VOICES: Once Upon a Wartime .....
"Don't report that there was a split decision in the hall because five loud people booed," award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore prophetically urged one reporter following his controversial anti-Bush Oscar acceptance speech.
Most bizarre and very discomforting is that the very same articles which cited these words, beyond fulfilling Moore's prophecy, otherwise failed to acknowledge any reaction but outrage.
"(Documentary filmmakers) like nonfiction," said Moore as he stood on-stage, united in dissension with his fellow nominees. "We live in fictitious times, and we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president that sends us to war for fictitious reasons," he continued.
The subdued pleas for peace uttered by actors Adrien Brody and Chris Cooper and the silent dove pins wore by a slew of others were better-received statements and therefore more obviously effective. But Moore raised what just might be one of the most important issues we are currently facing - the far too fuzzy line between reality and invention as we witness this war at the peak of reality TV.
It generally goes without saying that the only "real" to be found in "reality" TV is in the lack of a script. The programs are blatantly contrived but they entertain us so we put up with them. One week into "Operation Iraqi Freedom," I can't help but ponder a similar acceptance of the showing put forth by our network news media and also our government. We are being bombarded with reports and propaganda and speculation at such a relentless pace - perhaps we, the American news digesting public, are the real target of the "shock and awe" campaign. Got Bismol?
Every time the leader of Iraq makes an appearance the discussion begins again - Is it Saddam or is Memorex? The American taste for conspiracy theories is being exploited. Footage of surrendering Iraqis was staged by the US, Iraqi officials claim. Those were American actors, they cry.
Actors or not, personalities dot the airwaves. I've got a favorite war correspondent already. Do you? ABC's Richard Engel is in Baghdad and he's absolutely adorable. He's right in the hot seat but he checks in with Peter Jennings faithfully. A skillful journalist, he quickly communicates exciting messages in common language. And did I mention he's cute as a red, white and blue button? And when the media work together with the government, the results are dazzling. It only took one business day to establish the rugged, Simple Simon persona of General Tommy Franks!
The propaganda is so transparent it's beyond insulting. The blatant disrespect we've seen for the word "freedom" has permanently killed my desire to use the word. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the phrase "human shield" implies, but I'm pretty sure it's the US military's way of proactively pinning the bulk of civilian casualties on Saddam.
Thanks to super fast internet connections we can now relegate the war to a minimal window in the little corner of our computer screens, periodically glancing over as we work to make sure we don't miss anything. This is a psychological war, as you've likely heard them say, and we're all its victims. The casualties will include not so many lives as souls wounded and minds confused.
Reality is difficult to discern but it's out there. The reality of this war hit me when my brother-in-law explained that before his honorable discharge in 1997, he was in the same battalion at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas, as the soldiers from the 507th maintenance now enduring Allah-only-knows-what as POWs.
What's real is the inevitable depression many will feel but few will admit. The reality is the loss of productivity in the workplace now that we're all watching the war, reading about the war, and talking about the war when not too busy being preoccupied with fears of economic recession and retaliatory homeland attacks.
I accept the cliche - truth really is the first casualty of war. Now what do you suppose the second, third and fourth might be?
-- alicia grega-pikul, 27 March 2003
