Promoting Militarism While Hiding Bloodshed

FOCUS: Apocalypse Fairly Soon

FOCUS: Five Facts That Put America to Shame

The NDAA's Coup d'Etat Foiled

FOCUS: The Commencement Address That Won't Be Given

A Victory for All of Us

David Sirota begins: "In a breathless story somehow presented as a groundbreaking revelation, The New York Times recently reported that the Pentagon is - shocker! - using all sorts of media channels to market itself to the nation's children."

A young customer holds a copy of the 'Call to Duty' video game. (photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+13 # rm 2011-06-19 18:54

I have a friend who is a counter-recruiter. He goes to highschools and talks to students after the military recruiters have been there. He's very familiar with the lies and sales pitches military recruiters give to teenagers. He simply tells them that if they go into combat there is a better than 50% chance they will never live a normal life again. They will suffer life long psychological damage. There's better than 50% chance that they will never have a successful marriage, they will be addicted to a drug or alcohol, they may be homeless, and so on. The military does not care about these damaged war vets. They are of no use to the military.

The danger is not from the war itself or the enemy. Rather, the danger is in the mind control of military training and life in the US military. The Pentagon hires thousands of psychologists to develop techniques for brainwashing recruits. These techniques do permanent brain damage.

-1 # maddave 2011-06-19 20:58

rm: Your friend's propaganda is as skewed one way as the recruiters' is to the other. Many of the "facts" told by both he and the recruiter are, at best1, arguable, but what is NOT arguable is that the military is a (fairly) well paying job (with great benefits) in a time when ANY job is worth a look - and especially so for minority students who, as they graduate, are staring a 30% unemployment rate straight in the eye.

The military offers job training, GI Bill education, medical, dental, clothing & housing, early retirement, etc - IF the enlistee is willing to risk death - or worse - permanent and pitiful disability. It's a trade off, rm, and young candidates deserve - need - to get the straight dope from both sides on the front end.

I did 30 years and more than that as a civilian. From that perspective let me assure you that homelessness, alcohol & drug addiction, divorce and psychological damage are universal hazards. They are not unique to veterans in either nature or depth.

Agreed, war is obscene and invariably economic in nature, but most of us veterans owe our success as men, husbands & fathers to the education, discipline & work ethic that we gained as soldiers & sailors. The military wasn't all bad, and civilian life isn't all good - it all depends on the individual.
.

+7 # Ken Hall 2011-06-19 22:05

maddave: I've read your comments in the past and found them well-informed and usually well-reasoned. I don't agree with this one. Military propaganda preys upon young people's idealism and prompts them to go to war in its service. A reading/listening of Buffy St. Marie's "Universal Soldier" should be mandatory for anyone seeking to enlist in the military. My opinion: the draft was eliminated in favor of a volunteer/professional army in order to reduce public pushback against military adventurism in service of the US empire, as happened in VN. The off-shoring of jobs and extension of the US empire has made military projection a necessity of empire. Concomitantly, offshoring creates a large number of unemployed who, by necessity, find military employment attractive if they are to have any job at all. One hand washes the other, and i think this is part of a cynical manipulation of the population. An engaged/drafted populace would have been less susceptible to the propaganda that justified the Afghan/Iraq farces. Military force is seldom a good option. The US certainly doesn't need such vast military expenditures to merely defend itself. The veteran population who is fortunate enough to survive and come home is far more prone than the general population to mental illness, homelessness, and violence. They are used and cast aside by an ungrateful empire.

+6 # Glen 2011-06-20 03:42

After witnessing recruiting techniques in schools, hearing the stories, and talking with students about their experiences with recruiters, my impression remains the same: recruiters lie, bribe, cajole, use shame and guilt, and pressure kids to join up. Recruiters have visited kindergarten classes. The military produces violent video games.

What else can you say. There SHOULD be a counter-recruiter. If you could see some of the photos and videos these kids send home to parents and friends, of their comrades' action in Iraq or Afghanistan (right down to shooting their own toe off to get out), you would understand, maddave, that careers in the military have moved away from the "peace time" service to perverted service that many in the service come home ashamed, claiming they were asked to murder, not fight a war or protect the U.S.

+3 # KittatinyHawk 2011-06-20 08:49

Funny many of you are bullies, wife abusers. I know many who went away good kids came back believing killing, torture alright, Many could not find jobs, others became Police, and upward into CIA because of their mentality afterward. Nowadays the percentages of kill happy kids are larger with parents teaching killing, harboring hatred, and good ol video games.

Few who come back even tempered, admit they have their own demons to live with.

Nam those who didnot come back was hard enough for me. But when my frends came back and within 10 years put their wives into hospitals, raised their hands on family including parents, then kids...they ended up eating bullets. Is that the Legacy you are referring to.
Maybe RSN can do a review of that if this even gets put in

+2 # Activista 2011-06-20 12:07

"The military offers job training, GI Bill education, medical, dental, clothing & housing, early retirement, etc "
We can call it military welfare .. basic rights - the basic things modern state (like Scandinavia) offer to their citizens WITHOUT them forced to bomb/kill their human beings.
Bad economy and US system is the best tool for military/war propaganda.

+1 # jon 2011-06-20 17:45

YES! Can you imagine Bush invading Iraq if his twin daughters had been part of the force -- HA!!

+4 # Harold R. Mencher 2011-06-20 12:25

I'm a patriot & it's because I firmly believe in our Constitution & in our Bill of Rights. Patriotism should have nothing to do with supporting a military/industrial complex that no longer exists solely for the protection of our country. New recruits no longer have the right to refuse an order that they find to be illegal & immoral?

That's why I can no longer support an American military that has become what we abhorred & condemned about the Soviet Union & its military back when they illegally invaded & occupied Afghanistan & when they controlled Eastern Europe before the breakup.

We have taken their place in that we, the U.S., has now become the world bully, a country that illegally attacks other countries for world hegemony.

Anyone joining the military in this country today signs a contract where the military can legally break any promise or agreement made with the enlistee, but where the enlistee is at the complete mercy of his superiors.

I refer you to the following documentary:

http://afghanistan101.blogspot.com/2011/03/before-you-enlist.html

If you have Real Player, once the video starts playing, you should be able to download the video as a .FLV file onto your hard drive. Or, if you just want to watch the video at the above link, you can do that as well.

+1 # maddave 2011-06-19 19:59

Let's see if I understand this startling revelation: The U S Government has the largest, most sophisticated and (probably) best financed psychological warfare (propaganda) machine in the history of the whole world and you say that their PR (propaganda) guys are using it to promote the military's image and interests?

No shit, Sherlock!

+1 # KittatinyHawk 2011-06-20 08:52

Head of Military was on Letterman and has a whole new approach, was bad kid, got introuble...these guys have a job with Avon when they are don so there are jobs for military...Banks, Wall Street, Oil, Fracking

+1 # jon 2011-06-20 17:39

These wars of choice would be eliminated in a nano-second, if ALL young people had to serve, as in Israel, or there was an active draft. And why, because Congress's offspring would be prey.

+1 # Uranus 2011-06-20 23:22

Sister station KAUT-TV 43 in Oklahoma City to NBC affiliate KFOR-TV is broadcasting a bizarre, praise-the-soldiers-and-pass-the-Bibles morning program (Rise & Shine) in their new "Freedom 43" format.

It is like seeing someone torture a dog.

They stream the program online, 7-9 a.m. CDT: http://www.freedom43tv.com/43/

I offered to complain to FCC about this vulgarity, but how much help would they be?

The owner is Oak Hill Capital Partners that claims to own dozens of commercial stations but looks like a government front organization: http://www.oakhillcapital.com/portfolio/details/index.html

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.

rsn

Name:	*
Username:	*
E-mail:	*
Password:	*
Confirm password:	*
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.