Another day of history flashing before our eyes. Not the first time though.
Aaron Bushnell, US air force servicemen, self-immolated infront of the israeli embassy. Its been occupying most of my mind, and i dont know how to live my days coexisting in a world with people supporting genocides and aggressively active colonialism. It also isnt the first act of self immolation we have seen during this genocide.
In Atlanta, the day after the ceasefire, Dec 1st 2023, a person self immolated in front of the israeli embassy over there. But to no media coverage. A few articles, but nothing as impactful. We don’t know their name, their status, or anything about them. But they’ve been effectively ignored by history.
Its scary knowing that history is curated. While all of history is recorded in its own ways, and there are regional differences between the same histories, there are always prevailing understandings of what happened. Usually this is dictated by mass media, and now social media also has a hand in this. We see history being changed before our eyes.
The internet is no longer the permanent place we thought it was. Ideas that the internet is a place to share facts have been so distorted within the past few years, and it is hard to pick out what is the truth. But its not just the people on top crafting new realities - its anyone with a budget.
The idea that “the victors write history” just isn’t real. Its that the rich write history. If the victors wrote history, why isn’t history dictated by Vietnam? Afghanistan? Haiti? Algeria? Burkina Faso? Or any country that survived its western intervention? It isn’t the winners who can write history, but those who can afford mass publications and access to media.
The internet was almost a place to subvert that, where we could see honest tellings of the world from people sharing their own experiences. But with the manufacturing of reality, its ward to humanize the internet again.
I wanted to talk about how the blockchain (jumpscare) could subvert this. Every interaction with it is recorded on a public ledger, meaning everyone will know when it is edited. We can see where history is rewritten, and see how it is overwritten. It could be used as a form of accountability, where a group or person’s track record is laid out in front of them, and we could see how their ideas changed and shift under public scrutiny and the portrayals of reality.
Its an idea I am fleshing out, but i think the fluctiating revision of history is something that can be stopped by the permanence of the blockchain. The ability to see all edits, and the ability for public scrutiny again. its a thought I have been playing with, but this could be a tool utilized for accountability.
hmmm ok musingsss
ofc,
Faraz
PS i dont even know anymore yall im j stuck between projects and forgot to write this email between all the shit im doing - the rocky road gets rockier so gimme a sec to recalibrate and ill be good
psp i went home over the weekend and caught hella shiny pkmn on pkmn go lmao eat it nerds
uhhhh this is all i can muster of an email rn. lemme skidaddle rn