Utah, first of all, even if you think it’s wrong, it is loshon hora to say so. According to halacha, it is loshon hora to say something negative about a book, since you are criticizing the author.
Second of all, my point of being “dan l’kaf zchus” was regarding the reason they did this. Two possible reasons have been given for their doing this. One is that they didn’t want people to see untznius pictures, and the other is that they were trying to rewrite history. We are not allowed to assume the second reason when we can be assuming the first. (Aside from the fact that I think it’s the more likely possibility.)
Now you are bringing in another point – that even if we assume they were doing it for the right reasons, in the end it is misrepresenting things and sheker and therefore wrong and they shouldn’t have included the pictures.
In terms of that, I understand your point, but: 1. We still have the LH issue & 2) we still have the “dan l’kaf zchus” issue &
3. I think there is an obvious answer here. It clearly never occurred to them that anyone would look at it that way, or they just would have left the pictures out.
After all, there is no reason the pictures have to be included, so if they had a “hava amina” that there was anything wrong with it, they would have left it out.
I am sure it never occurred to them that anyone thought they were trying to misrepresent history. I would never have thought of such a thing, so why should they?
I still don’t see why anyone would even come up with such an idea. It is a very farfetched idea. The only reason why anyone would think of such a thing is if they are starting off with the assumption that someone might be trying to rewrite history.
I always take off my glasses for pictures. Is that sheker? According to your theory, it would be. I only take off my glasses for pictures because I look better that way and I want to look my best for a picture.
You could argue that taking off my glasses is not sheker because my glasses are not attached to me and I really can take them off. The same is true here – I am sure that everyone in the picture did sometimes have their knees and elbows covered.
If anyone from today could go back in time and take their picture now, they would ask them to make sure their knees and elbows are covered for the photo. Is that sheker? I can’t imagine anyone would think so.They didn’t have that option so instead they covered up their knees and elbows. There is nothing wrong with that.
Every school does the same thing when they take class pictures – they make sure the girls are tznius even if they normally aren’t. And if they realize after the picture that the neckline was too low for example, I think they fix it by coloring it in. Not because they are trying to lie and to say the girls are always tznius, but simply because they don’t want people to see untznius pictures. And there is nothing sheker about it – the girl’s neckline is not an inherent part of her – she could have been wearing a higher neckline.
According to your logic, it would be assur for someone to wear coverup because it is sheker. They are making it look like they don’t have pimples when they really do. And it would also be assur for me to take off my glasses for pictures, since I never walk around without glasses because I wouldn’t be able to see.