What are we to make of the world today? I have to admit, I'm riveted by the news these days. While I have always been a foreign affairs junkie, my senses seem to be particularly attuned to every last bit of information--real and unsubstantiated--that comes across my Droid touchscreen all hours of the day and night. I've lain in bed, unable to sleep at two and three o' clock in the morning, scrolling through tweets reporting the latest up-to-the-second details (many of which are in Arabic, which I don't understand) of violent mayhem and democratic idealism. It's making me an insomniac. Maybe it's because I have finally figured out Twitter and am obsessively following the tweets from Egyptian protestors who are live in Tahrir Square breathlessly reporting that the military is rounding up protestors and firing upon them with machine guns. This is an actual example of last night's reading while trying to focus on the equally riveting events in the latest episode of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," which, by the way, was a real corker. Kyle's breakdown at her White Party while awaiting the arrival of Taylor and Russell Armstrong had my blood pressure ratcheted up and me on the edge of my seat while texting my sister--who is also a Real Housewives fan--about the emotional debacle unfolding on the screen, speculating about the outcome of the confrontation to come...well, the drama was intense and it only added fuel to my doubts about the veracity of Taylor's accounts of her marriage.) But I digress...
The Arab Spring is, it seems, devolving into the Winter of Arab Discontent. The Egyptian general Adel Emara accused the protestors of inciting violence against his troops while lashing out at the media for only giving a one-sided account of events heavily biased toward the protestors. This is further calling into question whether or not the ongoing parliamentary elections are actually going to result in anything constructive or forward-thinking. The Egyptian military clearly doesn't care about the welfare of the nation and is determined to dig in its heels at any and all costs. In Syria, the government finally signed the Arab League initiative that allows outside observers to come in and oversee the government crackdown on Syrian activists. This would appear to be a step in the right direction, but sadly even as the initiative was signed, reports of government-sanctioned violence against protestors continued in all its bloody glory.
And in a rather ironic--but not really all that surprising twist--it's now been reported that Somalia's Shabab terrorist group is using Twitter to articulate and justify its horrific actions against innocent Somalis in perfectly rendered English. This is ironic because Twitter is concurrently being used by pro-democracy activists throughout the Arab World to relate and promote their justified cause. American authorities are reportedly trying to figure out whether or not they can legally shut down the Shabab's access to Twitter...which raises the debate of whether or not a brutal terrorist organization (affiliated with Al-Qaeda no less) has the same democratic right to freedom of speech as all those using social media to raise awareness of the lack of democratic ideals in the Middle East.
One place where Twitter is definitely not being used is North Korea. No one knows what's going on there and it's doubtful anyone will until another nuclear missile is tested or another South Korean fishing boat is attacked. It's doubtful even ordinary North Koreans know the truth about their government, as evidenced by the truly insane public outpourings of grief we all were witness to yesterday. And if they could or were on Twitter, can you only just imagine the nature of those Tweets???
I don't know. It's a mad world we live in. It's scary and uncertain and dangerous and...I'm strangely, unabashedly smitten. And I can't wait to see what all transpires next week on the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'" group vacation to Hawaii!
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "How has Twitter changed the way news is reported? Is it more or less reliable than traditional newspaper accounts?"
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