Militainment: Changing the Face of Democracy as We Thought We Knew it

It could be any average afternoon, maybe a bit cold and rainy. You flick on the TV and, of course, the news is the only thing on this early in the day. So what are today's headlines? NHL? Cat saved from a tree? War? Activists protesting the creation of natural leather?

Hmm... Nothing out of the ordinary.

Sadly that's become rather true of our media culture. Right alongside sports and activist protests is war, sliding in easily into the headlines. War is just a flashy news special anyway. Nothing wrong with that.

According to the pentagon that is exactly what you're meant to think. Now introducing Militainment Inc. The company that tells you what the government wants you to be told! Basically, a proverbial "throwing from the window" for the freedom of the press.

The Militainment inc. Movie is a very long thing, so I viewed the topics that interested me: the introduction, "Clean war?", "How to get you hating 'the enemy'", Video games and "How to make peace activists look bad: Dissent."

While overall the video seemed well thought-out, and mostly factual, drawing logical conclusions based on media literacy. Some of the conspiracies are slightly far fetched, though I wont outright dispute their validity, just noting that the examples are 'according to the movie' when that's what they are.

Some of the examples that I really noticed involved the desensitization of people using common film techniques that draw our attention toward the 'light show' rather than the devastation that occurs. For example, we see bombs hitting enemy territory all the time. What are these bombs hitting? Why aren't we shown how this effects the everyday person in the area? How are the bombs helping the situation in any way what so ever?

According to the movie, it's because showing the truth about that would make people lose faith in the war, which is not what militainment inc. wants for YOU! They want you to continue to support them, make a grand spectacle of the justice of it all rather than show what an inhumanity it really is.

Take, for instance, the example they used: the initial fanfare of the beginning of the war against Iraq. There are so many explosions it's hard not to be impressed, unless you see the half burnt faces of the children who used to live where that missile just landed. The civilian death count was astronomically high, much higher than that of the US's excuse for the war in the beginning. The Twin Towers incident of 9/11.

On that note, have you noticed the overwhelming underwhelmingness of the bombs the US drops on foreign countries? While the Bombs of the 'terrorists' are clearly more effective, often leaving families in unjust ruins? That's obviously not the whole story, but from the way these are presented in the media it would be very hard to think otherwise.

"Wait... there could have been CHILDREN in those buildings!?"

Yes, when you get down to it, the 3000 death count of 9/11 seems merely pitiable in comparison to the conservatively estimated losses in Iraq, 100,000+ deaths; that only considers civilians. Of course, one certainly wont be found on any American news network.

This was mostly the work of a small group of people at the height of corporate and political power. This is definitely not what all the citizens of the US want! Perhaps it wouldn't be, aside from terrible media coverage, which is likewise very critical of the public. After all, a voice of reason saying that 'war isn't necessary' and 'we want our sons and daughters home' isn't a good image for the war or the government, particularly if it goes on unaddressed. The way they 'deal' with this is probably the most disturbing thing in the entire film.

They criminalize the protests.

That's right, supporters of the protests are criminals who resist the police and are CLEARLY trying to lower the morale of the soldiers, essentially KILLING SAID SOLDIERS BY TAKING AWAY THEIR DESIRE TO GET SHOT FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

I do believe the point has been missed here.

What is seen as 'lowering morale' is simply 'applying common sense'. They don't need to fight this war. They don't need to get themselves killed. They simply need to be pulled out so that peace can finally begin to move into the scene. However, Militainment cannot allow that to happen, definitely not. The US government can make no mistakes, certainly not by starting the war in the first place. Therefore anyone who contradicts them is wrong beyond any shadow of doubt, no matter how many lives must be taken to prove as much.

This is ridiculous.

After all, war is never started over actually caring about what happens to those around you.