Events around the world, as portrayed in the news on TV or any other communication media, seem to indicate an alarming escalation in social and economic chaos, factional strife and general unrest.
I was initially inclined to start my previous paragraph with the word “recently” but upon further deliberation I realized that it would be inappropriate to do so in light of the fact that the preceding phenomena and symptoms have been going on for a very long time. The main difference is that our immediate awareness has been considerably heightened by the diverse communication media channels that have become easily accessible to us during the past decade or two.
Talking about communication, and specifically about the tools of today versus those of yesteryear, some of you may remember some of the Old Western (previously referred to as Cowboy and Indian) movies depicting the olden tools used by Native Americans for communication, namely “Smoke and Mirrors”. These were predominantly used for sending signals of some impending danger and certainly not whimsical tidbits!
Oddly enough, our modern usage of the term “Smoke and Mirrors” has a very different connotation from that which was used by some Native American tribes! As defined in the Cambridge Dictionary: “Something that is described as Smoke and Mirrors is intended to make you believe that something is being done or is true, when it is not”!
Perhaps a live example of today’s “Smoke and Mirrors” can be gleaned anytime we read for or watch speeches delivered by some politicians!
Hani Badawi
August 4, 2016
I was initially inclined to start my previous paragraph with the word “recently” but upon further deliberation I realized that it would be inappropriate to do so in light of the fact that the preceding phenomena and symptoms have been going on for a very long time. The main difference is that our immediate awareness has been considerably heightened by the diverse communication media channels that have become easily accessible to us during the past decade or two.
Talking about communication, and specifically about the tools of today versus those of yesteryear, some of you may remember some of the Old Western (previously referred to as Cowboy and Indian) movies depicting the olden tools used by Native Americans for communication, namely “Smoke and Mirrors”. These were predominantly used for sending signals of some impending danger and certainly not whimsical tidbits!
Oddly enough, our modern usage of the term “Smoke and Mirrors” has a very different connotation from that which was used by some Native American tribes! As defined in the Cambridge Dictionary: “Something that is described as Smoke and Mirrors is intended to make you believe that something is being done or is true, when it is not”!
Perhaps a live example of today’s “Smoke and Mirrors” can be gleaned anytime we read for or watch speeches delivered by some politicians!
Hani Badawi
August 4, 2016
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