Every time the USA goes to war, the commercial TV stations in Australia start playing the good old USA=good, others=bad movies. Every time, without fail. And now it's going on yet again. Re-playing The Patriot, Navy SEALs, Patriot Games,, and so on. Do they, or do you, really think the people are swayed in their political opinions by such cheap ploys?
I think there is a primitive human attraction to the "glory" and drama of war. I believe racism and nationalism are very slowly being replaced by respect and awareness of our interdependencies, and someday war on any large scale will be truly repugnant to a controlling majority. Soon, VR and other more direct interfaces will provide all the stimulus and adrenaline we need without saddling and even risking our economies on war and war preparations. Then we'll act out our primitive aggressions (if we choose) without having to deal with war's agony and aftermath. Any leaders espousing or threatening mass violence will erode their own power with every war cry, however veiled. We'll just want our "MTV". The media will ever prostitute itself to what the pollsters think sells, but will gradually realize in an information age that news will be hard to convincingly spin for thrills. That's my hope anyway. Still so far to go, but February 15, 2003 made me smile Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
