From the series, Wrinkles In the City, by JR, this image can also be a pretty timely statement of where we seem to be headed in today’s world. Though JR meant this to be a statement on what old observers have seen during Berlin’s transformation, it can also be the obsessive ideal that exists in society today. The phrase, “If you see something, say something” is being used in security warnings in the US as we continue our out-of-control war on terror, little realizing that it’s a testament that we are becoming what we fear. And when you look at it from this context, this piece by JR takes on a much more sinister message that is being spread by CCTVs, misguided and dangerous cyber laws like CISPA, and even actions being taken by school administrators which replicate on a smaller level those taken by security organizations across the world as they protect status quo.
We may be living in dangerous times (though they seem little different from those in the past), but perhaps this has much more to do with the actions that we don’t take and the words that we don’t speak. Our institutions (government and others) no longer represent those higher motivations that had given birth to a nation once seen as a guiding light. Now, they are becoming those scenarios that once only existed in the minds of film makers worried about where security could lead us. Perhaps because they understand that actions have a habit of repeating themselves, especially when they’re driven by emotions.
Vigilance is good, but it needs to be balanced with other important emotions (like empathy) as well as balance when under duress.
JR sees more than what he might have intended (or perhaps that’s the lesson he’s offering).
– a perfect pictorial summation of the world today, shared by this isn’t happiness
