Iraq: The Movie, the Game, the Ride
This just in from the NY Times. The army, apart from launching the free America's Army video game, mobile carnival recruitment units, extreme-style TV ads, movie trailers, sports gear, etc. - has now unveiled plans for a Universal Studios-style theme park to open in 2009 in Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Va., 12 miles south of the Pentagon. According to the overseer of Army museums, from which the theme park would be a critical departure, "There's a general lack of understanding about what the life of the soldier is like. Whether you agree with what the government does or not, everyone can identify with the trials and the tribulations of the young men and women who put themselves in harm's way to do a job that most of us don't want to do ourselves. And we'll tell those stories."
I agree with his assessment, but not his conclusion. Yes, there is a general lack of understanding. For those fighting oversees in hotspots like Iraq, however, it is worse than it looks on TV.
An artist's rendering of the planned 4-D theme park-style of the proposed museum.
The military is responding to an immininent PR crisis. 1) Pulling out of Iraq for the current administration (and perhaps for Kerrey too, if he is elected) is not an option for current geo-politico-economic reasons; 2) The news is as bad as it can get for an imperial campaign such as this (Noam Chomsky's response was "It's wholly unbelievable that it's not working ... it almost always does."); 3) It is getting increasingly difficult to keep a lid on the bad news; 4) The Pentagon has stretched its troop allowances to the max; 5) The Bush administration has publicly promised not to reintroduce the draft (this may not hold after the election). Aside from one slip-up and charges from the Kerry camp of a post-election surprise, the rhetoric has remained consistent. This flies in the face of Defense Dept. efforts to re-tool draft boards.
Thus, the recruitment campaigns have pulled out all the stops - from the explosion of JROTC in high schools to the data mining requirements in an obscure provision of No Child Left Behind to the culture-wash of film, ads, toys, games, and theme parks in the last three years. We are likely to see further cultural penetration of our everday lives by the military-entertainment network in the near future.
I agree with his assessment, but not his conclusion. Yes, there is a general lack of understanding. For those fighting oversees in hotspots like Iraq, however, it is worse than it looks on TV.
An artist's rendering of the planned 4-D theme park-style of the proposed museum.
The military is responding to an immininent PR crisis. 1) Pulling out of Iraq for the current administration (and perhaps for Kerrey too, if he is elected) is not an option for current geo-politico-economic reasons; 2) The news is as bad as it can get for an imperial campaign such as this (Noam Chomsky's response was "It's wholly unbelievable that it's not working ... it almost always does."); 3) It is getting increasingly difficult to keep a lid on the bad news; 4) The Pentagon has stretched its troop allowances to the max; 5) The Bush administration has publicly promised not to reintroduce the draft (this may not hold after the election). Aside from one slip-up and charges from the Kerry camp of a post-election surprise, the rhetoric has remained consistent. This flies in the face of Defense Dept. efforts to re-tool draft boards.
Thus, the recruitment campaigns have pulled out all the stops - from the explosion of JROTC in high schools to the data mining requirements in an obscure provision of No Child Left Behind to the culture-wash of film, ads, toys, games, and theme parks in the last three years. We are likely to see further cultural penetration of our everday lives by the military-entertainment network in the near future.
posted by thebaffler at 3:56 PM
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