Saturday, January 10, 2009
techmology and spectacle
Lenin, who has been cranking out great post after great post on the Gaza slaughter, points to two interesting, well one interesting the other nauseating, uses of technology in the "war of ideas". The first is an attempt by demonstrators at the massive protest in London, between 100K and 200K people, to use the intertrons to circumvent media distortion.
The second is the use of pay-per-view cable in Israel to turn the murder of humans into commercial entertainment:
posted by Scats : 1/10/2009 04:51:00 PM
The second is the use of pay-per-view cable in Israel to turn the murder of humans into commercial entertainment:
How does it work? Let's say that after a full day of Yonit, Yaacov and Ronny Daniel [TV anchors] you're feeling a little low. War-shwmar, whatever, but what about a little entertainment? Escapism? Something for your soul? You calmly go into Hot’s VOD and there on the main menu waiting for you is the category of Cast Lead. You select it and there you are -- whole worlds of rich and entertaining content, courtesy of the IDF Spokesperson Office!
In the "operational activity" category, for instance, you are invited to choose between "Air Force assaults," "Navy assaults" and "humanitarian activities." -- just a minute, isn't that category included in the previous two anyway? -- and watch ourselves, as one poetic reserve soldier put it, give it to the Arabs in the whatever.
For starters I treated myself to a film of "assault on the Hulafaa Mosque," after the selection of which the screen wished me "pleasant viewing." I really did enjoy it like I haven't enjoyed anything since my circumcision. After the sights stop on the mosque, the business is bombed from above; a giant bright cloud fills the screen and then a close-up of the burning mosque. No plot, no acting, no sound, no nonsense: straight to the action. If only all porn was like this!
posted by Scats : 1/10/2009 04:51:00 PM
