I never thought the day would come when I had a word to say
in favour of mobile phones or ‘Social Media’ such as Facebook. Now it has.
We have been suffering from ‘Indignation Fatigue’: the
scenario in which in America a white policeman abuses, beats up, even kills an
unarmed black man, tells self-justifying lies when and if called to account,
and is completely exonerated has become so common that our indignation centres
are having to take a little rest; we just think wearily ‘Oh, God, not again.’
But just recently, witnesses have been filming such episodes
on their mobile phones. They then post the film on a ‘Social Medium’ such as
Facebook, where, as they say, it ‘goes viral’. (This curious and unpleasant
expression just means ‘becomes popular’, ‘is looked at by many people’: I suppose
you could say that Michael Jackson, for instance, or a royal wedding, ‘went
viral’, unless of course you prefer to speak good English.) When this happens,
not even the people who are supposed to police the police have the chutzpah to
pretend to believe the policeman’s story, and they have to actually seem to
punish him. Now, if you’re a white policeman and you shoot a black boy taking
soft drinks and crisps home to his parents, you may get your wrist slapped and
be told not to do it too often.
Only, of course, if there is evidence, such as a video
recording, that can’t be ignored: ‘Mere’ verbal evidence from a dozen
bystanders will be discounted — especially if they are black — in favour of the
policeman’s story. (That happens in England too, as I know to my cost).
It’s shocking, but we have to accept it: policemen will
misbehave, and then tell lies about it, unless the rest of us watch and record
what they are doing. Journalists — the good ones anyway — have always been
guardians of our liberties. Now we see that so, too, are mobile phones and
Facebook.
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