Caramblogage

This IGAF (Is Goodness a Fashion) series explores, from a non-expert point of view, the social, economic and narrative ramifications I see developing from the COVID-19 crisis, worries, but also hopes for a future that the current shock to the system may result in. via Raul Krauthausen  :) I don't know what to say about media in relation to COVID-19. A couple of reasons: I quit most social media a few years back, a move I regret and don't at the same time, and I don't watch TV- not even streamed evening news. So my perception of the way this crisis has been reported has been shaped by articles I chose to read in media I follow anyway, both in the mainstream and otherwhere, Youtube and, more recently, Twitter. This is a very unusual position for me to be in, as I usually try to gain as broad an overview on media practices in shaping the narrative in this kind of situation. But, even as I reload the various news feeds and blogs I'm following every minute, this is ...

As time passed, the outrage faded. In stead of incredulous, angry, or disparaging comments on bombings, violations of human rights, wars, corruption, lies and/or blatant exploitation, years of conditioning led audiences (defined as: people who consume content, mostly on screens) to react to the output of content creators (independent of genre) exclusively with "Thank you for your Content".  Everyone stopped caring after a while and all production shifted to Let's Plays of Skyrim, now playable on Sneaker Screens™®. Everyone was content, and content.  And yes, they do share the same root, which makes a strange kind of sense: https://www.etymonline.com/word/content

" What a beautiful face. It's perfect- and it's mine as well now." In 2018, people, following in the steps of the iconic stars of yore, realised that their most valuable asset was the one they showed the world all the time- faces. As time progressed, a market for beautiful faces to use as profile pictures in social media evolved into a market in which you could not only hide your life behind a rented* face, but in which new technologies made it possible to use that face in videos, calls and even as a professional avatar. The hard-core communities upgraded their mirrors to screens, to see this face reflected back at them when they brushed their teeth. Depending on the popularity of a new face, it will cost anywhere between 15 000 and 150 000 000 credits (adjusted for inflation, 15 000 are ca. 10€). No-one seemed to understand the people who used their own face anymore. Why represent your identity through yourself if someone else could do a better job o...

Tweet, tweet, tweet, Insta, Post, Status, Snap, Selfie. News flickers over the screen, at ever-increasing speed. A soap opera with a cast of familiar characters, changing occasionally to keep things fresh. The topics of the day are political theatre, the exciting effects of interference in otherwise unremarkable lives, the slow melting of the planet and how to keep yourself safe online while maintaining enough back doors for surveillance to follow you.   And kittens on speed wearing pirate costumes. "Why did I not know about the tiny discovery that changed the world?" Are You Not Distracted?

I've enjoyed Pearse Redmonds work on Porkins Policy Radio/Review for a while now- a radio show/podcast that covers many topics, but mostly the influence of intelligence services on the media and media narratives. Imagine, then, the pleasure of being invited to converse for a couple of hours on a Tuesday night in Berlin and New York about Egypt, parallels in media and unofficial policies to the current situation in the US. He describes our conversation thus: " Today I am joined by friend of the show Caram Kapp. Caram was last on episode 42 The Homeland Hackers, and returns to discuss the Egyptian uprising six years later. We start off by discussing the basics of the uprising and some of the behind the scenes actors. Caram explains his own experiences as an Egyptian, and as someone who was there on the ground around this time. We touch on the rumors of Western manipulation and how some of these allegations have overshadowed the real life grievances of the Egyptian po...

In the past months, it has become increasingly difficult to write about Egypt. On an emotional level, it is disappointing to watch hope for change turn into a desire for stability and a return to the way things were. On a more political level, the Committee to Protect Journalists has ranked Egypt as one of the most dangerous places on the planet to report from, along with Syria and Iraq. That it ranks there, along with a country in which people are reduced to nourishment from blades of grass, and one devastated by almost 20 years of ongoing civil, secterian and militant strife, is worrying. The reasons for which it is ranked there- according to me- are quite different from the two other countries: while in Syria and Iraq, I count casualties of war, in Egypt, they are casualties of politics. In the aftermath of the June 30th / July 3rd coup (soft, or otherwise), the powers that currently steer Egypt towards an Orwellian police state, revived the old idea that "no bad...

In an attempt to avoid all media on Friday, I stayed at home and worked on a website. The day after, in spite of rather pressing social commitments, a friend kidnapped me and took me to a Schumann (Bert? I may have the wrong Shu here), mostly to keep me from going crazy from watching the current round of violence in Egypt.  Having missed an office party, clashes in Egypt, a Tsunami in the Philippines and dire warnings for the Eurozone, some festivities in Wedding, I woke up one morning feeling the world was, in its own weird way, alright. My parents have flown to Cairo and are happily on holiday there. Except, as it turns out, during my self-imposed media blackout, civil war seems to have erupted in Egypt. My only indication of this was a comment by a friend "Why is Goldfish posting so many horrible pics on Facebook?" This morning, scanning my feeds, I read of "clashes", "fires", "military attacks protesters", "Prime Minister denies vi...

… maybe a bit too much that is. Finally, I am home, reinstalling my OS. This means that for a few minutes, I shall not be watching Al- Jazeera, whose Arabic logo I love and Latin logo I loathe. Thats the rant part of the thing. We have had some extremely good media recently. Those of us who know Egypt by family ties, residence or friends have recently been glued to our multiform screens over the course of the last two weeks, watching events unfold at home. Lives were put on hold, work left undone, meals unmade, friends untended to. A lot of time was spent on landlines, demonstrations and concerned wringing of appendages. In front of one fixed camera of a massive square filled one day with an angry mob of people gathered to air their rage at their government. Then through many cameras we then saw them battle it out for the country. We watched, on little screens, the big stars of international politics act out the parts they play in the downfall of a well- established and surpri...