I had an interesting conversation with my wife a little while ago that has profoundly changed the way I look at videos, the way I look at events around the world. You see, for a while I simply accepted the information being given to me, and thought simply that luckily the whole thing was recorded, but it's quite possible that my assumption was entirely wrong.
I'm sure there's a cultural element here that plays a big part in how we judge situations. In slavic cultures you don't simply assume people are acting honestly, possibly ever. If this sounds offensive, let me say in my defense that this “fact” was given to me by my wife, and it's not something I've observed up close myself, but rather something I've accepted since she's a tribe member, so to speak.
Her views on the matter have truly sunk in my mind over the years, and the cynic in my me keeps on getting stronger and stronger. Hence why I decided to write down some of my thoughts on this very matter.
Why do we always forget about the cameraman?
And I have to say that most of us do. We tend to take for granted the “existence” of something or something filming the event, just for us. Lucky us! We got to see how the tiny puppy got rescued from a cardboard box left on the side of the road.
Wait a minute….
What if… what if the person making these videos, these viral videos that make them tons of money at that… What if they took a dog at random, got it all dirty and scared, and did the hole “rescue” thing to get views, to get money.
You see, if you being to think about the existence of an agent, of a cameraman, of someone who just happened to film it, because apparently they film themselves 24 hours a day, you might be committing the unforgivable crime of naivete.
Do you film yourself all the time?
I guess it's more than fine if you do, but If I was a betting man I would wager that out of the crazy things that have happened to you this year, as I'm sure they have, you've filmed none of them. Did not have the chance to, did not cross your mind even. Your brain was engaged in dealing with the situation, in overcoming the problem, or getting yourself out of danger.
Is the conundrum now crystal clear? It seems to me that part of the game, part of the scam, if you will, is that we have gotten so desensitized to the idea of things being on video, that we never question how these videos always seem to happen, conveniently happen.
Food for thought as they say…
Well, I guess there's a whole generation of "YouTube Paparazzi" out there, always with their phone at the ready, because everything has become a photo op. Ever see a car accident unfold, live? Rather than rushing to help, there's a dozen teens and 20-somethings standing there filming the carnage, because it might get them views.
I'm sure there is some fake and staged stuff out there too, particularly from certain parts of the world.
Fake videos have been around for years. I'm sure some of those on the home movie TV shows were staged, e.g. someone opens a door that knocks the ladder over. They could get paid a little for that, but there is bigger money to made online these days. There may be potential to use apps to generate video these days.
Of course a lot of events are captured these days just because everyone has a phone with them or there will be a security camera. There may be more photos taken in a year now than in the whole of the last century. We live in crazy times.