Revolutionary Journalism in a Time of Universal Deceit
Manning wanted us to regain connection with humanity as a distanced family rather than separate and detached by dehumanizing rhetoric. By publishing the photo of the two Reuters news employees, Saeed Chamagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen in the Collateral Murder video, WikiLeaks remained true to the wishes of the source: to help the world see those who have been portrayed as enemies are actually human.
There’s something about the new generation that deeply thwarts the old generation: growing up online with an ability to socialize with anyone anywhere—even in baaaad countries—they are a lot less keen on dropping bombs all over the place. Blowing up your virtual friends is not as much fun as blowing up the Hollywood caricatures who still inhabit foreign lands in the minds of older generations.
And there’s a connection here to that WWI Christmas truce movie (not made in the US, obviously), where German and French soldiers were unable to kill each other very much after they had the strange opportunity to meet as humans in an unsanctioned holiday celebration.
The internet makes that opportunity constant.
