Mass Media and Militarism 1

Abstract This paper looks at the marketing of war through mass media as opposed to the true real bloody and often without rules war that is true war. Mass media marketing of militarism comes in an array of different avenues. Some of the most popular television shows, movies, and novels of all time have dealt with some aspect of militarism. As if war was like the movie Stealth, Iron Man or GiJoe or possibly the television show Star Trek, Babylon 5, even Star Wars for example; what about war as portrayed in a supposedly historical rendition of a world long gone such as those represented in cowboy movies, ancient epics, in which a brave soul must battle against impossible odds to save a loved one. What they have in common is the fact that they are all about peace and the processes of battle that must be endured in order to obtain peace. These epics and movies are not a realistic tell of war and military but are in many Americans minds the actual reality they like to believe to keep war clean. We must not blame our citizens for this unrealistic view on war as our media -- news, movies, commercials and propaganda -- promotes this, non-bloody, futuristic vision of airpower and exact war; yet we all know that peace does not come without war and mass media and Hollywood knows that violence sells.

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Mass Media and Militarism, the Art of Marketing War Mass media marketing of militarism comes in an array of different avenues. Some of the most popular television shows, movies, and novels of all time have dealt with some aspect of militarism. As if war was like the television show Star Trek, or it can be a supposedly historical rendition of a world long gone such as those represented in cowboy movies, ancient epics, in which a brave soul must battle against impossible odds to save a loved one. What they have in common is the fact that they are all about peace and the processes of battle that must be endured in order to obtain peace. As Lee stated in chapter 9 by Adrian Lewis, the American perception of war, post the Second World War visualizes war as it was portrayed on Star Trek, (2011, p. 195) as if it can take place in the distance future. This epic television show and movies are not a realistic tell of war and military but are in many Americans minds the actual reality they like to believe to keep war clean. We must not blame our citizens of this unrealistic view on war as our media; news, movies, commercials and propaganda, promotes this, nonbloody, futuristic vision of airpower and exact war. As a result, a process of Orwellian doublethink evolves that equates peace with war. One cannot exist without the other or, as Orwells citizens of Oceania understand -- War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. However, as the series and the technology in Star Trek have evolved, its primary principle has not. The fundamental concept holds that peace must be maintained at all costs, including war. While the starship crews boldly go into space in order to seek out new life, the fact remains that there has to be a great deal of violence along the path of such a quest.

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American vision of war is evident today on evening televisionand it is wrong to conclude that Gene Roddberry or any other science fiction writer created this vision alone (Lee, 2011, p. 1950). Wayne Ross (1999) also makes an interesting point when he notes that Star Trek reflects certain political, social, and metaphysical views, and on close examination they are not worthy of the kind of tribute that is often paid to Star Trek as representing an edifying vision of things (friesian.com/trek.htm). He goes on to note that there is no reference to the religious beliefs of the crew other than those of the Vulcans or Klingons (and the occasional human, Chakotay, with Mesoamerican beliefs in the spirit world). There is no apparent commerce in terms of buying and selling. In fact, those who are buyers and sellers, the Ferengi, are looked down upon as mercenary opportunists. All that appears to be left in the world of the Federation is military life and it has resulted in peace, prosperity, and rational behavior. In the 1996 movie Star Trek: First Contact, Jean Luc Picard explains how things have changed in the 24th century: The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force; we work to better humanity, as Ross points out: Perhaps Picard never stopped to reflect that greater wealth means greater material well-being, which is to the betterment of humanity much more than any empty rhetoric. But this is typical of Star Trek (friesian.com/trek.htm). Star Trek and all its permutations serves as an example of the ways in which the mass media and therefore popular culture continues to extol the virtues of militarism . . . as long as it takes place in the pursuit of peace. Ross (1999) explains further: Trying to soften this by including families and recreation on the Enterprise in fact makes the impression worse, since to the extent that such a life is ordinary and permanent for its

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members, it is all the easier to imagine that all life in the Federation is of this sort. Not just a military, but militarism (friesian.com/trek.htm). In Lees book, War and Culture in World History, he essentially summarizes the view of Americans in his first few paragraphs, Americans accepted a new theory of war, a theory based on airpower and advanced technologies (2011, p. 187). War and those who fight has changed since World War II; examples from the twenty-first century being independent armies from the United States and overseas, unmanned aircraft and the hands-off approach of the American population. Much like you see in Star Trek as those that man the ship are from planets other than Earth and if you recall there are only two earth citizens aboard the Starship. Mass media unintentionally or intentionally lays out the view Americans take on war. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, in Manufacturing Consent, commented that the purpose of mass media was to, inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society (pp.1). Chomsky and Hermans propaganda model of the media theorizes that a set of five filters exist that act to sift through the news and other information dispersed through the mass media channels. They include: (1) the size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and experts funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; (4) flak as a means of disciplining the media; and (5) anti-communism as a national religion and control mechanism. It is a scheme worthy of the Ministry of Truth with substantial back-up from

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the Ministry of Plenty. After information passes through such filters, only the cleansed residue is released to the public. That residue repeatedly emphasizes the importance and absolute necessity of a militaristic orientation in order to attain and maintain peace in any particular region of the world or between differing groups of people, such as the intent of the United States getting involved in Iraq. Again, war is peace. What is presented time and time again in Orwells novel as the oppressive nature of a society in which thoughts, desires, beliefs, and even emotions are all manipulated by the telescreen. Such oppression and manipulations should be viewed with an eye to the modern and real worlds own dependence and belief in the messages presented by the mass media. Whether or not information is presented through the media in the form of entertainment or news, it has been shaped to conform to the reality as perceived by the media and those who control the media. If the media presents the world in ways that have been predetermined, then the concept of free speech is truly an example of doublethink. Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, there has been a distinct political ideology that incorporates militarism, economic activity, collective social purposes such as health and welfare, and entertainment to create the contemporary doublethink that has, for the most part, broken down rational thinking and beliefs. Regardless of the fact that peace is always promoted as the most essential aspect of human nature and the only way in which people of different cultures and ethnicity can ever hope to get along, the media constantly portrays bloody battles, political insurrection and rebellion

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as necessary components of what is most often referred to as the peace process. The way logic is justified, is violence is the service of a greater purpose. Perhaps it is important to remember Orwells statement: Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot be come conscious (p. 61). For example, the message that is constantly broadcast regarding the Middle East and the peace process is always colored by the images of stone-throwing Palestinians and uniformed Israelis. Such a dichotomy is repeatedly presented in television and movie stories regarding the heroism of one group, defeat of a people, heroes versus villains, and good against evil. Peace is clearly not the direct path to prosperity but militarism is. Therefore, as sad as it may be, wars must be fought and profits made in order to assure peace. The truth, regardless of Hollywoods mass media puffery, medias exaggeration and the news podcasts of warfare and battle is that violence sells.

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Reference Herman, Edward S.; Noam Choamsky (1988) Manufacturing consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media New York, NY: Pantheon Books. Lee, Wayne E. (2011). War and Culture in World History: New York, NY: New York University Press. Orwell, George (1949) 1984 (New York: Putnam-Penguin/Signet Classic, 1977). Ross, Kelley L., (1999, January 10) The Fascist ideology of Star Trek: Militarism, Collectivism, and Atheism, http://www.friesian.com/trek.htm