Read on Twitter
Watching Twitter today, I was reminded of how I felt I had to keep walking away from the live TV coverage of 9/11. I had the same feeling today - I went off to read a book rather than follow events in DC minute-by-minute on Twitter >>
>> The global participation in these events is in itself chilling. It brings out our worst need for excitement, horror and drama, mediated by the filmic qualities of live TV/social media. I don't want to be part of that >>
>> If 9/11 is anything to go by, it also creates a demand for more excitement, more drama, more horror. As in movies, everyone who has participated in watching those live events starts looking for simple solutions; for easy goodies and baddies >>
>> But if there is a lesson from 9/11 that most people can agree with, it would be that the U.S. overreacted (we can agree to differ on where to draw the line about where action was essential and where it became overreaction) >>
>> The world would have been a better place if the US had taken its time after 9/11 to think intelligently and carefully about what it was doing. The same applies today - be wary of easy answers, and aware of how live coverage sweeps us along into seeking movie-style resolutions.
> A final thought. On 9/11, I walked away to finish a piece on madrasas in India. Today, I read a novel set in Nazi Germany. Our choices of writing/reading reflect the preoccupations of the time. But events don't "prove" those anxieties; rather we're primed to notice them more.
