A common theme in conversations this week has been a feeling of uncertainty. Many people feel that times are changing and that they aren’t being told the full story.
In the middle of lots of depressing news stories about the Eurozone and the inevitable faux-pas of the President of FIFA, narrated to us in soundbites, and even the news imploding in on itself in the Leveson Inquiry, there has been another news item that, although it has made a massive impact, has hardly been mentioned on the television and radio. The Occupy Wall Street eviction took place this week and was widely reported on Twitter and through live streams on the internet. Books burned, laptops trashed, peaceful protesters arrested. This protest has been running on a large scale for months, and is still going on as I write. We all know it’s going on but it’s being scantly reported. Do we all, therefore, realise that we are being censored? Does anyone really care?
It seems that there are protests going on all over the world, uprisings in many countries on most continents, yet it’s business as usual for those in control of our media and newspapers. It’s obvious that things are changing, that people who have previously been satisfied with their lives are now dissatisfied and eager to do something about it. But there are a lot of people who are so caught up in X-Factor and Eastenders, and of course, themselves and their own self promotion, who don’t want to do anything about it. As long as things stay the same and their lives revolve around the routine of a TV schedule, then they are happy to sit at home, oblivious to the suffering of others.
Many people who talk freely about Occupy are afraid to follow the organisation on the social networking site, because of ‘how it looks’. Many people are not even discussing it hoping that it will go away and they can just get back to their TV whilst those less fortunate face increasing difficulty. But it’s difficult to escape the underlying feeling of uncertainty of redundancy, finance cuts leading to service cuts, and price hikes that is now affecting every working family. Stoicism is admirable, as is the ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude, but perhaps its time to be authentic, start thinking critically and ask why we are being censored?
Gil Scott-Heron had it right. The revolution will not be televised.