The Flip-Side:
The previous three days had been gloomy and chilly and many families were eager to fully enjoy their vacation at the beach. Kids were splashing in the ocean, sunbathers lapped up the sunshine, and various athletic individuals were surfing, running or attempting beach volleyball. In stark contrast a family, moving silently in disbelief while simultaneously wrapping themselves in hope, were positioning themselves on the beach in front of their hotel. A crowd of on-lookers surrounded them.
Hours earlier their youngest son, only 8, was in the water and in distress. He had been pulled into a rip-tide and was futilely trying to fight against it's pull. His older brother, age 19, had realized his brother's dilemma and had jumped into the ocean to save him. The older brother, through sheer strength of will and body, had managed to get his younger brother safely out of the rip-tide's tenacious grasp. The oldest boy was not so lucky.
The family sat silently on the beach and waited. Their older son knew how to conduct himself when pulled into a rip-tide. He had only battled the strong current to save his younger brother who was not so knowledgeable. The parents were sure, that at any minute, the beach patrol would tell them that their brave son had finally made it ashore. In the mean time, the EMS was checking to make sure the 8-year-old boy was OK.
What were the onlookers doing? Surely they were providing words of encouragement, or even helping to look for the young man. No. They were taking pictures and videos. Why? Because our culture of technology has turned everyone into a reporter. Why be concerned for your fellow man when you could exploit him? This is the flip-side of technology.
YouTube, MetaCafe and other such websites are creating a potentially toxic technology backlash. Don't get me wrong, there are positive outcomes to the YouTube craze. Young, talented movie makers can be discovered through YouTube. Up and coming musicians can get recognition and publicity through YouTube. Injustices such as the Rodney King beatings can be exposed through You Tube. However, there is a lot of bad that is let in with the good.
We live in an era of shock value. Bad news or gossip always travels faster than it's good counterpart. We are fascinated by "reality TV" and the "reality" shows that are successful are the ones with plenty of drama and strife. We desensitize ourselves to other's plights. Is this why when we see a family devastated by a tragic twist of fate, we want to document it for all to see? Do we take a picture or video so we can view the events on a screen because then it's not actually happening? I don't know. I do know that 20 years ago on-lookers may have gawked, and they probably would have gossiped, but they wouldn't have documented it for the purposes of exploiting it on the Internet. With the good comes the bad. Beware.
The older brother did not survive.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I like you insight and agree with your belief that like all things, some work things for the good and others foster exploitation...all depends on human behavior. I was horrified to realize that people were photographing the tragedy instead of helping or entering into their grief...or even giving the gift of dignity in their sorrow. There is a german word (not sure of spelling, but something like: schaudenfreude) for taking pleasure from other people's sorrows...the english people refused to have such a word because at the time they believed it was unethical.
Try again I had a typo and I didn't preview my comment.
Food for thought- thanks for sharing.
When my children were small, I liked to take old-fashioned print photos of the event (I still do that style.)
But sometimes, I felt that the camera put a barrier between me and the event. I lost some of the joy of the moment. Perhaps in this case, technology put a sort of defensive barrier between the people and the pain of the event.
Post a Comment