Silence of the Cams

William Powers ran across an unnarrated video of the recent DC IMF protests at Washingtonpost.com and liked what he saw. Writes Powers, "If there's a bias in this piece, for or against the protesters, I didn't see it. They are neither demons nor heroes. The same goes for the cops. There is a genuine pathos to every character in this little drama. It looks and feels like life, more like life than any narrated TV report I've ever seen, or any newspaper article purporting to capture such an event. And it has none of the thudding obtuseness that characterizes most TV and newspaper writing. Beside this two-minute video, the next day's newspaper stories on the same event felt abstract and unreal."

I agree with him; it's riveting stuff.