We
live in a world of phenomenon
Tragedies
happen every day
But
we pick the ones to care about
Or
rather
“They”
do
They
glom onto an event and show it on the news for 24 hours a day
They
interview friends
And
family
And
use technology to reenact
And
dissect every possible cause of this tragedy
They
show you a pretty woman with impeccable hair
And
a voice dripping with false concern
They
drown you
They
consume you
They
play the same footage over
And
over
Until
finally you feel like an asshole for mentally begging to stop hearing about
Columbine
About
the Dark Knight Shooting
About
Sandy Hook
About
Haiti
About
the Boston marathon
About
the Malaysia flight
They
exploit our short attention spans, our compulsive need to feel guilty and sad
for things that truly have no bearing on our lives
And
we fall for it
Every
Time
------------------------
So
what can we do?
We
can’t change the world
But
we can use it to our advantage
We
can make the Holocaust our next tragedy of the minute
The
trendy event to care about
But
why now?
What
sense of urgency can we convey about an event that ended 70 years ago?
--------------------------------
Survivors
are dying
If
we want to follow “their” tried and true phenomenon method, we need the
interviews
The
people
The
personal connection
We
need it now
We
need to become “them”
----------------------------------
So
do it
Call
your grandparents
They’d
be glad to hear from you anyway
Call
your friends
Call
anyone who might be holding on to a fact
A
story
A
life
And
release it
Post
it anywhere
Post
it on Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Blogs
Anywhere
This
is our last chance to bridge the gap between history and phenomenon
Between
truth and media
Between
then and now
At
least for the Holocaust
The
Book Thief just grossed over 70 million dollars at the box office
One
million dollars for every year since the Holocaust ended
The
Book Thief is a movie
Based
on a book
Loosely
rooted in historical fiction
Imagine
what we could do with the truth?
With
old and young coming together in truth?
There
are millions of stories out there
Hovering
just at the edge
Waiting
for a call like this
We
just have to make people want to find them
To
read them
To
share them
---------------------------
Make
the Holocaust the trendy cause
Make
the Holocaust relevant again
Make
the Holocaust part of the now
Share
your stories
----------------------------
Holocaust
means fire
Fire
because towns were burned
Fire
because lives were burned
Fire
because worlds were burned
But
now
We
can start our own fire
Light
the fire
Light
the Holocaust
Light
the phenomenon
I am still struggling with how to turn this into a video, but I am working on it.
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