Syria-Tokyo-Cairo: The Information and the Drama As One

For some time now, we’ve been able to easily find the video or find the photos of any egregious act that also qualified as news. It seems we’re crossing a threshold, however, in which there are so many cameras, the world is so networked, the delivery is so immediate and the scene still so well composed that information and drama now form one diet.

As the primary instrument of the extra-state terror organization and the most potent adversary of an Egyptian military dictatorship, the only respite from the onslaught (as Shaimaa al-Sabbagh’s husband hugs her one last time) is a blink.

(photo 1: The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP. caption: Passers-by watch a monitor screen, showing two Japanese hostages in orange jumpsuits, whom the Islamic State identified as Kenji Goto, left, and Haruna Yukawa in Shinjyuku, Tokyo on Jan. 20, 2015. photo 2: Al Youm Al Saabi/Reuters. caption: Graphic images of Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, an Egyptian activist who was shot and killed at a peaceful rally in Cairo on Saturday, sowed outrage on social networks.)