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Tue Jun 23,2009,
16:36 GMT
Peeping the Iranian Revolution
Posted by Hal
Last night my brother was watching the 6pm broadcast of the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) news with his 12 year old son. They showed one of the videos currently sweeping through YouTube that captures the last gruesome moments of life of Neda Agha-Soltan, shot dead by persons unknown while walking the fringes of the protests against Iranian’s repressive pseudo democracy. My brother, who had previously watched the video online, was halfway out of the living room at the time and only partially heard them talking about the video. When he realized they were actually playing it, he ran back in and told his son to cover his eyes. But it was too late – the most graphic part of the video, the final seconds of Neda’s life, ending in a closeup of the 26 year old woman’s face as blood gushes out of her mouth and nose and her eyes roll up into the back of her head — was already playing. Afterwards, his son asked him: “I don’t understand. If she was shot in the chest, why was there blood coming out of her face?”
Last week, the Western media was convinced that Twitter was galvanizing the Iranian people into full scale revolution. This week, the news is that it will be the YouTube video of Neda’s death that will spread outrage and ultimately topple the Islamic regime of Iran. Meanwhile, everyone is putting out articles on how the importance of Twitter and Facebook are being overstated in this burgeoning revolution.
So what to think about all this? Sad to say but Peep plays a role. Whenever we are using mediums that primarily provide entertainment – from television to twitter – to cover fast breaking world events like this one, we are dealing with the problems endemic to Peep.
These problems include: *Veracity – is this a genuine tweet or video? Everything seems true. *Passivity – by watching this and maybe even appending a comment or sending a tweet like “to Neda…we will remember your bravery” are we imagining we are somehow taking meaningful action which actually prevents us from taking meaningful action? Everyone shade their tweets green in support of the Iranian protests. *Context – One person’s outrage is someone else’s entertainment. There is an unsettling blurring between the two. A video of a woman dying sandwiched between commercials for Tide, plus updates on the weather and sports. On YouTube I found a panorama of scenes from the protests culminating with Neda’s death set to U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday. Appended to the video the pronouncement: “Khodaya be Iran azadi bede - ????? ?? ????? ????? ??? NOT A ROCK MUSIC VIDEO. DO NOT VIEW AS SUCH.”
Ultimately, we don’t know if the video showing Neda being murdered will prove to be a catalyst, a distraction or equal measures of both. Our instinct is to believe that when images emerge from a crisis of this magnitude with so much at stake we are not peeping. We are not simply spending our leisure time watching other people’s lives. We are absorbing and passing on crucial information. But the more television, YouTube, twitter and Facebook blur into one big infotainment peep universe, the harder it is to figure out when we have crossed the line from crucial information to peep. We have to watch the video of the young woman’s death so that she will not have died in vain. At least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves when we watch it, decide to broadcast it, or pass it along.
I’ll end with a random sample of tweets about Iran I grabbed off the Iran.Twazzup site providing real time amalgamation of tweets related to the Iranian protest.
Show support for democracy in Iran add green ribbon to your Twitter avatar with 1-click - http://helpiranelection.com
We r having difficulty gettng updates 2 u as many of r contacts been arrested-life here is v/v/dangerous now #Iranelection
There are -6- Comments: , Add yours…
17:50
I was actually thinking of your book as this particularly gruesome event was shown everywhere. I also had a long conversation with a friend on the need to watch and seek out these kinds of videos with people dying, at their last breath and afterward.
This is definitely an example of peep culture though. The part where people are compelled to watch and report this kind of thing is somehow reconciled with the idea that it’s “helping.” Perhaps. I don’t know whether putting a dying face to the cause helps when in this age we have become almost numb to those kind of images. So is it then just sensationalism? There is this whole gray area but I thought about whether or not it would be better if this were shown millions of times or not at all. And I think, despite it’s (and others like it) crossover to peep entertainment, there is still an element of information and necessary viewership involved with this.
22:13
To me this video is a mix of news and peep. I stumbled upon the video by accident and it caused me to read up on the riots and kind of bring myself up to speed on current events that otherwise would have gone in one ear and out the other.
I think this video is more news than peep, but it’s the peep culture of everyone wanting to share everything going on with the world that put this video online.
8:19
It’s a mix for sure. On the one hand we’re getting access to images that, at least on the face of it, seem uncensored and/or unmanipulated by mainstream media. On the other hand you get this tagline on Digg:
“Watch Neda Agha Sultan YouTube - HOTT Video!”
15:44
Hal,
I’m currently reading your book, and popped by out of curiosity to see how your blogging is going. I wish I hadn’t happened to see Neda’s face, that I’d chosen a different day to check in, but that’s the risk you take in navigating the web.
Anyway, the subject of your book has been a fascination of mine for a while. I’m so glad you wrote it, and even more glad I stumbled on a review of it so I could get your take.
You’re making me re-think what I’ve put out there, which is fairly substantial. And I’ll admit, I Google people I know or have known all the time. I Tweet, I use Facebook, and I have one personal and one professional blog. I’m pretty well “out there.” But at least I’m not flashing any naughty bits, or talking about acts of a sexual nature. I do have my limits…
I’ll enjoy having a gander at your blog as I’m enjoying your book.
Lisa
The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
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13:01
Sadly I haven’t read your book yet, but I’m not sure that this would be a case of “peeping” as I understand your definition of it.
It strikes me that like so many things that are happening in the world, maybe we need to watch it if only to bare witness to the events unfolding. Will it do any good? Who knows? But it certainly seems to be getting people fired up.
For better or worse, this is the first example I’ve seen of popular social media sites calling for vigilante hack attacks on repressive government websites.
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/8upvk/help_reddit_this_website_takes_pictures_of/