Quick post – The irony of Trump being undone by video
It’s been a while since I posted last – principally because I’ve been on holidays (Texas, DC and New York) – and then settling back in. But it’s time to start posting regularly again.
I was going to post on how the way we consume media has continued to evolve, but the irony of Trump’s self-immolation is too attractive to let pass. So maybe next week on the media – let’s see.
The irony for Trump here is that he has been brought down by the very medium that created him – video. Somehow we couldn’t quite believe he was really like that – even though we all knew – until we saw it on TV. Neil Postman is right – the dominant technology of our age is still the moving image – and what that technology creates it can also destroy.
There’s a link here, I think, with the videos of black men being shot by police that appeared on social media over America’s long hot Summer of 2016. Suddenly we are talking about an issue that has no doubt been around for decades. There is a sense in which the national conversation is guided by images. Without images, we have nothing to discuss.
I’ll muse more on the new media technologies and how they are shaping our conversation next week. See you then.
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