Studies on globalisms
Saturday, 21. July 2007, 00:24:51
It no doubt give away my age that I was a big fan of the old series "The Prisoner", which evolved from the earlier Danger Man, Secret Agent with Patrick McGoohan. It was a surreal re-education camp for spies who knew too much but were too good to be merely snuffed out. Large globes would keep strong minded individuals from wandering away and without ability to communicate with the world. That's how I started on this series of images, as an homage - tongue in cheek - to "The Prisonert;, via some big brother discussions of late.
It no doubt give away my age that I was a big fan of the old series "The Prisoner", which evolved from the earlier Danger Man, Secret Agent with Patrick McGoohan. It was a surreal re-education camp for spies who knew too much but were too good to be merely snuffed out. Large globes would keep strong minded individuals from wandering away and without ability to communicate with the world. That's how I started on this series of images, as an homage - tongue in cheek - to "The Prisonert;, via some big brother discussions of late.
Notably the matter of Flickr's complicity in having a Chines blogger arrested in China for showing an image marked as restricted - in error, apparently. I have cut and pasted a few excerpts here and the rest can be found here: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/178695/20016054 "Legally, Flickr is off the hook because in the Terms of Service users agree to allow Flickr staff to remove or block their content in accordance with the law as well as community guidelines, etc etc etc all contingencies covered. I also don't think, when more facts become clear, that it will be possible to blame Flickr for having directly caused whatever happens to Oiwan. However, this whole mess makes me wonder. Even if we assume political content is not being censored (Can we if certain political speech is illegal in some places?) and assuming that we are only talking about censorship of erotic/"adult" content, is it possible for a global internet company like Flickr (or Google) to censor different content for different national jurisdictions without creating major blowback? The first kind of blowback is a significant decrease in trust by at least a segment of Flickr users - how big a segment depends on how well Flickr communicates with their user community. So far they don't seem to be doing that so well. The second kind of blowback is more serious: Are censorship decisions about made by Flickr staff (or staff of any other global user content hosting company) going to be used by governments as an excuse to prosecute certain cases? Without meaning to, will the company's internal content filtering decisions - which appear in this particular case to err on the side of caution in an attempt to comply with local law - inadvertently also help to shape the interpretation of local laws by local authorities in a more restrictive and conservative direction? Is there any way to avoid this kind of blowback once you get into the game of local censoring? Or it just inevitable?" My earlier post relating to this case: Word Pressed -- Textiled
What can you expect, I was born below sea level, every day was a prospective "Waterworld". It is good to be back at sea level living again, though I miss the North Sea. This image is the colour of the jelly fish that littered the beaches near Scheveningen when I was a child, the were like jewels. I found out, to my horror that even beautiful creatures like the jellyfish will bite. By now I was fully into my project of minimalism and globes. It had taken me to the beaches of my youth, and with each memory, another edit.
Not all days on the North Sea, as with any sea, are smooth as glass and sunny. I remember when villages were waiting for the fishing boats to return. women pacing back and forth. All of us cold and wrapped up in heavy knitted scarves. Our recycles breath used to warm out faces. My mother's friend was one of these women and my mother had come to stay with her during the wait. It was not quite dark when the first of the herring boats turned up, then one by one they came, and the communal joy was palpable. Now all those years later the fish have gone down drastically in numbers and fewer families are supported by men going out to fish. Which is a shame because for many it is in their blood to do so. I can only hope that the world will do enough to one day have the boats go out and make a living without entire species being wiped off the planet. Less corporate fishing, no more mega trawlers? Would that be the answer? I became bubble softly cast over the north see to briefly visit there again if only through meditation.
One of the last times I saw the North Sea was on my way to work in Dutch Flanders, Breskens via the ferry in Vlissingen. It was nearly dark and the sea was rough, but it could not be rough enough to stop me eating my pea soup. The absolute best pea soup I've ever had, better than my own, sausage, bacon. Well this is my last edit on this subject, I am now too hungry, something hearty, maybe not pea soup, but something to make me stop drooling on my keyboard.
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