Turns out the camera is a very effective anti-fascism tool

[Andrew - EOSHD]

Unusually, Petapixel and DPReview have found a backbone and posted some interesting stuff in relation to the Minneapolis protests.

https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/6336791578/john-abernathy-pierre-lavie-protest-photographers-ice-minneapolis-thrown-leica

Imagine for a moment if smartphones and this Leica didn't exist.

All we'd have to go on is the lies coming out of the federal government and they'd easily be able to smear the dead and do the big cover-up operation they're attempting to do now.

But the images all around social media tell a different narrative.

And I for one commend the bravery of the folk on the streets with their cameras.

The truth is constantly being debased and it really took the biscuit last week with Trump's denial of British and NATO troops service in the Gulf War, Iraq War and Afghanistan. They were on the front lines and gave their lives for it.

To anyone still thinking of voting Reform in the UK, or for those who voted for Trump at any point, surely your eyes are not still CLOSED after what you are seeing in recent weeks? If yours are, I'd be fascinated to know why.

[fuzzynormal]

I wish video documentation would stop it.  But if you're here you'd kind of know it's not gonna stem the tide in my nation.  Shame and reality are irrelevant now; doesn't move the needle.  As an American it's pretty easy to see that the collapse of our ideals post WWII society is inevitable.  The capitalists want it and they have the power, they control the narratives.  And the narratives don't offer rationality--they just offer ideological excuses.   Not exactly sure why the powerful want this.  Maybe they're just cruel people?  Maybe they know climate change is coming and will cause crisis so they need to lock things down with fascism to have societal control while covering their asses(ts)?  I don't know.  I do know I'm sad.  I would've rather not lived through this.

[Andrew - EOSHD]

1 minute ago, fuzzynormal said:

I wish video documentation would stop it.

I'm more optimistic than you on this front.

[fuzzynormal]

2 minutes ago, Andrew - EOSHD said:

I'm more optimistic than you on this front.

I want to be wrong...but my own family...man.  It's not good.

[Snowfun]

And, unfortunately, it is becoming too easy to blame AI for the creation of material we don't like. 

[Ilkka Nissila]

9 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

I wish video documentation would stop it.  But if you're here you'd kind of know it's not gonna stem the tide in my nation.  Shame and reality are irrelevant now; doesn't move the needle.  As an American it's pretty easy to see that the collapse of our ideals post WWII society is inevitable.  The capitalists want it and they have the power, they control the narratives.  And the narratives don't offer rationality--they just offer ideological excuses.   Not exactly sure why the powerful want this.  Maybe they're just cruel people?  Maybe they know climate change is coming and will cause crisis so they need to lock things down with fascism to have societal control while covering their asses(ts)?  I don't know.  I do know I'm sad.  I would've rather not lived through this.

Fueling hatred and chaos allows ordinary people's attention to be redirected from the fact that ever larger part of the money goes to the super-rich, and by having the working class and regular people fight with each other they cannot organize and demand fair wages and working conditions, and solutions to regular people's problems. The billionaires just want all the money to themselves and they want to bypass democracy using technological means. And now they have an autocrat who does their bidding. Yes, they are cruel people. They behave like they wanted to use up all the planet's resources before all things end (which they will not see in this current generation of billionaires, but their children or grandchildren might). 

 

However, only a part of the population believes the lies. Better education accessible to everyone is the solution. In Europe, education is a lot more egalitarian.

[Andrew - EOSHD]

Look at the difference between societies with widespread smartphone camera use and functional internet, compared to somewhere like Iran where over the last few weeks 12,000 citizens, women, young men, murdered by the regime but hardly any images or footage coming out = world ignorance. I barely saw any news coverage at all.

If the only purpose of the camera is to create shock and outrage, that's one thing. More useful, is it keeps a watchful eye on what the authorities get up to and when they lie it's harder for them to pass off their bullshit.

Also the Leica M10 is a documentary camera that just so happens to also create stylish art, rather than the hyper clear smartphone look, so the stuff that produces is fit for the history books - which cherry pick the most iconic images.

Of course number one objective must be to stay safe but if you have a chance to open your eyes and look around in these historic times, never pass it up.