Bush's Fantasy Budget and the Military/Entertainment Complex
February 12, 2007
As Pilotless Drones Become of the US weapons of choice for fighting the global war on terror, with reports of hundreds of civilian casualties along the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, this article traces the history of turning war into a remote video technology tied to entertainment
"Shared technologies, both real and imagined, tie the media industries to the Pentagon in what has become the military/entertainment complex. During the 1990s, the best and the brightest researchers who produce and design new-media platforms joined with engineers from the Department of Defense to trade expertise in pursuit of cutting-edge, computer-based digital technologies. These multipurpose protocols are quite versatile, and are used to create fields of entertainment, news graphics, videogames, and the deadliest weapons of war. The most profitable sector of the entertainment industry — computer games — use the same technology essential to advanced weapons systems. Computer games have also become key training and recruiting tools. The characters that inhabit virtual game worlds locked in endless battles between good and evil, double as "warfighters" and kill targets for military training." More...
"Mission Accomplished," Four Years Later
May 1, 2007
Investigating Propaganda on the Battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan
"Mission accomplished" was one of many publicity stunts and media manipulations used to sell a fantasy war whose real and very tragic consequences are still being felt.
Some of those consequences underwent public scrutiny last week when Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Government Oversight Committee, held hearings titled "Misleading Information on the Battlefield." The hearings featured testimony from Jessica Lynch and the family of Patrick Tillman, two soldiers who themselves were previously used as icons in the fantasy war. More...
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