Monday, 20 June 2011

On social media as a double-edged sword to spur political and social change.

























I need to be able to find a positive arising from the Syrian "Gay Girl in Damascus" blog hoax fiasco. It's too upsetting to see the good-nature of people being exploited without some good coming from it. For every ounce of effort made in this particular case, the same has been denied from a cause of genuine worth.

Is it enough to rely on the generosity and inherent goodness in people to involve themselves time and time again in appeals that they cannot be certain are genuine? No, it is not.

The real progress will be in seeing this particular case in a wider context. It will involve closer scrutiny of our own international actions and convictions. Given the amount we have already invested into helping the people of Libya liberate themselves; is it not correct that we continue to hold our intervention up for questioning, testing our belief that we are truly helping enact the will and aim of the majority?

Would it also be correct to suggest that part of this process would involve our own media's ability to report truths? Given the sway they command, it is right that they install more robust controls on what they send to the front page unqualified.


(Regarding the poster: allow me the "Irrelevant Actor" visual joke.)
Posted by Todd Atticus at 00:17
Labels: , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Topicality Is All In Journalism is the distillation of current affairs, news articles and items of cultural note into poster designs and written commentary. It has been devised to promote the level-headed and rational sentiments made by others in reaction to current happenings – be them local, national, international or universal.

The aim is to have a constant stream of visual output that draws from the range of topics being discussed in the public realm. The posters are designed to play with the conventions of advertisements and other public visual material as a means of presenting unexpected motifs within a mostly commercialised realm of printed communication output.

Visitors are actively encouraged to participate by promoting the opinions they feel an affinity with by printing copies of the posters to display in their area.

The Topicality posters will soon be available to order as digital prints and to download as high resolution digital files in a not-for-profit capacity.

This project is run in-conjunction with the National Diplomatic Rhetoric’s ongoing poster campaign to encourage public thought and debate through material that attempts at a neutral and honest communication of facts and ideas.