beastieangel01
04-12-2006, 11:29 AM
I watched it (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/) last night and was amazed.
There was an interview with 4 university students and they handed them each a picture of the Tank Man. They whispered to each other, with questions like "what is this?" and muttering "1989." But when it came down to it, none of them knew at all what it was. One thought that it was a parade of some kind. Whether or not they REALLY knew, the fact that they responded that way was, well, I guess it depends.
If they did indeed have no idea what that image was, I don't even know how to articulate what I feel. I'm not going to imply that EVERYONE has forgotten the massacre, but in 1989 students were at the forefront. Now, if they couldn't place that image....I think that's awful. If they do know but have just been conditioned by either society or the government to not talk about, THAT is awful as well. "Let's not talk about the truth."
Then, the situation with Google in China. I've heard various arguements. Some say it's awful that Google decided to help censor in order to make their profit. Some others say there are ways around the censorship (depending on the terms you use to pull things up online) and having something is better than nothing.
And then the insight on to the conditions of factory workers, long hours, low wages. Huge American companies willing to sacrifice principles for market share and money. We get a cheaper product here to buy. And we do buy them, because it saves us money or we cannot afford something more expensive. It's unfortunate.
I don't even really know what my point is really. It was just a report on a situation that opened by eyes more. I thought I would share and perhaps get a discussion started about it to start thinking about this more.
There was an interview with 4 university students and they handed them each a picture of the Tank Man. They whispered to each other, with questions like "what is this?" and muttering "1989." But when it came down to it, none of them knew at all what it was. One thought that it was a parade of some kind. Whether or not they REALLY knew, the fact that they responded that way was, well, I guess it depends.
If they did indeed have no idea what that image was, I don't even know how to articulate what I feel. I'm not going to imply that EVERYONE has forgotten the massacre, but in 1989 students were at the forefront. Now, if they couldn't place that image....I think that's awful. If they do know but have just been conditioned by either society or the government to not talk about, THAT is awful as well. "Let's not talk about the truth."
Then, the situation with Google in China. I've heard various arguements. Some say it's awful that Google decided to help censor in order to make their profit. Some others say there are ways around the censorship (depending on the terms you use to pull things up online) and having something is better than nothing.
And then the insight on to the conditions of factory workers, long hours, low wages. Huge American companies willing to sacrifice principles for market share and money. We get a cheaper product here to buy. And we do buy them, because it saves us money or we cannot afford something more expensive. It's unfortunate.
I don't even really know what my point is really. It was just a report on a situation that opened by eyes more. I thought I would share and perhaps get a discussion started about it to start thinking about this more.