Part 1.
Clicker,
mouse, pointer, tracker, the unassuming little arrow you see on your
screen is the vehicle in which we journey through the digital realm.
It responds to our every command, at our mercy, fulfilling the tasks
that it is given. Its streamlined angular shape smoothly glides
across the tabs and interfaces fluidly transitioning between the
surfaces. The control bar icons stand to attention as it passes by,
enlarging themselves to tempt the user to click, inviting them in. As
we press the button on our mousepad it flicks between the programmes,
the fans begin to whir as the software boots up and our screen is a
flurry of activity. The programme windows extrude and contort all
over the screen as the, the cursor remains the constant within the
madness, panoptic, an onlooker in the process. As we switch between
programmes, be that a game or a Word document, the cursor
shape-shifts to suit our needs, transmuting into an I-beam, a
crosshair or the dreaded spinning pizza of death. It is constantly
communicating back to us, it lets us know through its form the action
that can be undertaken, like a soldier reporting in, waiting for
orders, waiting for our next move. By extension it acts as our
digital hand, grabbing and dragging, clicking, pulling and pushing
information across the display. Its use is monitored, every movement,
every destination, every IP address we visit, like our fingerprints,
the cursor leaves a mark through cookies and data an invisible trail
that can be held accountable, transcending the boundary into the
physical.
Part 2.
In
Edinburgh, at the intersection where The Royal Mile meets George IV
Bridge there exists an ornate brass plaque, I used to walk past this
daily on the way to my bar job, never taking much notice, as a
resident of Edinburgh you don’t often stop to take in the tourist
attractions and titbits that are found in so many places around the
city. I would always see it out of the corner of my eye but was
always in a rush, on the phone, avoiding the sea of tourists that
would inevitably ask me where the castle was or I was too busy
listening to some tripe on my Ipod. For some reason, on one dreary
day in 2014 when the royal mile was relatively quiet, running early
for work I stopped and finally read the plaque. It reads:
'The
site of the gallows is marked by three brass plates set at the edge
of the pavement in front of this notice. George Bryce, the Ratho
Murderer, was executed here on the 21st
of June 1864, the last public execution in Edinburgh'
By all
accounts Bryce was simple man with a rather unexciting life, like
with most murders, his was one of lust and anger, the victim would be
Jane Seton was a friend of Bryce's lover Isabelle. Being a son of an
innkeeper it became apparent to the two women that Bryce had a
difficult relationship with alcohol, Jane would discourage the girl
from pursuing the relationship on account of his aggression and
drunkenness, finally Isabelle took heed and broke it off with Bryce.
On receiving the information that Jane had caused the break, he broke
into the nursery she was working in late at night and attacked her,
during the fracas she broke free and escaped, running up the road
with Bryce close in pursuit. Eventually he caught up with her, at one
of the nearby cottages just down the lane, he proceeded to pin her
against the door then slitting her throat with a razor.
Though his
crime was barbaric, by todays standards it is not entirely shocking,
what is shocking however is the way in which he died. News spread
fast throughout the city as Bryce was put on trial, he pled guilty
and because of numerous eyewitness accounts and the wealth of
evidence he was sentenced to hang. Though death was still a
punishment for 200 crimes in Scotland at this time, for it to be
public was getting less frequent. Because of the rarity of the
spectacle and the exposure the case had gained, thousands of people
turned up to see Bryce hang.
It is
usual practice in a hanging, that a trapdoor would open within the
platform, the person would then fall through with the noose tied to
the scaffold above them. This method would break the persons neck
causing a relatively quick death, what was also the case at this time
was that the bottom of the platform would be shrouded in black cloth
to inhibit the view of the audience. For whatever reason, on this
day, the executioner Thomas Askern of York, had got this simple
practice completely wrong and the execution turned out to be a
disaster.
With the
crowds waiting with bated breath, Bryce finally took the last drop,
however, Askern had forgotten to give the rope enough slack, leaving
only two feet of rope for Bryce to hang from, more horrifically
instead of dropping out of site, he would hang in full view of the
crowd, his neck did not break, instead, he hung there slowly dying
through asphyxiation for up to 40 minutes.
Upon
seeing this, the crowd quickly turned and a riot ensued, their
exasperation and anger soon turned on the authorities and the
executioner, pelting them with stones and chasing them away from the
scene. The councillors narrowly escaped from the mob with their lives
in tact but their reputation tarnished. Considering the crowds
reaction and in light of the mistakes that they had made, the council
decided that there was no place for public execution in an
enlightened modern Scottish society. It would seem the public had
finally lost their appetite for such blatant and visible barbarity.
Part 3.
Wikileaks
has supposedly exposed a many secrets since its formation in 2006;
government documents, press scandals, war crime evidence, detainment
and torture footage, fraudulent activity are but to name a few. The
information that they post is always viewed with scepticism, not only
because it often if aimed directly at demolishing and discrediting
the very top of the traditional top down capital system but also
because they choose to keep their informants and whistleblowers
anonymous, shrouding their sources and investigative journalism in
mystery.
In 2010 at
the height of the US's war on terror, Wikileaks revealed whats known
as the Collateral Murder Footage of a 2007 Baghdad airstrike in which
Iraqi journalists and civilians were killed by the US air force. The
footage gained worldwide notoriety for its graphic content that was
now available freely online, but moreover it sparked a fierce debate
between US authorities, Wikileaks and Press outlets about the
accountability of these killings, was it a war crime? Was the
government to blame and did they know that they were journalists? Or,
was it just a conspiracy theory? Did the insurgents really pose a
legitimate threat?
The events
of the video are as follows, after statements from Wikileaks about
the content of the video, images of the victims as well as some
statements from eyewitnesses and officials the video then switches to
a grainy black and white camera feed. The viewpoint is taken from the
gunners perspective, a cross-hair is visible in the centre of the
frame, with other details around the perimeter, the rangefinder, date
and statistical information. The footage also contains the audio
recording of the conversation between the gunner, pilot and the
command operative on the ground. As the recording progresses, it is
uncertain of the nature of their reconnaissance, whether there is any
threat at all or it is just a routine check.
The
helicopter crew identify a group of men walking through a town
square, over a short discussion – about 20-30 seconds long- they
suspect that 6/20 of the 'targets' have AK47's and initially they
believe one of the journalists is carrying an RPG (this turns out to
be a camera). As the helicopter circles overhead, the cameraman in
the group appears to take cover, it is at this point the gunner then
asks for permission to engage believing that he is about to fire the
RPG. The ground controller quickly gives clearance and the group are
shrouded in a hail of bullets. The dust takes a minute to settle and
visibility is regained after which the corpses can clearly be seen.
Most are identified as KIA but there is one survivor, the cameraman
and journalist Saaed Chmagh who is appearing to be crawling away
along the pavement. As he struggles along of his, dragging himself
along with his arms, the gunner can be heard over the intercom, 'Come
on buddy, all you gotta do is pick up a weapon'.
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