A lot has happened since I wrote my last blog. Most of you probably haven’t even missed my, nearly always, pointless ramblings.
This post will have quite a few tenuous links and I hope they will all come together to prove a point, which I have been trying to get clear in my mind. We will be looking into some recent history of popular culture mixed with world events via a couple of recent high profile untimely deaths. You have been warned!
30 years ago, the former Yugoslavia was in the middle of a bloody and violent break up. It is the second war in my lifetime that I can really remember. The first Gulf War being the, erm, first. Can I count “The Troubles?” although officially not a war, there was a lot of military action, although the UK government will describe it as peace keeping, wait, that sounds familiar. Hold that thought as I have digressed.
Sarajevo 1993. A city besieged. Cut off from the outside world and being metaphorically strangled by the Bosnian Serb forces. It was a truly horrific event in a war full of them. NATO forces in the West were limited by the actions they could or couldn't take and were forced to watch as war crimes were being committed on the mainland of Europe, not for the first time in the 20th Century. However, for the first time it was being reported by outside war journalists. I remember watching the News (probably Newsround) and trying to get my 9 / 10 year old brain around what was going on. Why was the city surrounded? Why were civilians having to run and take cover from snipers whilst trying to complete their daily lives? Why was there fighting in the first place?
It would take me many years to fully understamd the answers to these questions and also meant engaging my history brain and learning about the Austro-Hungarian empire and its breakup, the rise of Tito and his interpretation of Communism and why it wasn't swept into the USSR. Once again, questioning what I thought I knew to gain a greater understanding.
1993 also saw a band touring the world promoting their album, Achtung Baby and then Zooropa. It was a massive tour, which started indoors in America in 1992 and ended up in stadiums across the world by the end of 1993. The tour was Zoo TV. The band was U2.
The premise of the show would be that the audience had paid to watch a rock and roll show, but would also be watching TV at the same time. It was massive. Multiple screens across the stage, a B stage used for the first time, trabants used as lighting rigs, satellite TV. The band had noticed the rise of rolling news and satellite TV and went to town.
What's the connection I hear none of you ask? Well, during certain shows, the band would link up with residents of Sarajevo and ask them what was going on. They were bypassing the messages coming from the media and going direct to the people. Some of the time it was jovial, most of the time it was uncomfortable viewing. It culminated at a show at Wembley.
The link went up on the screens in front of a sell out crowd. Three women were going to talk about their experience. Finding a full transcript is difficult, but the jist of the conversation from Sarajevo was this.
What are you going to do about this? Nothing I think. You will go back to your rock and roll show and we will be forgotten.
Powerful words I am sure you will agree. And in a sense, she was right. The satellite link ended and the gig continued, but the mood amongst the band and audience had changed. Remember, this was pre internet and social media, the only people who saw and heard those words were those present in the stadium. However, the tour had highlighted the need for constant media and question what information was being fed from a newly established multi channel tv platform.
Fast forward 30 years and the ease as which information can be shared, liked, commentated on, opinionated, facts disguised as opinions and opinions disguised as facts.
Like the seige of Sarajevo, the war (or if you are Russian, special military campaign) has again seen war on European soil and brought to a head how we are consuming information about it.
We are questioning more the information we receive from mainstream media. Few people now sit down at 6 o’ clock or 10 o’ clock and take stock of the day's events. Indeed, by that time, the news is obsolete.
We are choosing to turn to social media or live news outlets to get information now or from direct sources. In effect, we are now living in Zoo TV. We are multi tasking on the information we receive. We are watching a wat but at the same time seeing and hearing from the victims. Outpouring of help and sympathy started even before the Russian's invaded. This can be beneficial in attracting political attention and help. It can also be detrimental with the spread of fake news or alternative facts. It also means information is spread so quickly, are we even mentally prepared for that onslaught?
This brings me to the recent deaths of Shane Warne and Taylor Hawkins. Both hugely successful and famous in their fields of sport and music respectively. Both departed from this World way before they should have been.
Both of their deaths were announced vis social media before the daily news bulletins. There was no presenter sat at a desk to pre warn. No picture to accompany the sad announcement.
Just words or a shared post on social media. Does this take away from the significance of a death of someone well known? Does it make the impact all the more shocking? I found myself having to find the source of the information of Shane Warne's death as I hesr so early on that very few outlets were reporting it. Taylor Hawkins’ death was announced by Foo Fighters themselves, so there was no need to find additional sources, it had come direct. Have I become so cynical of the information that I am receiving that I have become accustomed to having the verify the information? Readers of my Facebook page will know how hot I am on scams and fake profiles. Seem legit? Probably isn't.
So back to Yugoslavia and Ukraine. We are witnessing first hand the impact of war in Europe on society, economies, refugees, day to day life. We know this because of the rolling 24 hour news and social media feeds coming out of Ukraine and first hand accounts from those countries accepting refugees. However rather than 50,000 people in a stadium listening and watching the accounts, now it's hundreds of millions and we don't have a rock and roll show to go back to or forget those who have just spoken to us.
The World is moving fast. However the war in Ukraine has opened fractures in Europe and forced the continent to question where its loyalties lie. There will be change, we know what some of that change might look like - awareness of where we source our energy and raw matrials, who actually owns properties, how dangerous Putin really is and a lesson to be learnt about complacency. Everything the West thought they knew about Putin ws wrong.
We will recover and we will be able to move on. We just have to make sure we are all ready to do so and be prepared for what happens next.
I'm ready, ready for what's next
Well written James.
Very well written. It’s like a Duran Duran song Too Much Information For Me.