Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Facebook killing shows the de-evolution of our species
While the world twirls out of orbit about the livestreamed Facebook killing of 74-year-old Robert Godwin, upset will last until our attention moves toward the next bizarre incident. Gil Scott Heron may have miscalculated with his “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” assertion as television, iPhones and videos saturate our daily lives. Our existence gains validation by Facebook friends counts or Twitter followers.
Oooh. Someone just retweeted my tweet.
We chat and Instagram until our gray matter reaches the consistency of ambrosia before delivering blood curdling shouts about the decline of humanity.
Offered myself personal humanity credits for not viewing the shooting death of Godwin.
Had the screen up on an office computer with an index finger in close proximity to open Pandora’s Box followed by the slippery slope slide down into the rabbit’s hole of inquisitive evil.
Never pulled the trigger although in July, 2014, God recorded my personal entry into what amounted to video death porn.
One of the most disturbing videotaped snuff films involved New York City police officers’ contributing to the death of Eric Garner.
The Staten Island confrontation ended with Garner expired, terminated after NYPD Ofc. Daniel Pantaleo placed the 43-year-old black man in a chokehold.
The New York City’s Medical Examiner’s Office attributed Garner’s death to a combination of a chokehold, compression of his chest, and poor health.
One Garner video lasted 14 minutes and my eyes watched every second as a squad of New York City police officers confronted Garner about selling loose cigarettes.
Garner voiced “I can’t breathe” 11 times before police eventually rolled him onto his side. He stayed in that position for seven minutes as police officers and EMTs did not perform CPR.
New York City reached a $5.9 million settlement with Garner’s family. Of course, the payout did not mean an admission of guilt or wrongdoing by police.
Steve Stephens, who allegedly killed Godwin on Easter before taking his own life on Tuesday, gained infamy with a recorded introduction.
“Here’s somebody I’m about to kill. I’m about to kill this guy right here. An old dude,” he reportedly said.
Thousands watched as family members and others pleaded with people to not watch or share the video killing.
“Please please please stop retweeting that video and report anyone who has posted it! That is my grandfather show some respect,” Ryan Godwin wrote on Twitter Sunday afternoon.
St. Jude, the Roman Catholic Church patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, overloaded with prayers.
Videos released into the Wide World of Facebook, Twitter and other social media fields enjoy a life of their own.
We recoil about human deterioration and spiritual death but the showing of Godwin’s death mirrors our interest and constant viewing of President John F. Kennedy’s brain matter being splattered onto Dallas’ Dealey Plaza.
My generation tethered nightly newscasts hosted by Walter Cronkite delivering the dirty lowdown on Vietnam as helicopters whirred and dead U.S. soldiers arrived home in dark, body bags.
Our parents warned about being attached to the “green-eyed-monster” television which served as an indoctrination to watching death and destruction.
They never imagined billions of people holding miniature television sets with more capabilities than one hundred Swiss Army knives.
Did you watch the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, those white plumes of smoke and gas pressed against a blue backdrop of sky? Numerous times.
How many times have your eyes viewed the New York City skyline losing its Twin Towers after terrorists guided planes into those structures?
The Facebook Live post of murder serves as the downward evolution of Homo sapiens, an inevitable enjoyment of death.
We have been programmed for this moment and the next technological event that erodes humanity.
A real understanding of humankind destruction should include the dying words of Eric Garner.
“I can’t breathe.”