DRAWN CLOSER TO CRISIS IN THE WORLD - BY HUGE COMMUNICATION ADVANCES

Think about what profound situations could have developed, politically and militarily, if the media advancements of today, had been in existence during the Second World War......available to capture scenes from the Nazi death camps. The greatest history lesson is being taught now,..... the visual truths of this violent actuality unfolding in the Middle East. What we didn’t want to know, what we may have wished to remove ourselves from, is becoming increasingly difficult to sidestep because it is, as they say, just an inconvenient truth. For those who wish to know everything about this evolving world, the reality is now prevailing upon us in all its rage.....as if a dam has finally burst and the water set free to sculpt the new world. We are seeing world events, as tragic and unsettling as they are, only minutes after they have occurred. It is changing us all. We are learning about the world by media advancements. What we didn’t learn at school, we are being taught by immersion. By camera. Instant reporting.

I have this deep seeded respect for truth-seeking, pretty much the result of having been a reporter for so many years. I expect this is a trend that will continue in the world and everywhere else there is a citizen with a camera phone etc. Sometimes we localize here, to a fault, and fall back into a sepia tone image of our former town......as if locked in the 1950's, somewhat oblivious to the reality things will never be the same again. We simply have to adjust to the new normal we thought came with 9-11 but now surely realize, is even more profound today.....as we find ourselves nervous and fidgeting, watching the growth of rebellion across the Middle East. It does effect us, and will alter our way of thinking in perpetuity. As long as we rely on oil from this same hot spot on the planet, our lives will all be affected one way or another. As we depend on oil and gas, we must surely realize this current instability, has the expansive potential of putting us back into recessionary economics. Abruptly!

While we all localize by necessity, we need to globalize our outlook, to many new challenges heading our way.........from a place “a half world away”.......getting closer to us every day.

If ever we abused the word “pro-active,” in political rhetoric, it is high time we put the word into our survival mantra......and the first tidal wave anticipated will be the huge impact of rising oil and gas prices, particularly on food prices which are already increasing.

It is a rapidly changing world. Some changes, as Charles Dickens observed of the industrial revolution, will be violent and unforgiving. What shall we do, but side with liberation, and a free world?