War Porn
Indie war correspondent Michael Yon is suing Michael Moore for copyright violation. Basically he used one of Yon’s pictures in the banner on his website, and despite numerous requests to take it down has refused to do so. Be sure and read the whole thing for the specifics, but this section really struck me as being right on.
Justice Potter Stewart once defined pornography by saying, “I know it when I see it.” Pornography and propaganda are closely related, as they are both cynical attempts at manipulation, rooted in a lack of respect for humanity. War Porn is one of the more disturbing developments in the new media, as people on both sides of the Iraq War get their kicks watching video images of death and destruction – as long as it’s their opponents who get killed. Whether it’s an Al Qaeda cell-phone video of an IED attack or the grisly footage of a Coalition air strike, War Porn is degrading and incendiary. Of course, some footage is newsworthy and informative and the public deserves to see it. There is also great value to soldiers in watching footage for training purposes and to better understand battlefields and weapons. But at some point, especially when the material is used to make political points, images of combat can cross the line into pornography. People die in war, but we must never forget that each casualty is a human being, even people as deserving of death as Al Qaeda. Denying our opponents’ humanity, we lose a little of our own.
When someone’s grandmother disseminates the photo of Major Beiger cradling a dying girl in his arms, I allow the usage because I feel she is trying to share the human tragedy. When Michael Moore puts that same photo on his web site, alongside images of George Bush, John McCain and Hillary Clinton, the clear implication is that Farah’s death is their fault. That is a misrepresentation of the facts on the ground, as well as the story of the photo. Farah was killed by a suicide car bomb in Mosul on May 2, 2005. Major Bieger and other soldiers literally risked their own lives to save many children and adults that day, but Farah didn’t make it. Michael Moore apparently does not understand – or refuses to acknowledge – the moral distinction between a man who would murder innocent people, and a man who would sacrifice himself to save them. The photo, as I took it, is the truth, but Moore uses it – illegally – to convey falsehoods. His mind is that of a political propagandist who sees Farah’s death not as a human tragedy, but a tool.
Hey, as long as Mikey can sell his shitty movies and books and keep on making himself even more millions, what the hell does he care?
Comments
Good point, Ogden. I wonder if any Iraqi children will die on Obama’s watch. Probably not.
Good point, Ogden. I wonder if any Iraqi children will die on Obama’s watch. Probably not.
And when the first one does, you can come back to this site and kiss my pale Irish ass!
Haha… well, I think most Obama voters are realistic enough to know that yes, some Iraqi children will die. I think we also hope that a lot, lot, lot less will die than under the Bush tenure.
Even one child is one too many. I’m sure Obama would agree.
Which is why I’m going to hold him to the high standards that he continually promised throughout the campaign. He is, after all, not your normal politician, and would therefore not engage in typical campaign rhetoric.
I can’t really argue with that, although I do hope you still keep in mind the parts of his campaign where he mentioned that (and I’m paraphrasing) “there is a lot of work to be done” and “things won’t always be easy.”
I wonder how many billions of dollars are going to be forcibly extracted from the taxpayers and given to idiot bankers who have already demonstrated their inability to handle large sums of money, and I wonder how many people who work hard and saved and haven’t gambled away billions of dollars will be ineligible for any federal aid because they earn too much money.
I also wonder why Bush’s tax cut is called “corporate wellfare” and Obama’s proposed tax cut is called “hope for America.”
Of course, we wouldn’t want to hold people to the same standards, would we?
Bush has set the bar so low that I don’t think Obama will have much trouble meeting the same standards at all. But hey, I’ve been wrong before.
Belcatar, what you’re failing to take into account is that Bush was a simpering idiot—barely protoplasmic. Whereas Ogden and I know that Obama is a god among men.
...Where frankly, I must admit I’m a little disappointed that he hasn’t yet solved the economic crisis—but then, it’s not even noon yet.
Haha… well, Bismarck, I’m certainly not trying to make things look so black-and-white. I’m not claiming that Bush is a simpering idiot or that Obama is a god among men. I’m just saying that Bush made a number of poor decisions during his time in office that ultimately kept him from being a strong president. (Whether those decisions were fueled by motives as sinister as our friend Mr. Moore would have us believe is up for debate).
Like everyone, I want Obama to do a better job than Bush. You’re right that it is borderline ridiculous just how much faith has been placed in him. He is, after all, a human being facing some pretty big obstacles, and I think most (but not all) Obama voters are realistic enough to accept that.
Incidentally, the newspapers are saying that one of Obama’s first actions will be closing Guantanamo. If he does it, I think that’s a nice step in the right direction.
"You’re free! Free, little terrorists! Free like the wi~nd!”
*BOOM*
“Hm. There went my new Caddy limo. Maybe I didn’t think this one through.”
Obama isn’t going to just free the inmates. They’ll be put through the trial process they should have received in the first place. Seriously, why don’t you regard a fair trial as an integral part of American values?
Obama will free them so they can stand trial like any other normal criminal.
And if they end up committing more terrorist acts (or inspiring others, by virtue of having beaten the American system), well, then you Obama haters may be able to say “I told you so.” But Obama will still be great, and he can always re-try the recidivist terrorist because, let’s be honest, they were created equal, too.
Seriously, why don’t you regard a fair trial as an integral part of American values?
I dunno, why do you love Nazis so much? Huh? What’s with all this stuff of you supporting the rape of puppies? What’s with that? Puppy-raper.
Bush did set the bar low. He authorized the bombing of a foreign country (Like Clinton) under the auspices of the UN (Like Clinton and G.H.W. Bush) A terrorist attack occured on American soil (like Clinton) on his watch. He did plenty of lying to the American people (Like Clinton)…
Now that I look at the similarities, I feel fortunate that we have the Constitution. I’ll feel even better when we start following it.
But hey gang, here’s something I bet we can all agree on:
“The Dark Knight” not nominated for best picture? Can I get a “WTF”?
A fair trial is an integral part of american values, key word there being AMERICAN. ALL of these people are not americans. A couple may be legal immigrants, who incidentally can be deported without a trial, but none are americans. Most of them were also taken in a war zone in a foreign country. They are subject to the Gevena convention and the UCMJ, hence the military trials, while incarcarated. Wheres all this outrage for Hamas? They blatently violate the Geneva Convention, and noone gives them an ounce of shit. Hell the UN should be charges with violations of the GC, as Hamas launched rockets from a UN controlled building, WTG baby blue boneheads!
Let’s just throw in that every time giving one to these guys was discussed under Bush, the snarling protests switched to “And what right do WE have to put them on trial?!”
It was a bullshit catch-22 set up where Bush couldn’t keep them locked up without stirring up a hornet’s nest and he couldn’t try them without doing the same, but now that it’s the Obamessiah moving to try them all of a sudden it’s rosy speeches about American justice finally being done. It’s so blatantly hypocritical and dishonest that… well, it could only come from Obots.
whew, I just checked icasualties.org, and it looks like only 7 Americans have died in Iraq since Obama took office, so clearly the man has already been working miracles. (To be clear, these have been “non-hostile” deaths, which probably mirror other U.S. military deaths across the world. And they also mirror many other 1-week stretches throughout last year. But you still can’t take that away from Obama! ...even if his miracles are suspiciously close to Bush’s “failures”!)
Either way, at least no Iraqi children have died—only American servicemen. Go Obama!
OT:
Anybody else notice the stock picture of a soup kitchen from the Great Depression on Michael Moore’s website today? Historical note: It was a soup kitchen set up by Al Capone in Chicago, not FDR. The exact same picture shows up as one of the first on Google Images if you type in “soup kitchen”.
RSS (Subscribe)
Incidentally, one more day of George W. Bush. It’s the end of an era.