When President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 the news took 11 days to reach London.
The people of London read about it the President’s death in their newspapers.
When JFK was shot in 1963 a satellite link ensured that BBC centre in London knew within half an hour.
I watched the newsflash on our black and white TV.
It was in the day when a newsflash meant something momentous.
Now there is revolution in the air in Tehran.
I know this because a young person with an Iphone is breathing that Persian air and telling me what is happening thru Twitter.
This is not a blog/op Ed.
These are cyber bulletins of 140 characters.
This is a person-to-person call from the Internet age.
There is no need for a print shop, a newspaper editor or the paraphernalia of TV news.
Someone creates a “tweet” in downtown Tehran and I read via Wifi on a small laptop in a café in the West of Ireland.
IMMEDIATELY!
The printing press in 16th century Europe toppled feudalism.
It removed the church controlled supply of manuscript books.
Once Guttenberg’s press started to roll it was only a matter of time before the good common folk of Europe would be exchanging ideas in ways not approved of by the Church.
Now the new2 printing press connects two complete strangers via an Iphone in Tehran to a laptop in Ireland.
I do not need RTE news or a newspaper to tell me what is happening.
I already know.
What will this instant connectedness do to our world?
This is a technological terrible beauty.
Whether or not the democrats defeat the theocrats this time in Iran one this is certain.
We are all changed by this technology.
Changed utterly.
