I have made it a personal habit to avoid the mass media. Ever since I saw the movie Network
(1976) [SEE IT NOW, if you haven't already], I've never again trusted corporate interests as legitimate news sources... but it's not really the corporate interest that's problematic, it's the weakness of humanity that consumes their product. A self serving viscous cycle perhaps...
SO REDDIT! I've heard things about reddit... that it's a democratization of news, that you can find the things you care about, the things that matter, the things that don't get coverage, and you just might even be able to find scraps of this thing once called the truth. Finally this project gave me the necessary push to start Redditing... but I was warned by a friend, that reddit will consume me, that it can destroy lives... so cautiously I begin.
It is the simplest site to sign up to... literally. It has you pick a username and a password, then type the safety image letters and you're done.
I scroll past the top 14 posts unscathed, click a few, skip the rest... then I hit "FORGET WIKILEAKS, WE NEED WIKIWITNESS!" Which is a really great OP piece from a site I'd never heard of and presumably few people read. After reading through clicking three of it's linked videos portraying actual people dying on video... I went back to reddit to read comments that people left. After that it was a blur, but I'll piece it together for you based not upon my browser history, but upon the bookmarks alone I made to share with others.
More videos I watched... only the last is a safe mashup, the others might disturb you.
Suggested websites offered as solutions...full of links and videos...
At some point I had to confront my own humanity on this...it's just pictures of real, dead children. The choice to click is yours, but so to are the implications of your own humanity, either if you click, or refuse. So too, are your reactions.
And if that wasn't enough... some guy on reddit, 8 hours after the post, registered a domain, and started the site.... The guy who posted, planted the seed, and a fellow redditor is now watering it. Perhaps then, reddit has the power to change the world... all in my first 3 hours... all in my first read thread.
Thankfully or unfortunately, my expedition came to an end when I saw this...
too much traffic apparently. So I guess it's time for sleep now, but I fear what my dreams might bring.
Andrew
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