Civil War photographer Mathew Brady said  The camera is the eye of History*

perhaps he can attest for the War and forward through all the worlds conflicts  --  he cites its opticks in the light of warfare  --  forward until the recent advent of our cruelest killing machine

the drone

whose eyes are closed to us

whose eyes are now fixed and determinant of History

its cameras are not objective                            

they See

they are subjective

they cannot talk of History because they are not passive observers

they are opaque

they are not witnesses(hunters)

they cannot prevaricate

there is a contingency who may believe its Omnipresent Eyes can reflect the Truth

though one would have to question if the revealed data is raw or if it has been manipulated

inconveniently  it can also be erased

a drone Sees only what it is directed to see

his longstanding knock of cameras and drones and why he would refute Bradys pronouncement is that a camera Sees only what its pointed at

it lacks peripheral or the curiosity to be distracted by its peripheral and look furthur                                                                                               

possibly  just outside its frame excused excised might be the very evidence that belies the Truth it paints and could reveal something else entirely

there are unexamined Points of View  Frames of Reference  Biases

and without those blatantly apparent 

without bitter Transparency

The Camera  The Eye of History

would mock History

and worse

fabricate it

no decision made affecting a drones lethality and History will ever involve true democratic discourse 

   

 

1638,  Twosday,  12  7. 16

0927, Thursday,  14  7. 16

* Susan Sontag  Regarding the Pain of Others