Pop!Tech 2006: Dangerous Ideas

Documentary filmmaker Micah Garen was taken hostage by a radical Shiite group in Iraq and cut off from friends, colleagues, family and his own government. Marie-Helene Carleton rallied friends and colleagues to jump-start a rescue mission, while at the same time helping to manage the delicate negotiations for his release. Their book, American Hostage, was released in September 2005, and became an instant bestseller. It is both a moving and suspenseful account of political intrigue and a modern love story. Saving history by making history

We have many things to learn from the story of Micah Garen and Marie-Helene Carleton. The enduring power of their story lies in their devotion, not only to each other, but to their mission to document the looting of archeological sites of ancient Sumeria. Simply telling the story of Micah's kidnapping—and Marie-Helene's attempts to make sure the story didn't end the usual way—serves as an unusual axis around which the implications of a chaotic world can spin.

Garen and Carleton showed raw footage from their upcoming documentary, a glimpse of which is in this year's Pop!Tech DVD collection. In one arresting moment, one of the looters mis-quotes Hegel as saying "The moment of decision is a moment of chaos." This serves as a grim reminder of the decisions that framed the story of Micah's kidnapping, ten days of confinement and eventual release. During which time, in August of 2004, numerous decisions were made. Garen decided he would "fight back," by fashioning a shiv out of a palm frond, Carleton decided the power of a social network could eclipse the power of government agencies.

Both decided the safest places we find in the world are in the arms of those we love.

In the subsequent Q&A session, both remained faithful to telling their story in uncomplicated terms, making numerous mention of the heroism of Garen's co-captive and Arabic translator, Amir.