The name reflects that, I suppose. Somehow the term reached photography, probably because people tend to lose their heads either way. Most people, however, don't think of taking anything besides snapshots. In a way, I think that more people should take good pictures. They're the ones that reflect an event, a cause, on a global scale.
Good pictures take a singular moment and make it universal, report on the human condition.
Think of the sailor and the nurse on V-E day in New York. Recall the haunting stare of the young green-eyed Afghan refugee in the red scarf. Remember the gaze of the weary mother surrounded by her children in the classic scene from the Dust Bowl. I think we can. Newspapers and magazines may disdain the photographs I found in my book.