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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Soldiers on YouTube
Want to understand how citizen media is changing how we see the world? Watch this video (via Daily Dish) of American soldiers destroying a house in Iraq. A soldier posted it to YouTube. No doubt the military will soon crack down on such an unfiltered perspective of war.
July 20, 2006 at 10:13 AM in Media/Keeping an eye on the competition | Permalink
Comments
This video brought up several questions for me, not the least of which is the fact that we dropped not one but two of those 500 LB bombs on a "farmhouse" where Zarqaoui (Fmr leader of Al-Quaida in Iraq) was hiding out-and yet when we are shown a picture of a "dead" Zarqaoui we are able to recognize his face. Am I the only one who thinks this a bit odd? I can not believe the official story of his death nor the official conspiracy theory of 911-that 19 boxcutter wielding individuals who trained for their operation in Afghanistan a country which hasn't changed much in centuries-could defeat the worlds most sophisticated air-defense network.
Having said that, methinks technology might surpass "news" (as we know it) unless the powers that BE find a way to shut it down (read: net nutrality).
My final question about this vid is do you not find it ironic that a video fully stained by "patriotic nationalism" should possably become a thorn in the side of the Pentagon?
Posted by: Peter Stevenson | Jul 22, 2006 1:36:19 PM
This video clip is creepy. I watch it in my kitchen, on a laptop, and it just seems like a scene from a video game. The thing is, I can't shake the feeling that it seems like a video game to the soldiers, too.
Even their slang for the enemy, "Hadji," seems filtered through cartoon consciousness ("Jonny Quest"). Some of this is probably self-protective, a kind of distancing, but if it's all just cartoons and video games--for us back home too--how do we get from where we are now to "game over"? And how do they (and we) learn to live again in the real world when it's over?
Posted by: baseballpajamas | Jul 22, 2006 2:26:41 PM
It *is* creepy, isn't it?
Posted by: cresmer | Jul 23, 2006 1:21:30 PM
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