The “click to help” crowd needs to balance motivation and emotion with historic background, knowledge, and context or else we’re at risk of seeing mass movements that take hold more like ‘memes’ than meaningful protests. That green tint should be accompanied by a red stoplight for kids to be able to answer basics like, “What’s happening in Iran right now?” or “Who IS Neda?” rather than bandwagoning current affairs into nebulous explanations that mirror the Beatles lyrics to Revolution. The “Green Wall” of thumbnail photos on Twitter, Facebook profiles, and Paste Magazine’s “Iranicon Me” are highly visual, stimulating ways to show support en masse on a global scale…But as we enter these media conversations at lightening speed we need to carefully sharpen critical thinking skills and “teach our children well” to do the same. With multiple “ReTweets” of the uprising, mini-clips of handheld video streamed in citizen journalism style and auto-translation of Persian messages tearing down language barriers, clearly “we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto”.Even if the web has turned into the ‘Emerald City’ of green. It’s readily apparent media’s mouthpieces have changed forever…

According to Graham Brown’s article, Youth in Iran, about 60% of the population in Iran is under 25, so it’s no surprise that the death in the streets of 26-year old “Neda” has become iconic very, very fast.Īs students and global citizens rally using social media mobilization to protest the outcome of the Iranian election, the shift toward worldwide community and empathy toward human beings of all ages pours forth like tears in raw, real time.

JYouth culture is highly visual and iconic, no doubt about it.

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