INSTANCY vs. CONTEMPLATION

Writing in 2012, journalist Richard Spencer described the sensation of seeing on TV the corpse of his friend and fellow journalist, Marie Colvin.  In the early days of the war in Syria, he was shocked to suddenly see Colvin’s inert body covered in dust.  She was killed in the early days of the siege of Homs.  Spencer observed ruefully that the horror of his friends’ death was unannounced; the medium of television had delivered an unfiltered image and message to him in a ghastly fashion.

He had been a victim of that which modern communications do so well; immediacy.  Spencer draws a simple conclusion from this experience.  “Instancy is more important than contemplation.”

Spencer, R. (2012, February 29-March 6).  “Hideous death-cry of a species lashing out as it sinks to extinction.”   Daily Telegraph Ex-pat, p.3.