Social media was still in its infancy when it showed me a death for the first time. All these years later the details remain vivid in my mind. A colleague said, “Tim, check this out.” He turned his screen toward me to show a blindfolded man kneeling before his captors. They spoke a few words in a language I did not understand, then reached toward him. A knife flashed, a throat was slit, blood spilled. I almost threw up. Late that night, and for several nights to come, I lay awake thinking about it, the details seared into my memory. Even today if I close my eyes I see it and hear it.
I didn’t want to see that man die, I didn’t need to see that man die, but I did see that man die. And since that day I’ve seen many others die, almost always through social media. When terrorists strike, when there is an act of brutality, when there is another senseless killing, the omnipresent video cameras pick it up and the social media channels insert it onto my timeline. Sometimes I know the death is coming so if I don’t want to see a
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