Peace on the Web
The Israeli blogger Lisa Goldman writes that "the Israel-Lebanon are-we-calling-it-a-war-yet of 2006 is the first conflict to be blogged from day one. Bloggers from both sides of the border—some of whom were already aware of one another before this tragedy began—have been providing live updates, commenting on one another's blogs and sometimes linking to posts by bloggers on the other side of the border. Will this turn out to be the first time that residents of 'enemy' countries engaged in an ongoing conversation while missiles were falling?"
Among the examples that follow:
The internet has also been offering some surreal experiences, like the ability to have a Beirut-Tel Aviv online IM chat in real time while the missiles are falling. That's what happened to me and this blogger a few nights ago. We chatted while he was sitting on the roof of his apartment building in Beirut, watching missiles from Israeli planes fall on his city and describing it to me. He was carrying on an online conversation with another Israeli at the same time. And he was able to describe his feelings and the atmosphere in a human, personal way that no newspaper article or television news segment could achieve.
Goldman acknowleges that "attitudes will harden as this conflict continues…a lot of Lebanese bloggers have become very angry at Israel, to the point of rejecting personal contact. But this is not the case for all—not by any means."
Draw whatever moral from this that you please. I'll just note that even with a war on, at least some ordinary Israelis and Lebanese have managed to be more civil than our domestic Redshirts and Blueshirts.