Also in Germany things like that go on and on ... people going mad out of fear. And if you think that more madness isn't possible anymore, you will be surprised again and again ...
Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
But everybody is simply playing his part, and in the long run I'm trusting existence/cosmic intelligence/The Great Spirit (however you may call it), mirrored in creative forces, creating always a new balance on a higher level of synergy. With or without mankind.
Last Friday evening, while shopping in Beirut, I wanted to take a photo of a newsstand on the street. For the weekly talk show of world journalists, "Kiosque", on the french network TV5, which every week shows a newsstand photo from somewhere in the world. I'm not going to say I got into trouble. But people's reactions made me feel like I was uneasily granted exceptional permission and trust to do something which is usually associated with terrorist assassination plots. In Lebanon we didn't have 9/11, we had Feb 17th (2005), the Hariri crime. And several others that followed. But I'm ready to bet none of these car bombings or drive-by shootings involved planning through photos taken openly and in broad dayl... streetlight! Nothing would've been easier than taking that photo without anybody noticing me. But because I didn't even try to hide or anything, I was viewed as a potential suspect. A guy buying a paper at that moment said he didn't want to be photographed because he's a military. I assured him I never publish any photos of people's visible faces without receiving their consent. Even the salesman... well, in the end I was allowed to snap the newsstand with nobody in it. (Thank my baby face.) Let nobody say the Lebanese aren't helpful, three people moved out of the way to oblige me. Turns out the empty kiosk was the best of the three photos I had taken, and the one I'll send to that TV program. That was close, but all's well that ends well. :-p
I'll soon be blogging this story with the photo I took. Whew, what an adventure! Next week, I'm going skinny-dipping. Yes, in Lebanon! More specifically, in my bathtub. Yes, I really love living dangerously.
Note to visitors of my blog : The filenames of the images often carry a message too, and for most of them, if you place your cursor over them, an added secret comment appears. I quite like the one for that paranoid newsstand...
Not sure if you saw the TV story about the 'trainspotter' hustled away from taking a train photo (very boring diesel unit IMHO) on Macclesfield station by an (officious?) Virgin Trains staff member a week or so ago. Apparently, she said he "could have asked permission" so he then did so - and it was refused....... Happy days (or daze, perhaps?!)
Funny enough, the British rail authorities are very clear about it being *permitted* to photograph trains and stations these days, but the staff don't know it!
Next time, just tell the jerks something in the lines of "If you want to keep your job, you'll leave me alone." For, if they give the company a bad rep precisely by going against the management's directives, they're quite likely to get fired! It's not a threat, it's an intrinsic fact. Especially if the matter gets publicised. Sometimes it pays to be a jerk.
I think I'm feeling in a rather bellicist mood today. But smothering my liberties always rubs me the wrong way. (Hint: the right way uses massage oil and feminine hands from Thailand. Mmmh... ooh yeah, that's the spot!)
Also in Germany things like that go on and on ... people going mad out of fear. And if you think that more madness isn't possible anymore, you will be surprised again and again ...
ReplyDeleteThose that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
But everybody is simply playing his part, and in the long run I'm trusting existence/cosmic intelligence/The Great Spirit (however you may call it), mirrored in creative forces, creating always a new balance on a higher level of synergy. With or without mankind.
Last Friday evening, while shopping in Beirut, I wanted to take a photo of a newsstand on the street. For the weekly talk show of world journalists, "Kiosque", on the french network TV5, which every week shows a newsstand photo from somewhere in the world.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to say I got into trouble. But people's reactions made me feel like I was uneasily granted exceptional permission and trust to do something which is usually associated with terrorist assassination plots.
In Lebanon we didn't have 9/11, we had Feb 17th (2005), the Hariri crime. And several others that followed.
But I'm ready to bet none of these car bombings or drive-by shootings involved planning through photos taken openly and in broad dayl... streetlight!
Nothing would've been easier than taking that photo without anybody noticing me. But because I didn't even try to hide or anything, I was viewed as a potential suspect.
A guy buying a paper at that moment said he didn't want to be photographed because he's a military. I assured him I never publish any photos of people's visible faces without receiving their consent.
Even the salesman... well, in the end I was allowed to snap the newsstand with nobody in it. (Thank my baby face.) Let nobody say the Lebanese aren't helpful, three people moved out of the way to oblige me. Turns out the empty kiosk was the best of the three photos I had taken, and the one I'll send to that TV program.
That was close, but all's well that ends well. :-p
I'll soon be blogging this story with the photo I took. Whew, what an adventure!
Next week, I'm going skinny-dipping. Yes, in Lebanon! More specifically, in my bathtub. Yes, I really love living dangerously.
Done :
ReplyDeleteFatalography : mortal kombat???
I've expanded the text, and there's of course the photo.
Note to visitors of my blog :
The filenames of the images often carry a message too, and for most of them, if you place your cursor over them, an added secret comment appears.
I quite like the one for that paranoid newsstand...
Not sure if you saw the TV story about the 'trainspotter' hustled away from taking a train photo (very boring diesel unit IMHO) on Macclesfield station by an (officious?) Virgin Trains staff member a week or so ago.
ReplyDeleteApparently, she said he "could have asked permission" so he then did so - and it was refused.......
Happy days (or daze, perhaps?!)
Funny enough, the British rail authorities are very clear about it being *permitted* to photograph trains and stations these days, but the staff don't know it!
ReplyDeleteHmm... Same here. I don't know about that staff.
ReplyDeleteNext time, just tell the jerks something in the lines of "If you want to keep your job, you'll leave me alone."
For, if they give the company a bad rep precisely by going against the management's directives, they're quite likely to get fired! It's not a threat, it's an intrinsic fact. Especially if the matter gets publicised.
Sometimes it pays to be a jerk.
I think I'm feeling in a rather bellicist mood today. But smothering my liberties always rubs me the wrong way. (Hint: the right way uses massage oil and feminine hands from Thailand. Mmmh... ooh yeah, that's the spot!)
My verif : "contria"
Country of contrition?
I saw a video of one of those tiny Thai girls use a lot of oil and her whole body to do a massage. Mmmm.
ReplyDeleteOn second thought, maybe the hands can be optional!
ReplyDelete