| Have I mentioned yet tonight how much I love Twitter? If it weren't for the rapid-fire social network we'd never hear the true story of the ongoing atrocities against the Iranians who continue their protest against the seemingly impossible election of Ahmadinejad over reform candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. While the front pages of Iranian newspapers are covered in blank spaces where government censors have blocked out reports of the inhumane treatment of protesters and the TV news networks are forced to ignore the violence entirely, civilians are keeping abreast of the real news the only way they can, through the Internet. The Iranian government has tossed out foreign reporters, jammed cellphone signals and text messages, and has blocked access to some social networking sites such as Facebook. But somehow Twitter has remained unaffected. Twittering has officially abandoned cute social network status for the last-available-method of exchanging life-saving information. Far cry from Tweets about eating Ho-Hos while watching "Sex in the City" reruns. Now the ever-present Twitter greeting: "What are you doing?" is followed by a series of word-blasts that read like an AP ticker from a major news network's war zone bureau. Here is a sample:
When the Chinese government blocked all news reports following the massacre in Tianamen Square in 1989, it was the fax machine that allowed Chinese students living in America to bombard the media rooms of Chinese universities, hospitals, and businesses with US press reports of the massacre and aftermath. Twenty years later it's the Tweet. The word doesn't sound as funny anymore, does it? Thank God Al Gore invented the Internets. |
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