The News Channel and the Social Media
Photo by Mario Calvo on Unsplash
The news channel.
I was home early this afternoon, sat on my towel and carpet to exercise, switched the TV on, and since then have been spending probably about 12 hours now tuning in to the news. You know what's on it in the past 20 hours.
And, sigh,
So since we the viewers are"Things are dramatically unfolding here. We don't know yet if the dogs are hungry or just bored, but sources are telling us -- and we're using the term 'sources' quite loosely here -- that they are bored. Stay tuned if you missed our last sentence, because we assure you we are not done saying it."
"We don't know anything yet. Maybe [insert a long, detailed description of a group which you stress with the highest importance probably is not related to the suspects at all]."
Now I know how to report on a news channel or if I ever get invited as a guest to share my 'expertise' on TV: say I don't know anything yet and can't for sure relate A to B, but just keep talking about A and B in the same sentence anyway.
The questions.
I cringe at many of them. Let me just pick a few, asked by apparently an acclaimed journalist, "How American is he? Does he have an accent?" which might as well be "Does he eat pizza or moss off a rock? What does he think about the Kardashians?"
The social media.
We* never learn. Jumping to conclusions, believing the first thing we see on social media and spreading it further are what we do best. We may have the smartest phones, but we haven't taught our brains to keep up with their benefits yet. (*Which I totally meant others, not me, obvs.)
Before the current suspects' names were released, there were different names and photos thrown on the internet. And people didn't wait to witch hunt. I looked at the photos and was puzzled. These cannot be the same person. An extremely drunk person who has been drunk for three straight days can tell you that they have different noses and mouths even with those blurry pictures.
Even if we think they look similar, can't we just wait for an official statement first? It's a competition: who throws their opinion on the internet first, who sends angry tweets to the suspects first -- wins a 10kg gold medal. At this point, I've already felt like slapping someone. (And I've already stopped exercising.)
As expected, they got the names wrong. The sad thing is, the first person had been missing since last month. Congratulations, you've successfully shredded the family's heart into a million pieces.
The relatives and friends of the suspects.
Can you blame them? We've seen Enemy of the State. I saw Gothika and have never been able to swim in a swimming pool in peace at night since.
Again, put ourselves in the relatives'/friends' shoes. Think of a relative of ours who is normal and likeable (I know it's hard, but just try) and imagine being told this person did a heinous crime. You've known them all your life, you like them (somewhat), and you know them as normal, ok people -- of course, you'll be in shock. You won't believe they'd do such thing, and you'll ask for evidence etc. Don't blame the relatives and friends if they don't believe the same thing as we do. I imagine it's not easy for them. I imagine they need space.
Of course, then we are tempted to talk further... (and open the Pandora's box)
... about Islam, Islamophobia (I just learned this word today), invasion of one country by another, respecting and understanding other people's cultures and struggles, how many civilians died in the US drone strikes, and how frustrating it is to see Islam once again being thrown into a bad light.
People who are speculating how the two brothers were radicalized (also a new word today), and people who act as if they already knew the whole story and the family inside out and whereTH Chechnya is -- if we can't wait until he's captured and proven guilty (if he's captured, alive and guilty) -- can we at least wait until all his tweets analyzed and taken out of context first?
Comments