James Bond Never Killed Babies

(In an earlier comment dealing with the last book, I said that Noam Chomsky is the source of all things intellectual. Please note page 15 of Weapons of Mass Persuasion… HE’S BACK!)

I love the idea of “infotainment.” The real “Reality TV” is on the twenty-four hour news networks. From FOX’s dramatic CGI animation, to CNN’s orchestral intro and outro music, the news stations are addictive. As Rutherford points out on page 5, “The serious business of politics is invaded by the spirit of carnival.”

I love Rutherford’s progression through the chapter. He starts out with the importance of television and how it is the most influential medium, especially in North America and Europe. He also touches on the “Persuaders” argument which he’ll probably get into later in the book. But as far as this section, I think it is important to realize how television is warping people’s concept of reality. I’m not talking about the bias in the news, but the horrible surreal images in modern entertainment: movies, tv show, even books. Perceptions are skewed and subliminal messages are imbedded into the minds of those weak enough to fall into the trap.

Political marketing is a chore, especially when selling a war. It’s really hard to sell something, as Rutherford put it, “when the lives of children are at stake.” For example, just a few weeks ago, a family of 11 people were killed in a U.S./Iraqi Police led raid. They weren’t just killed, their hands were bound and they were shot in the back of the head, execution style. The youngest family member was a 7 month old baby. However, you didn’t see that story on the television, so I’ll show them to you here.

When there is live coverage of an attack in Iraq, we sit in silence watching a live stream from a night vision camera. Occasionally there is a bright green explosion. The news commentators tell us how this attack will lead to the capture of a “bad guy” or “villain” as they are portrayed with unrelenting media bias. People fail to realize that behind every explosion, there are innocent people dying. People forget that they are watching, live on television, the execution of hundreds of innocent civilians. However, as we have seen in action movies like James Bond, the only goal is to catch the bad guy. There are no deaths attributed to those explosions in action movies. When bad guys are actually killed, they are just that: bad guys. Plus, there deaths are so quick and painless that we could care less how many Russians are killed by Bond.

I’ve gone on long enough I imagine. However, I would like to say this. Next time you go to see the next blockbuster movie and waste a week of your life talking about it, think about how distracted you’ve become; think about the 7-month-old babies with gaping bullet wounds in the back of their heads and ask yourself this: “What have I done to change the fascist government that has taken over this country?”