In a society where it is commonplace to medicate your kids because apparently everyone has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, it's no wonder that Twitter and texting have come to the fore as forms of communication.
When weighty affairs of state are broadcast to us, talking heads on news networks are now offering us tweets instead of statesmanship. Tweets! Let's deal with terrorism with tweets, 140 characters at a time!
It got me thinking of how different this is from our past. Can you imagine Winston Churchill, with an impending aerial attack from Nazi Germany and expected invasion, tweeting about it? His 30-minute long, June 18, 1940 speech to the House of Commons now known as "Their Finest Hour" ran 4,370 words. Put in perspective, a typical newspaper column is around 600 words.
Let's move Churchill up to the 21st century and see what the final paragraph of "Their Finest Hour," would sound like - tweeted. I'll spare us too much of the Twitter shorthand.
"@Hitler @Brits What General #Weygand called the Battle of #France is over. #loser
"I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. #ihopewedontgetourasseskicked
"Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. #pray #praylots
"Upon it depends our own @British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our @Empire. #usedtoruletheworld
"The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. #badass #duck
"@Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. #rulisteningFDR
"If we can stand up to him, all #Europe may be free and the life of the @world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. #yeahright
"But if we #fail, then the whole world, including the @UnitedStates, including all that we have known and cared for, #ranoutofcharacters
"will sink into the #abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. #abysssucks
"Let @us therefore brace ourselves to our duties #work, and so bear ourselves that, if the @BritishEmpire and its Commonwealth @Canucks @Aussies @Kiwis
"last for a thousand years #longtime, @men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.' #lockNload"
Just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?
How about Honest Abe Lincoln? Here's the last line of the Gettysburg address:
"@rednecks @KKK @yankees It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the gr8 task remaining before us- #hardwork #getoffbutt
"that from these @honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of #devotion- #dyingSUX
"that we here #gettysburg highly resolve that these @dead shall not have died in #vain #ursovain -that this nation #US, under @God, shall have a new birth of #freedom
"-and that #government of the @people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. @peeps #represent"
We can't forget John F. Kennedy:
"@lazyasses My fellow @Americans, ask not what ur country #USA can do for U, ask what U can do for ur country. #ldsp #selfsacrifice."
Let's try Ronald Reagan at the Brandenberg Gate, the focal point of the Berlin Wall, in a speech that led to the end of the Cold War.
"Mr. @Gorbachev, tear down this #wall @russkies @commies #coldwar #gotmynukeswarmedup"
Then there's the Mulroney-Turner debate of 1984, with challenger Brian Mulroney tearing into Prime Minister John Turner:
"@weasleLib You had an #option, sir #patronage #chicken #gonnakickurbutt"
And just how far would Pierre Elliot Trudeau go to combat terrorism? Here's a twitter exchange between CBC reporter Tim Ralfe and Trudeau on the steps of the House of Commons during the height of the FLQ crisis:
"@TimRalfeCBC Yes, well there are a lot of #bleedinghearts around who just don't like to see people with #helmets and #guns. #arrestthiscommie
"All I can say is, go on and #bleed, #diepinkodie but it is more important to keep #law_and_order #kerchunk #gonnalockuup
"in this society than to be worried about #weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of a @soldier's helmet. #pussies @CanadianForces
@pmTrudeau At any cost? How far would you @mpTrudeau go with that? How far would you extend that? #tyrant #dictator
"@TimRalfeCBC Well,just watch me @pmTrudeau. @canucks #opencanowhuppass http://youtu.be/-7_a2wa2dd4?t=5m44s
Scratch all that I've said above. It's painfully clear with Twitter and texting we are moving ahead in advancing human communication. R U listening, @JustinTrudeau? So says @BrianZinchuk.
- Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at [email protected].
