Hint: it's not about citizen journalism.
Great post here by Jeremy Wagstaff at Loose Wire. It's too easy for us all to get caught up in what we care about -- communications, journalism, new journalism, old journalism, gonzo journalism, citizen journalism. As he says:
More importantly, as far as technology is concerned, I don't think that silence on the Internet is any different to a news blackout. It's the most effective way for people to stop paying attention. Initially there's outrage, then people shrug and move on. Soon Burma will be back to what it has been for the past 19 years -- a peripheral story, a sad but forgotten piece of living history. Soon the Facebook groups and red-shirt days will fade.
I would love to think it was and will be different. I would love to think that technology could somehow pry open a regime whether it pulls the plug or not. But Burma has, in recent weeks and in recent years, actually shown the opposite: that it's quite possible to seal a country off and to commit whatever atrocities you like and no amount of technology can prevent it.
Real perspective, about things that matter.
Thanks, Jeremy.