...means that it's too easy to become obsolete. & I apologize now for the lengthy entry that is about to occur; I know that it out of character for my blog but I feel the need to write:
As most of us have heard already,
Michael Jackson was confirmed dead at the age of 50 earlier today (on about 50,000,000 news sites and stations).
My dear friend Matt brought this up to me, as he read many Facebook statuses mourn over "MJ" (it took him a moment to realize that was NOT Michael Jordan). He then went on a Google news search, telling me that hundreds of articles were popping up about this -- within a 5 minute block, it jumped up another 100+ articles. Yet, only one news source claimed that he had died; all others confirmed that he was rushed to UCLA Medical due to cardiac arrest but couldn't confirm death. I mean, it makes sense...hospital regulation, patient privacy, etc.
I IMed
A-Live, who told me that he was pretty sure MJ was gone.
Via text/Twitter/Facebook/gchat/whatever means, he found out from a friend who is a nurse at UCLA Medical that the King of Pop had passed away this afternoon. I then ceased reading through Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, etc., though moments later, LA Times confirmed his death...but after everyone heard via a source such as Twitter. (Even now, as I am typing this, my friend is texting me in regards to a tweet she read about a deceased celebrity...I'm informing her that it is in fact Michael Jackson...)
I thought about this -- how in a way, news stations are going to have to compete against or at least keep up with this generation's technology.
My brother recently told me about a clip from
Onion News (the spoof newspaper/station, which is fabulous) regarding an NYU dormitory fire. It was originally declared arson but soon was discovered as an accident, thanks to 40,000 iPhones, Blackberries, digital cameras, and Twitter updates.
Watch it here, because it's really awesome and speaks a great deal to the power (and ridiculousness, at times) of our modern technology. That, and it mocks our generation in general. Sadly. But funnily.
I recalled a video on BBC that I saw of
President Barack Obama addressing the injustice going on in Iran.
At one point, he says this great quote that really does speak to the power our generation holds:
"No iron fist is strong enough to shut out the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests of justice. Despite the Iranian government's efforts to expel journalists & isolate itself, powerful images & poignant words have made their way to us through cellphones & computers, and so we've watched what the Iranian people are doing."
On Youtube, you can watch such footage of Iran taken by citizens over there.
Because of the internet, we have the ability to watch in real time via webcam exactly what is going on in other parts of the world. We have surpassed news reporters and even gossip columnists with our Smart Phones, picture texts, video chats, and such.
We can find out before Anderson Cooper does whether or not a major celebrity is declared dead. That is mind-blowing.
Our generation is filled with non-professional journalists. Are you making yourself heard? How are you expressing yourself and what are you writing/typing/tweeting/texting/updating/uploading/IMing/talking about? Seriously.
