Blogging, Chatting, Texting During War

Bullets are flying, so I know I shouldn't be thinking about modes of communication, but I can't help myself.

The 2006 War was all about Gmail chat. My friends throughout Lebanon and in other countries chatted with me from where I was in the safety of my house. I was safe and basically knew the parameters of the battlefield. We waxed widely about myriad subjects.

During this war/battles/clashes/violence, we are using Facebook chat. Friends living one street away, a few blocks away, and on the other side of the city are chatting with me about what is going on in their neighborhoods. Things are happening everywhere, but much of the fighting is not being reported on TV - journalists cannot be everywhere at once.

I just told a friend in Gemmayze about the heavy arms I hear in Hamra, and he offered that I come stay with him. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way I can possibly get over there. Either the government or the opposition have closed most of the roads out of Beirut. However, I could probably slip by while walking over to Gemmayze, and then I would be safe to stay with friends throughout the majority of the country who are not participating in this chaos. My friend on chat just told me the government reopened the sea road, so it won't be a problem going there.

Friends from abroad are trying to chat with me, but I'm not paying attention to them. We're trying to figure out where we will be in the next few minutes, hours, days. Will we be caught in some fighting if we don't flee to the mountains, or will we be okay here? Most of us in the neighborhood are pretty rational about what we need to do. People what is happening on television are far more hysterical.

These chatting programs are very useful for coordination; not as good as radios, but good enough for those of us who aren't coordinating attacks on neighborhoods, but merely responding the the situation. We feel a lot more impowered now that we have a greater access to information and can coordinate with one another about what to do next.


Aside: A friend from Naccache just called to tell me that "White," a posh club in downtown Beirut, opens tonight. I told him that they have probably postponed the opening, and noted everything that I've been writing here. His response was, "Really? That sounds really bad. I haven't been watching TV, but everything is normal here."



Strangely enough, iTunes randomizer just started playing Kurdish battle music. Kind of a strange soundtrack humming below the gunfire in the background. A little exhilarating, actually.