Tuesday, January 13, 2009

I Have a Dream

I have not written anything about the Gaza strike. Partially because I have read excellent blog entries about the crisis, and felt I did not really have anything to add to what you guys have already mentioned. My friend who attended one of the many protests they had all around the world, took a picture of Jews protesting against the killing of a ~1000 innocent people, to show that it is not a religious issue but a human rights issue. Nicholas Kristof, my hero, also wrote an article about the problem last Thursday.

The question that everyone keeps asking is, what makes this issue so much more polarizing and engaging than say the genocide in Danfur, raping of women in Congo, and high maternal mortality in Africa?

I don't know about your Facebook, but some of my friends have dedicated their statuses (statusi?), so they can get the latest update about the number of causalities in Gaza. My Facebook inbox also got ambushed with constant updates.

Last night, I had a dream about Facebook and the Gaza conflict. Hey, before you judge my randomness, you should know I have already sort of hinted at my subconscious going off on multiple tangents in this post here. I had a dream that Israel has ended its air strike in Gaza, and I find this important, and much awaited news through my friend's facebook status.

The Time Magazine published an article about Facebook's role in the Gaza conflict. It is almost like the people at Time have an access to my sub-conscious. (I am being lame, I know). I personally have no opinion about the overtness of Facebook activism. After all, a cynic may look at my blog picture (Save Darfur), and question its effectiveness. And rightfully so, because I am not doing anything physically to save Darfur.

The Time article talks about censorship of our thoughts, because apparently people from the opposite sides of the argument have been sending e-death threats over Facebook. Facebook does not have a strict censorship, like say YouTube. YouTube, to promote its accessibility and use all around the world, does work in association with other countries' censorship laws. For instance, in Turkey, YouTube agreed to take down a few videos, which were criticizing Kamal Ataturk, the country's secular founder.

This phenomenon is interesting because we are the first generation who is experiencing the internet and its activism.

Paging Orwellian Thought Police, right about now?!

2 comments:

Maria Sondule said...

I haven't really been paying attention lately to the Gaza strike. But that's really cool that Jews have been protesting about this stuff! I wish I could, but it'd be a parade of like two people. XD

Zany said...

Maria,

lol. I haven't attended any protests either.