Bridging the Gap with High-Tech: Are We Really?
Theodore Hutchcroft
There is an axiom about a tree falling in the forest: if no one is present to hear the crash, is
there any sound? This came to mind the other evening as I watched television news: if there were
no television cameras, would there be any news? I was watching coverage of an activist burning
an American flag. The potential burner was surrounded by several vigorous dissenters. A brawl
ensued in which the parties sought to validate their devotion to their respective points of view.
The event was photographed at close range and soon transmitted to our living room. Had there
been no television cameras, would there have been an event? Would the dissenter have stood in
front of our state capitol to build his fire? Would his adversaries have bothered to confront him?
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