Ok... This post will be devoid of the synthesized, over-the-top anger you folks are currently used to. I want to discuss something very important.
In my last post I encouraged people to take a look at the unrest in Iran. Part of the point I wanted to make was that the internet, while normally a morasse of pornography and bad writing, was being used by people on both sides of the conflict. For better or worse the internet has been turned into a weapon.
You see we live in a world of instant information. Trans-oceanic communication has been made as simple and available as the act of yelling out the window to your neighbor. Sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace have created a place for the open display and discussion of everyday minutiae as well as the subsequent glorification of the mundane.
However such sites have also shown themselves to be powerful tools of communication.
Many Iranian bloggers kept the outside world knowledgeable about the post-election goings-on through Twitter feed and Facebook pages as the Iranian government began shutting down all media not directly sanctioned by the government. With the assistance of countless people supplying proxy servers they continue to disseminate updated info on the streets to the outside world even with their government forcing the blockage of such social sites.
Now, keep in mind that this isn't directly exclusive to the children of the revolt. The government itself has attempted to spread information through the internet as well.
I'm not going to argue who's right here. I would like to think I made it undeniably clear in my previous post that I support the Green Revolution. I fully believe it is the responsibility and right of all humans to work for betterment of their lives and the lives of those who follow.
Back to the internet as a weapon.
Information is power. Pure and simple. Every bit of information is valuable, even if it isn't fact or, sometimes, even relevant.
Today a very graphic video appeared on YouTube and many video sharing sites. It depicted a terrible scene being played out on the streets of Tehran: a young woman dying after being gunned down. We're not talking about watching from afar as a person is riddled with automatic gunfire, either.
My eldest brother and several friends in the medical field have often told me that the most terrifying, soul-chilling, scarring, and sobering things a person can ever see is the eyes of a person as they die. I never knew what they meant.
Until I saw the video of the passing of the woman being heralded as Neda.
I know that many of you will rush off to YouTube to try and find a copy of this video. Please keep in mind the following: if you have a shred of human empathy it will hurt you to watch. I knew not this woman who perished on the streets of a far away country but the look in her eyes as she succumbed to the embrace of death will forever be burned into my mind's eye.
If you watch the video be warned that this poor soul looks directly into the camera as she dies. Only the most jaded of souls will be able to watch without at least a small desire to look away.
This video has become a weapon in its own right. A woman in her 20's, gunned down in the prime of her life and left to bleed out on the streets. She has become the rallying point of rage at the oppression of the Conservative Islamic Regime in power as well as organizations such as Basij that are acting as the wrathful hand of those in power.
Emotion is just as powerful as information, sometimes even more so.
Having said that I want you as the reader to stop and think about the many others who have either perished already, unfilmed and unsung, and those who are yet to die as a result of this struggle for freedom and control.
I have never pretensed myself to be anything short of militantly anti-organized religion. However I ask you, my readers, to pray to whatever god you believe in and ask for the salvation and comforting of those who will die from this chaos. I don't care if you're Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan, or whatever: please just pray.
I'm not able to continue tonight. You folks have a good night. Thank you and Gods bless. |
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By: Louis Gardner
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