Perhaps it is not new to say it, but it seems that we have crossed red lines in ethical matters and respect for the other. I do not speak of Colombia or politics -and almost everything has been said about it-, I speak of the world and of the day to day of a society locked in the narcissism of selfies and the cult of individualism that has made us lose the north of the human. For the exhibition, an image that an Italian photographer captured at a station a few days ago: an 83-year-old woman was hit by a train and while she was being attended by lifeguards in the middle of the platform, from the platform a young man took a selfie making the V of victory with your fingers. Tragedy in the background with an old wound, smile in the foreground to publish in networks, where everything serves to circulate and, if possible, go viral. The moment of glory can be in any corner.
It is not the first case, it is one more in a long list of images that reflect that "homo selfie" in which we have become. They see me, therefore I exist, it seems to be the new way of understanding our own individuality. In this scenario anything goes: there has already been a lot of talk about the pictures of young rich people in sports cars posing in the poverty zones of Latin American countries, as if misery were a decoration. The ridiculous poses are also commented making all kinds of gestures in the Holocaust Museum or the false smiles while in the background you see the ravages of a tragedy that has claimed lives. A nurse was famous for posing next to a patient who was dying and a military man from somewhere, for taking a photograph in front of an injured plane.
The images multiplied by billions of cameras that shoot at the speed of light have created a new way of interacting with the world. That world that now does not exist if it is not in photography or video to be shared, multiplied, edited, pixelated, retouched and for many appropriate with one condition: that the protagonist of the selfie appears there as the center of the image. The cities, the landscapes, the monuments, the disasters or the victims are no longer important, the important thing is the protagonist of the selfie and what surrounds it is decorated so that the photo looks better, different, creative, unique, although millions do the same Looking different among the masses is an eternal dream of humans who believe we are different from those who are our reflection.
Something has changed: in the beginning the memory that was stored in the memory was created, then came the paintings that a few agreed to leave an image of themselves to the future, then that photograph that captured a precious moment and was stored in an album to review as a family and leave the next generations. Now, millions of images compete for our eyes that can not cope to see and see and see.
In that visual universe the selfie has a special place because it is not, as the wolf of the story would say, to see you better, but so that you can see me better. Millions of people pose over and over and over again to tell the world what they do and do not do, the instants of a certain or false life that puts everyone at the center of a stage where they applaud with thumbs up or happy faces the simple show of our own existence turned into comedy or tragedy.
Perhaps this society overloaded with selfies is the natural point of arrival of a world in which success and individual triumph are promoted and empathy is often lost with those of our species. Academics and artists are beginning to understand and analyze this new era in which an image defines, gives meaning or even creates a new reality that takes on a life of its own.
