High-Frequency Revolution

There’s an endearing element to anarchy. In the so-called Twitter Revolution, young Iranians are using a whimsical gadget to outrun static methods of repression. We citizens of the West go on-line, and though thousands of miles away, we feel the rush.

It’s exhilarating as much as it is mind-numbing. No foothold in this torrent of messages. No clue about outcomes, whether for their world or for ours.

Here we are, the media, leaving it to conspiracy freaks to doubt and check (as happened in the case of a BBC story that labeled a picture of a pro-Ahmadinejad rally as that of a pro-Mousavi rally).

Rather than stop and put things in perspective, we are pressuring politicians to react swiftly; to support and condemn; and to amend policies that made perfect sense only a few days ago.

Speed, the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard once said, is the triumph of results over causes; of oblivion over memory; a barbaric momentous rush.

For the sake of Iran’s youth, I’m grateful for Twitter. For our own sake, I wish we’d find a way to slow down.

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