugh her lungs out? Or would she not simply be able to what you are seeing? Well, whatever she could be doing there at the doctor’s desk as she watches the scan, or whatever she could be doing as she jumps at the image of it going viral on the internet, one thing is for sure – people out there, you aren’t interested in the tiny being that is growing inside her.
You are in now way obsessed with the ultrasound scan.
You are just your callous self whose shifty eyes could look for the devil at the most susceptible spot.
Why a devil? Why not an angel watching over the baby! I would be more amused if people made it viral with a positive approach.
Mindless thinking and appreciation in the dark are definitely not a welcome – at least for my child’s scan – even if it is yet to arrive in the world. This I know pretty well.
