Madeleine McCann Is Not An App
KENT News manages to weave Madeleine McCann into a story on a Channel 4 show in which Stephen Fry counted down the greatest gadgets of all time. It’s the usual mindless filler in which Fry’s advertorial is punctuated by nodding heads arriving on screen to get nostalgic about a device they appear to have only just learnt about.
The paper’s Chris Britcher opines:
After all, rather than Mr Fry plumping for the somewhat predictable Holy (Apple) Trinity of iPod, iPhone and iPad in the top three positions, the humble lighter emerged on top of the list followed by the wrist watch. And when you think about it, very sensible choices they are too.
Yeah, no telly. Which given the quality of the pisspoor show seems appropriate.
For many, of course, today’s gadgets are driven by one key ingredient – the internet…. But while the internet is injecting everything with a new lease of gadget-friendly life, it can also be the cruellest of fiends… Take for example the well-reported misuse of the likes of Twitter and Facebook during the London riots.
More recently, there was the bizarre sight of seeing Madeleine McCann trending on Twitter as hundreds of thousands took only the latest in what seems like a never-ending line of possible sightings and twisted it into hard fact that she had been found.
The hunt for Madeleine McCann has become something we have all, by desire or not, got an emotional attachment to.
Have we? Are we all emotionally attached to Madeleine McCann?
And the remarkable wave of euphoria of those misreading/misinterpreting what had been a suitably vague and somewhat clichéd Daily Mail story was disturbing to see. We do need to collectively guard against this. The desire to shout a virtual ‘stop everyone – this simply isn’t right’ was overwhelming, yet people proved once again that they only listen to what they want to listen to. And more fool those who passed it on without a second’s thought. We all have a responsibility here.
Yep. In a story that seems to be about the wonders of gadgets and the web, we are now told of the need to be objective and circumspect about what we read online because we are all emotionally attached to Our Maddie.
The internet remains a breeding ground for those who want to believe and, sure enough, if they look long enough, ignore plenty, they will indeed find the ‘facts’ they are looking for. Take the September 11 conspiracies. There are whole websites devoted to it; films on YouTube outlining the whole thing. And there is no sign of anything slowing up either. If you want to find the disappearance of Madeleine McCann linked in some far-fetched ridiculous way to the 9/11 atrocities, the chances are you’ll be able to do so.
9/11. Thousands dead. Tens of thousands of lives hurt. War. Racism. Murders. That is equivocal to the disappearance of a child?
The internet allows us now to pass on information within seconds of it happening to a vast audience around the world.
Our writer than concludes:
So while the web has allowed gadgets of all types and sizes to flourish like never before, there is also the very real fact that it can obscure or deceive. And, therefore, while less glitzy, perhaps the old-fashioned gadgets will always remain so much better as a result.
Yeah, because no-one ever wrote bollocks in pen and ink did they…
Posted: 2nd, September 2011 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
