Grip!, by Every Little Thing. For maximum effect, I recommend playing it for 2 hours on repeat. This will encourage the onset of a trancelike state of heightened acuity, suitable for the devising of military strategy.
In particular, this is the soundtrack to my methodical planning of the invasion of North Korea, with 10,000 armoured troops and 150,000 aerostatic robots at my disposal.
Listen for the synth solo at 3:20 in! This element of the song accompanies, in my mind, an important stage in the opening phases of the campaign, namely the destruction of PyongYang by aerial bombardment, followed by the initial deployment of the mechanised suits beginning their high-speed assault. All of it in widescreen, immersive HDTV.
I wonder how long it will be before revenue from TV audiences can underwrite the total expense of a limited war? How long before it’s a made-for-TV production, like everything else?
I envisage a media production company which does nothing but plan and stage such events, purely for profit, solely for the excitement and approval of its global audience. Is this not the purest form of capitalist democracy? Who the hell would stop them?
I’d watch it. In fact I’d watch nothing else.
Tags: Plans
September 23rd, 2005 at 4:57 am
I envisage a media production company which does nothing but plan and stage such events, purely for profit, solely for the excitement and approval of its global audience.
If you haven’t seen Wag the Dog, do so, it deals almost precisely with that subject.
September 23rd, 2005 at 5:50 am
Actually I haven’t seen that, but have meant to for some time. Thank you for your reminder; I shall seek to view it as soon as the laws of physics conceivably allow.
However, not having seen a film has never managed to actually stop me from commenting on it, and so I’ll say this: I believe that film deals more with a media/government cover-up than what I proposed. A politician, implicated in an oncoming scandal, seeks to divert attention by fomenting a war. I meant that I believe a situation might conceivable arise in which the media company plans, stages and covers the war, purely for the benefit of its ratings and its viewers, using privately-held military capability, unsupported (but perhaps tacitly unchallenged) by any state. There are already companies with the kind of clout that they could pull this kind of thing off: Hyundai springs to mind, the Japanese Zaibatsu, GE, even Philips. All of these companies are huge, much larger than most people think; all have the requisite combination of media presence and access to advanced hardware; all are influential with their governments. All it would require is a dramatic lessening in government ability, or will, to control para-military activity. It won’t happen overnight, of course, but I don’t think it is impossible.
It is difficult, admittedly, to imagine GE or Philips convincing their host governments to allow such activities. It is much easier to imagine the likes of Hyundai or Daewoo getting their way. These companies have influence on their host states far beyond what we, living as we do in western-style societies, are accustomed to.
The power of nation-states is weakening, not strengthening. The power of private enterprise is strengthening, not weakening. In 20 years’ time, perhaps, it is possible.