I am “watching” the events unfold in Egypt with great fascination and trepidation for the people of Egypt. For the whole region.  What makes this fascinating for me is the inter-twinning of social media and journalism, grass roots signage and highly scripted policy statements.  Those of us who are addicted to Internet news are jumping around various sites to try to piece together what’s going on. It takes mental agility as one navigates the sources and attempts to filter the information through a measure of skepticism.  Who is saying what why, and for what purpose?  Where is the source? What is their angle? Are they truthful? Manipulative?  One never knows, and the only solution is just try to gather as much information as possible to gain an understanding.

I hope our media here in the US, in an effort to gain viewers, doesn’t skewer the information towards sensationalism. It’s already happening, but it’s never too late to stop. The media should stop trying to solve every problem with easy answers, or to feed into what it thinks Americans want with stereotypical images and statements.  A simple, “we don’t know” is perfectly fine, along with  as many fact and pictures as possible.  From whatever source, be it twitter, journalists, or  people on the ground. The tank I drew above, could just as easily be a television camera, which can be as destructive as a tank when in the wrong hands.

And I will be glued, hoping for the best.