Message in a modem
I recently received a message in my inbox that had been forwarded by an artist, who had received it from an anesthesiologist of the National First Aid Center (EKAB), who had received it from someone else, etc. The title was obscure. It was something like «Important! Hit an…» My first reaction was to delete it, but I opened it, mechanically. The message had gone through many channels before reaching me. It was a short, dramatic, text. In the early hours of November 17, on the corner of Petrou Ralli and Aghias Annis streets, a red Citroen struck and killed a young man before speeding off. The victim’s brother, just 28 hours later, tossed this «message in a modem» onto the World Wide Web, hoping to find the unscrupulous criminal. The message traveled at lightning speed, from forum to forum, blog to blog and mail to mail, and found its way into the media just two days later. It now looks as though that coward, who abandoned his victim at the scene of the crime, has nowhere to hide. This comes just months after a blog posted by cancer sufferer Amalia, who sensitized the public to the callousness of certain doctors. A few months later, blogs and SMS messages were carrying «silent» messages of protest in the wake of the deadly forest fires that swept the country. The World Wide Web boasts of the social networks that have been created within it, its dynamic as a social medium. Despite dark predictions and stale lamentations about complete alienation, it appears that a society really does exist on the Internet. This is a society of people. People who care, comfort each other in their pain, share moral values, display respect for the dead, stand in solidarity beside their unknown neighbor in need and do their best for others. They stand together, in a society. Even if it takes a red Citroen, an Amalia or a fire to awaken them.
