[Infowarrior] - War is not a video game

[Richard Forno]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/08/29/military_marketing/print.html


War is not a video game

The military's marketing machine gives potential recruits science  
fiction instead of the bloody reality of war
By David Sirota

Aug. 29, 2009 |

I'm a video game geek, so as I sat through movie previews a few weeks  
ago, I was sure I was watching Nintendo ads.

There on the cinema's screen was a super-sleek plane flying over a  
moonscape while communicating with an orbiting satellite. In the next  
moment, a multicolored topographical map, orders being barked — and in  
my own mind, memories of "Call of Duty" graphics. And then, finally,  
two guys in front of a computer console, and the jarring punch line:  
"It's not science fiction; it's what we do every day," said the bold  
type, followed by a U.S. Air Force symbol.

Before giving the audience a chance to digest the slogan, it was onto  
another montage, this one of helicopters and explosions with 1970s  
music playing in the background. A preview for a Steve McQueen-themed  
game, I thought. Then, though, the familiar kicker: "The drones fight  
terrorism and protect America, and in the process, they keep the front  
lines unmanned," said the voiceover, adding, "This isn't science  
fiction; this is life in the United States Navy."
The ads preceded "The Hurt Locker" — a dramatized movie about soldiers  
who defuse roadside bombs in the midst of Iraq's horrifying carnage.  
And even with its fictionalized dialogue, the film was far more honest  
than the U.S. military's fantastical sales pitch. Join the armed  
forces, the ads suggest, and you don't have to experience the blood- 
and-guts consequences of combat. Instead, you get to hang out  
stateside, entertaining yourself with a glorified PlayStation.

During this, one of the bloodiest months in the Afghanistan war, the  
spots promote a somewhat comforting, if disturbingly misleading,  
message — and it is aimed not just at potential soldiers, but also at  
the public at large.

For the former, the goal is reassurance. As Bush-era attempts to  
conflate bellicosity and patriotism were undermined by persistent body  
bags, military recruitment has become more challenging. In response,  
the Pentagon hopes to make prospective volunteers believe their tours  
of duty will be as safe as a night on the couch.

For the general public, the objective is sedation. New polls show the  
country strongly opposes the Afghanistan and Iraq wars — but military  
officials want to preserve the possibility of an escalation in  
Afghanistan and a permanent deployment in Iraq. So along with  
persuading President Obama to withhold photos documenting fog-of-war  
brutalities at Afghanistan and Iraq prisons, the Pentagon is seeking  
an opiate to placate the war-averse populace. What better anodyne than  
a marketing campaign implying wars are fun video games?

Certainly, the ads aren't pure "science fiction." As the armed forces  
build more unmanned drones, Popular Science magazine reports that  
recruiters are indeed looking to add new remote pilots. The "science  
fiction" is the specific assertion that "the front lines are  
unmanned." Claims like that are deeply destructive, beyond their  
obvious insult to the thousands killed, wounded or currently stationed  
on those very front lines.

For instance, it's a good bet more than a few enlistees will expect  
their service to be happy video game tournaments, only to find  
themselves dodging real bullets in a Baghdad shooting gallery.
More broadly, the American psyche's slow progress toward an  
increasingly peaceful disposition could be stunted by the propaganda's  
powerful paradox: While sanitizing ads play to the country's growing  
disgust with militarism, they could ultimately lead us to be more  
supportive of militarism. How? By convincing us that violence can be  
just another innocuous expression of adolescent technophilia.

If we end up thinking that, we will have once again forgotten what all  
wars, even the justifiable ones, always are: lamentable human tragedies.

© 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc.

-- By David Sirota