I remember hearing about how one of the things that led to major social upheaval in the United States during the 1960s was the uncensored images coming back from Vietnam via television. It was a pivotal moment where the intersection of the technologies of death and the technologies of communication opened a window on the horror this country was unleashing abroad. Of course this was quickly shut down and I also remember the hygienic images beamed back from the first Iraq war via TV news, which made it all look like a nice clean video game where only the bad guys got zapped. As I watch the events unfold in Gaza via social media, it strikes me that perhaps now the technologies of death and the technologies of communication are again crossing paths in the same way to show us the awful, unbearable, truth. In fact, ordinary people with cell phones and Twitter accounts are able to penetrate much deeper into the reality of state sponsored murder than any journalist ever was during Vietnam, and what they hear, see and feel is broadcasted to the world instantly without a filter (at least for now). So here is our opportunity to be outraged, not only for the people of occupied Palestine, but for all people everywhere that are exploited, killed and thrown away because of the hidden or not so hidden agendas of their governments, their occupiers, their masters, their wealthy and their protectors. My hope is that, given the tools to know the truth despite what mainstream media tells us, we use them. My hope is that no matter how strong the programming is, it can not hold up to the simple spark ignited when one truly penetrates the suffering of another person, and just as the reach of technology is much greater now than it was in the 1960s, that the upheaval that I see inevitably coming out of the inexplicable horror of what we are witnessing, is also much more far reaching, much deeper and more complex than those upheavals that I heard my ancestors speak about. Their revolution nearly toppled it all, but not quite. Ours can, and I believe it will.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 22:08:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015