The Revolution Will Be Televised

A few years ago, a documentary came out called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised_%28film%29) about the coup d'etat attempt in Venezuela. The irony, of course, was that the film was in fact televising the revolution that almost was -- as the attempt to unseat Chavez ultimately failed. I think what is fascinating about what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia and how it seems to be planting the seeds of change in Sudan, Yemen, Jordan and other countries across the region, is its viral nature. The media and technology are not only capturing images and scenes that bring the revolutionary spirit across the globe, but framing and deconstructing it as it happens -- spreading the message of democracy and the power of the people to the far reaches of the planet. This forces not only leaders like Obama to react, but people all around the world to take a position on issues far beyond the scope of their daily lives, much as Marshall McLuhan argued television would do (and arguably did during the civil rights movement and Vietnam War). The military learned this lesson after Vietnam and has controlled framing of the two subsequent wars with Orwellian precision. Yet the power to control the images available and the framing of those images has been severely circumscribed by media savvy revolutionaries, gonzo-journalists and the Internet and its still largely unregulated space.

The power of the image to speak to us, even when heavily mediated, is profound. And even in repressive regimes, it appears that images of others struggling to unseat dictatorial power has the viral effect of infecting those around them with that same spirit. Thomas Paine once noted his surprise at the fact that people had so rarely used their ultimate power -- their number and the ability to revolt against tyranny -- to change the status quo. As we watch these revolutions in the MENA countries unfold, one wonders if the media is changing the dynamics of social upheaval forever more ...