Wednesday, February 18, 2004 7:13:42 AM
War Porn for the Forlorn About to Be Unborn by the Reborn
It was pure war porn. Three American soldiers standing proudly, half-smiles playing on their faces, rifles cradled in their arms.
The picture screams, “We are young, good looking and we are your heroes. Don’t you admire us? Look at us.”
In its 2003 award for Person Of The Year, Time magazine used the US’s fighting men and women to bestow something noble onto the American mission in Iraq.
“ They are the face of America, its might and goodwill, in a region unused to democracy,” blares the caption inside. Of course, it doesn’t mention the millions of dollars in compensation given out by the US military administration for wrongful killing of Iraqi civilians by its soldiers, stressed, scared, jumping at shadows, dealing with a mess foreseen by everyone but their political masters. Nor does it question whether this was the right thing to do. The heroism of the soldier drowns out that question.
Slapped with four coats of whitewash and a topcoat of hogwash, the cover story declares: “In a year when it felt at times as if we had nothing in common anymore, we were united in this hope: that our men and women at arms might soon come safely home, because their job was done.” Who could argue with that? It’s almost as if Time suspended judgment and reviewed a video game or film.
“You had a pretty remarkable ground war: 21 days covering 350 miles, around 200,000 troops. Probably the fastest advance of its kind in military history,” said Ramesh Ratnesar, Time writer, on a CNN special on the award. The rot goes all the way to the top. Who said: “They’re cops in a bad neighborhood; [that] is what the occupation of Iraq is about.” James Kelly, Time’s managing editor.
From the March/April 2004 issue of Adbusters magazine.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/52/articles/warporn.html
It was pure war porn. Three American soldiers standing proudly, half-smiles playing on their faces, rifles cradled in their arms.
The picture screams, “We are young, good looking and we are your heroes. Don’t you admire us? Look at us.”
In its 2003 award for Person Of The Year, Time magazine used the US’s fighting men and women to bestow something noble onto the American mission in Iraq.
“ They are the face of America, its might and goodwill, in a region unused to democracy,” blares the caption inside. Of course, it doesn’t mention the millions of dollars in compensation given out by the US military administration for wrongful killing of Iraqi civilians by its soldiers, stressed, scared, jumping at shadows, dealing with a mess foreseen by everyone but their political masters. Nor does it question whether this was the right thing to do. The heroism of the soldier drowns out that question.
Slapped with four coats of whitewash and a topcoat of hogwash, the cover story declares: “In a year when it felt at times as if we had nothing in common anymore, we were united in this hope: that our men and women at arms might soon come safely home, because their job was done.” Who could argue with that? It’s almost as if Time suspended judgment and reviewed a video game or film.
“You had a pretty remarkable ground war: 21 days covering 350 miles, around 200,000 troops. Probably the fastest advance of its kind in military history,” said Ramesh Ratnesar, Time writer, on a CNN special on the award. The rot goes all the way to the top. Who said: “They’re cops in a bad neighborhood; [that] is what the occupation of Iraq is about.” James Kelly, Time’s managing editor.
From the March/April 2004 issue of Adbusters magazine.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/52/articles/warporn.html
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