The technology of today has some insane effects on how we perceive news. As almost any person with an electric device knows, there was a huge explosion in Beirut yesterday. Much speculation is still happening about the explosion, but many are comparing it to a nuclear like explosion.
The explosion was not that large, but what’s crazy now is the technology that we have to be able to see and experience a piece of what those in Beirut experienced. I realized as I heard about the explosion that there is likely never a time that there is not at least one video going in every major city around the world. There’s plenty of movies that talk about tying all of that information together into some sort of spy network.
On a more real thought though, I realized that with an explosion this big, it didn’t matter what people were filming, there would be videos during the explosion. Even if not directly pointed at it, seeing the effects of it.
Youtube didn’t disappoint, and I found many videos of people who were filming the explosion and filming other things during the time of the explosion.
20 years ago during 9/11, before everyone had a cell phone and all cellphones had a camera on it, there were still dozens of videos watching the planes hit the towers in New York City. Of course now there’s going to be even more coverage of an event like this.
The next step for us is to not be removed from the event. It’s easy to find the videos online, watch it, almost for entertainment value, as sick as that sounds, and then not think about it again. Or not care about it.
This event has killed hundreds, injured thousands, and is likely going to affect the lives of millions. Don’t be removed from it. At the very least, pray for those who are affected by the event. A tragic event that many will already turn into just another statistic.