Playing the game of "what if" history is not typically something I am fond of doing. For the technological aspect of the assignment, I do find it to be compelling. The event I have elected for my "imagine" essay is the Holocaust of World War II.
Imagine yourself as an oppressed Jew in 1940s Germany. Times are tough, rations and morale are low, and to make matters worse the German stormtroopers are practically breathing down your neck. You're a father or a mother and trying your hardest to keep your family together and avoid being discovered by the Nazis and taken to a concentration camp. You think to yourself, how could anyone in the world possibly let this happen? How can thousands upon thousands of individuals continually perish wrongfully at the hands of the Nazi regime?
Or imagine yourself in another role. You're a young man or woman serving in the Nazi military. All you wanted was a better life for you and your loved ones. Yet now it seems you have discovered the inhumanity behind the Nazi agenda. How can you live with yourself? Things have gotten out of hand, and an attempted extermination of an entire race of people is appalling and flabbergasting. Even if you told someone outside of the country, or ever outside of the government about the atrocities, who would believe it?
I believe if the media implications of today existed the Holocaust would have been an entirely different situation. A Jew seeking to contact old friends and rally an alliance of people could have used Facebook. Letter writing was the only written form of communication, but with a more efficient system making contact would be so much easier. Those persecuted could have warned each other via Facebook and even texts of incoming Nazi raids on a city and avoid abduction. Silent text messages could be sent by those giving refuge to Jews when to move or stay, how to carry on in the household. People wouldn't have to physically speak, so the risk of being discovered would be marginalized.
Another aspect would be for that morally conflicted Nazi soldier. How could I possibly go about getting help? How can a I alert help and get people enlightened about this horrible blight on human history? The soldier could in fact create a web site, complete with a community Ning or blog. He/she could make it as private as possible, and even keep their identity anonymous. Of course, words would simply not be enough to believe such a horror could be occurring. Even today with the documented evidence some people refuse to believe it. For all those Nay-Sayers, the art of the upload comes into play. The weary soldier could upload photos and video to enlighten people. The truth could actually be known. The soldier could have easily contacted outside countries and people for help. The world could have known so much more, and could have prevented thousands of people from dying. Reality would emerge, and people would've known what was really going on in Nazi Germany.
Question: How could the hypothetical media implications have hindered the Nazi movement?
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I agree with you that people could have communicated better and could have warned each other about the Nazi regime. However, if the common man had access to all of these great technologies, do you think the Nazi's would use them as well to trick the citizens or even take control of the entire internet and ban it?
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see how the Nazis, being so masterful at propoganda, would have handled the situation. I feel like instead of shutting down the site, like China, Nazis would have just opened up ten websites for every one created against them, and would have used the internet more effectively than the common person to sway public opinion and prolly get more people to join their cause.
ReplyDeleteI think it's true that being the propaganda geniuses that they were, Nazis would have definitely used social media for their own use. However, since there are new sites popping up all the time, the resistance could have easily used it to further their own movement as well by planting false information or using codes to easily give information to fellow resistance members.
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