The Revolution will not be Televised – NOT

I wonder what Gil Scot-Heron, who popularized the phrase “the revolution will not be televised,” thinks about present-day Egypt? After all not only was the revolution in Egypt televised, it was codified, sanctified and fortified by the use of smart devices. At least that’s what the media told us. Smart devices opened the window to urgent cell phone calls, critical text messages and streaming video that catapulted a nation into spontaneous yet deliberate action. Then at the drop of a pin, the government shut it down. Could the revolution in Egypt have happened without smart devices?

Bearing Witness to Cruelty

By now most of us have seen the video of 13 year old Nadin Khoury being chased, beaten in the soiled snow of Philadelphia and hung from the spikes of a cold metal fence. The grainy video was taken using the cell phone of one of the suspected adolescent assailants. It is imagery that is hard to view, yet someone angled a cell phone close enough to hear the victim’s entreaty and to record the full heinous assault - including the passersby who ignored the beaten boy’s pleas.

Without this cell phone video, the majority of us would have no idea that this crime was committed. But do we want to bear witness to the cruelty that has taken residence in our communities and our psyches? However the video can possibly be used as evidence leading to the conviction of the attackers. Does the end justify the means? Is this what we expect our youth to do with the tools we have so willingly proffered? Perhaps the video was to serve as a trophy for the perpetrators of the cowardly act (that was passing for a sport).  Would you record such an event? And if so, for what purpose?