Comments on: WAR PORN http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/ Making the Connections Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:32:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Josiah http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-7131 Josiah Tue, 20 Dec 2005 04:03:02 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-7131 Sorry to resurrect this unsavory topic, but people need to see this. I just found a web site where soldiers in Iraq are posting videos they have made of killing Iraqi civilians. This is one of them, and it's called "Fallujah, Iraq: 2004": http://video.freevideoblog.com/Player.aspx?fileid=A04259D0-6891-43F1-91F5-7BD4A6214F88&kw=81&p=0 Talk about a "patriarchal death cult". This film cross-cuts images of U.S. soldiers bombarding houses and buildings in Fallujah in 2004 with images of Iraqi corpses (all male), set to some kind of satanic rock-rap soundtrack. It's supposed to be entertaining, I guess. I did some digging and found out that this film is posted on a web site funded (indirectly, at the very least) by the department of defense. It's available on the “Free Video Blog” as the first of twenty videos on the “Iraq War” channel. This channel is sandwiched between the “Funny” channel and the “Kids” channel, along with eighteen others constituting a bizarre mixture of the innocuous (“Soccer,” “Cats”) and the crude (“Drunk People,” “Fights”). The Free Video Blog is part of the Vidiac Network, which is “one of the many successful companies to grow out of Georgia Tech.” (http://www.vidiac.com/about.htm) Anybody here from Atlanta might know that the Georgia Institute of Technology is a major hub of military research, and in 2000 was ranked fourteenth among American universities in Department of Defense funding. (http://www.utwatch.org/war/) This video is clearly not some anonymous, amateur production, but direct outgrowths of the U.S. military budget. According to the credits, "Fallujah, Iraq: 2004" was not directed by some low-ranking soldier, but by “Lieutenant Colonel Alano”. So here we have a case where a mid-ranking officer is filming his troops killing Iraqi men, women and children, tweaking the footage to make it seem like some kind of adrenaline-pumping, hateful music video, and posting it on a pentagon-funded web site. Last I checked, nearly 8,000 people had downloaded it. The first comment is, "very good man very good! this video is a must! " This is what neo-colonial reality TV looks like. Sorry to resurrect this unsavory topic, but people need to see this. I just found a web site where soldiers in Iraq are posting videos they have made of killing Iraqi civilians. This is one of them, and it’s called “Fallujah, Iraq: 2004″:

http://video.freevideoblog.com/Player.aspx?fileid=A04259D0-6891-43F1-91F5-7BD4A6214F88&kw=81&p=0

Talk about a “patriarchal death cult”. This film cross-cuts images of U.S. soldiers bombarding houses and buildings in Fallujah in 2004 with images of Iraqi corpses (all male), set to some kind of satanic rock-rap soundtrack. It’s supposed to be entertaining, I guess. I did some digging and found out that this film is posted on a web site funded (indirectly, at the very least) by the department of defense.

It’s available on the “Free Video Blog” as the first of twenty videos on the “Iraq War” channel. This channel is sandwiched between the “Funny” channel and the “Kids” channel, along with eighteen others constituting a bizarre mixture of the innocuous (“Soccer,” “Cats”) and the crude (“Drunk People,” “Fights”). The Free Video Blog is part of the Vidiac Network, which is “one of the many successful companies to grow out of Georgia Tech.” (http://www.vidiac.com/about.htm) Anybody here from Atlanta might know that the Georgia Institute of Technology is a major hub of military research, and in 2000 was ranked fourteenth among American universities in Department of Defense funding. (http://www.utwatch.org/war/)

This video is clearly not some anonymous, amateur production, but direct outgrowths of the U.S. military budget. According to the credits, “Fallujah, Iraq: 2004″ was not directed by some low-ranking soldier, but by “Lieutenant Colonel Alano”. So here we have a case where a mid-ranking officer is filming his troops killing Iraqi men, women and children, tweaking the footage to make it seem like some kind of adrenaline-pumping, hateful music video, and posting it on a pentagon-funded web site. Last I checked, nearly 8,000 people had downloaded it. The first comment is, “very good man very good! this video is a must! ”

This is what neo-colonial reality TV looks like.

]]> By: Josh http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2348 Josh Sun, 11 Sep 2005 06:55:30 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2348 I saw the exact picture Goff describes in his article. Some of the other pics are more gruesome, but the picture of the woman's leg struck is what struck me and left me feeling truely cold. I don't know why, maybe just the sheer absurdity or juxtaposition of the grievous wound next to the vagina, litteraly "war-porn", but it just left my mind blank... I hope some soldiers heed Goff's call to not lose their humanity; a couple have, at least. I saw the exact picture Goff describes in his article. Some of the other pics are more gruesome, but the picture of the woman’s leg struck is what struck me and left me feeling truely cold. I don’t know why, maybe just the sheer absurdity or juxtaposition of the grievous wound next to the vagina, litteraly “war-porn”, but it just left my mind blank…

I hope some soldiers heed Goff’s call to not lose their humanity; a couple have, at least.

]]> By: nuttymango http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2262 nuttymango Sun, 04 Sep 2005 14:40:40 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2262 I'm so tired of fighting a world that seems hell-bent on normalizing the worst aspects of human nature. But at least I'm not alone thanks to blogs like this one. The latest assault on my peace of mind? Pat Robertson supports a "born again Christian" jihad against women in Guatamala. You folks probably know all about it but I just learned of it over at www.warandpiece.com. Here's the link: http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002426.html I’m so tired of fighting a world that seems hell-bent on normalizing the worst aspects of human nature. But at least I’m not alone thanks to blogs like this one.

The latest assault on my peace of mind? Pat Robertson supports a “born again Christian” jihad against women in Guatamala. You folks probably know all about it but I just learned of it over at http://www.warandpiece.com. Here’s the link:

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002426.html

]]> By: Lawrence http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2233 Lawrence Fri, 02 Sep 2005 13:59:59 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2233 Thank you for bringing this out. War is horrible as it is, we don't need this dirty trade added to it. Even though I understand that it must be somehow a coping strategy for the soldiers, there must be better ways do deal with war trauma or with what they saw in Iraq. Thank you for bringing this out. War is horrible as it is, we don’t need this dirty trade added to it.
Even though I understand that it must be somehow a coping strategy for the soldiers, there must be better ways do deal with war trauma or with what they saw in Iraq.

]]> By: Alycia A. Barr http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2231 Alycia A. Barr Fri, 02 Sep 2005 10:20:02 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2231 Could only make it through 1/2 doz.files on that site, then got physically ill. This is what our "best of the best" are resorting to for entertainment...or maybe that should be reduced to. The disrespected engaged in overseas will eventually be brought back home in one form or another, we're already seeing it. By the way, excellent breakdown on the "Exit Strategy" being used by the Congressmen as a diversion, and division in the peace community. In Peace and Humanity Could only make it through 1/2 doz.files on that site, then got physically ill. This is what our “best of the best” are resorting to for entertainment…or maybe that should be reduced to. The disrespected engaged in overseas will eventually be brought back home in one form or another, we’re already seeing it.
By the way, excellent breakdown on the “Exit Strategy” being used by the Congressmen as a diversion, and division in the peace community.
In Peace and Humanity

]]> By: thecutter http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2228 thecutter Fri, 02 Sep 2005 08:09:18 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2228 I wouldn't go to the site to see the pictures, but did look at the rules link. The comments included someone protesting that it wouldn't be so great if we thought that something of the sort might happen to GIs. Someone of course corrected him and told him that the site moderator was really great and made sure it was only the "enemy" who had the picture of his or her mutiliation. Someone else even said, "Hey, when I'm dead you can put my picture up" as some kind of justification. I tend to think that the thing they are forgetting is that it is unfathomable for Iraqis to do such a thing, yet the Americans feel morally superior. Thanks for this article Stan. (forwarded from Uruknet). Keep up your great work. I wouldn’t go to the site to see the pictures, but did look at the rules link. The comments included someone protesting that it wouldn’t be so great if we thought that something of the sort might happen to GIs. Someone of course corrected him and told him that the site moderator was really great and made sure it was only the “enemy” who had the picture of his or her mutiliation. Someone else even said, “Hey, when I’m dead you can put my picture up” as some kind of justification.

I tend to think that the thing they are forgetting is that it is unfathomable for Iraqis to do such a thing, yet the Americans feel morally superior.

Thanks for this article Stan. (forwarded from Uruknet). Keep up your great work.

]]> By: peggy http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2220 peggy Fri, 02 Sep 2005 04:42:32 +0000 http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2005/09/01/war-porn/#comment-2220 About six hours ago I looked at a few pictures on this site. Thought about them for a while, and about what they mean. Tried to return to the site just now to see the rest of the pictures, and found that the site was down. Don't know if this is a coincidence or not. What the pictures portray is horrendous. That is what war looks like. When I returned to the site, I was wondering whether there were similar pictures of the mutilated bodies of US soldiers. But, as I said, when I returned, the site was inaccessible. Perhaps you could tell us whether there are pictures of "our own" guys or girls with their heads blown off, their guts spilling out, their genitals exposed or blasted away altogether. Because, as you know, some of "our own" will have ended up just like that. The site is ambiguous. For some, perhaps, it is "titillating." But my thought as I viewed the pictures was, _of course_ the kids who took those pictures are fucked up. They are fucked up by the war. The war itself is fucked up. And that to me is the main message of the site. And that is why the US Gov would not want such pictures shown - not because they expose the military to be racist and patriarchal. Who doesn't know that already? Those very traits are what attract certain kinds of kids to the military in the first place. But once they see the reality, they may realize that it is not so fun and glorious after all. About six hours ago I looked at a few pictures on this site. Thought about them for a while, and about what they mean. Tried to return to the site just now to see the rest of the pictures, and found that the site was down. Don’t know if this is a coincidence or not.

What the pictures portray is horrendous. That is what war looks like. When I returned to the site, I was wondering whether there were similar pictures of the mutilated bodies of US soldiers. But, as I said, when I returned, the site was inaccessible. Perhaps you could tell us whether there are pictures of “our own” guys or girls with their heads blown off, their guts spilling out, their genitals exposed or blasted away altogether. Because, as you know, some of “our own” will have ended up just like that.

The site is ambiguous. For some, perhaps, it is “titillating.” But my thought as I viewed the pictures was, _of course_ the kids who took those pictures are fucked up. They are fucked up by the war. The war itself is fucked up. And that to me is the main message of the site. And that is why the US Gov would not want such pictures shown - not because they expose the military to be racist and patriarchal. Who doesn’t know that already? Those very traits are what attract certain kinds of kids to the military in the first place. But once they see the reality, they may realize that it is not so fun and glorious after all.

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