memory as a weapon

I have been investigating the idea of memory as a weapon for awhile now, beginning in 2002 with a trip to South Africa, listening to a gallery director speak about what would happen to the monuments of the white Afrikaner, and what new monuments of the struggle against apartheid would look like.

HLIB's post regarding the trend toward mass photography relates to this for me, and is also something in which i take great interest (i am able to call myself a professional photographer... but i usually don't).

It is truly fascinating what a guerilla weapon the camera has become around the world thanks to digital technology. We take aim at the elite, at the structures we oppose, at leaders, celebrities, the media, the police... anyone who poses a threat to our space, our history and our security.

And why arm yourself with a gun when a camera can do so much more damage? Murder creates a martyr while a camera can dissolve an enemy and their legacy. From political figures to that bitch in 2nd period who thinks she's all hot because she's got big boobs and all the boys look at her.

So what is memory if it is a weapon? Do we use it to conquer or control history? Or is memory our only real way of rebelling against our own mortality? Are digital cameras just the new weapon of choice in the War on Time?

Beyond the use of memory to battle our own legacy and mortality, is the need to fight against our own insignifigance. Digital photos, myspace, blogging, garage band, iMovie, etc... where we might feel even a glimmer of what it is like to hold some importance in the world. (even if we buy it and never use it...) Where once the Star Bellied Sneetches used to be the one's with the cameras... now we all have stars on our bellies.

The drawbacks are many. Sure, with more cameras in the world, we will be able to capture more of the important events. And with more ways to share and endless space in which to share (the internet), we can flood it all out there. But while we always talk of how vast and endless the space of the internet, we seem to forget that it is bound by time... our time. We don't have the time to cover all of this new feed of "information" (not that it is informative). And for those of us who spend enough time on the computer, if you use all your time covering the vast universe of the internet to gather up all it has to offer... you have no time to do anything with it.

What this means folks, is that we are headed for an "information" recession. Our attention span is working its way back down to zero. Why? Because if every big story is the big story, then there are no big stories. If every photo is the big photo, there are no photos. And this is the time we live in. (A time when a politician can get away with saying Iraq is actually peaceful, but we only see the violence.... If every day of war is peace, then there is no peace.) No tradgedy, no shocking events, no breaking news, no news at all... nothing to mark the day.

Like the star on the belly... the transformative power of that camera is only in our heads. MySpace does not make you famous. Only 30 people will ever read this post. Only 5% of our photos are worth looking at again... (even less when we aren't the ones looking.)

And photos don't bring us any closer to truth. Not even if you're really really good at photoshop.

I'm predicting two possible outcomes after the crash:

In the first, we all turn off our computers and our cable news networks and walk outside, sans camera and ipod and cell phone (yes with camera and ipod inside, you cheaters), with our families, and we smile silently while we watch our children laugh and we listen to sounds we haven't heard for a long time.

In the second, and sorry, but most likely... we find away to take away the middle man. Realizing that the vastness of the internet is still small enough to fit in our minds, we make ourselves download capable (a combination of cell infused computer chips and the Matrix)... Everything is now on file and accessible and can move as fast as the mind (giving us the Time we were lacking before). Now it all comes to us wi-fi on demand. The news, images of your family, images of nature, the sounds of birds, and your children's laughter, all of your dreams and memories... all "information"... right there in your head.

No no no!!!... that's where you draw the line, right? right?

Well then... why not draw it right now?