Posts Tagged with ''Television''

Operation Hollywood

By Evan Long, on December 22nd, 2010%

Although much more conservative and restrained than, say, “Psywar,” this presentation, which builds upon the research of David Robb, raises some important questions about the relationship between Hollywood and the Pentagon. [END] Permalink: Operation Hollywood

Evidence of Revision 1: The Assassinations of Kennedy and Oswald

By Evan Long, on November 22nd, 2010%

Above is part one of six of “Evidence of Revision,” an eight-hour video collection which covers many a taboo subject in American history including the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, the causes of the Vietnam war, the social uprisings of the 1960s and ’70s, the Jonestown massacre, government mind control programs such as MKULTRA, and vote rigging and political corruption at the highest levels. This installment, which opens with an excellent video collage on “conspiracy theory,” focuses on the highly suspicious assassination of U. S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. From a long and rambling introduction from a news commentator upon Kennedy’s arrival concerning the assassination of William McKinley to reports and video of two rifles and two different types of ammunition having been found in the Texas School Book Depository from where Kennedy was officially shot to the arrest and assassination of presumed killer Lee Oswald, himself, “Evidence of Revision” is a moving overview of the many questions which still remain concerning this watershed event. [END] Permalink: Evidence of Revision 1: The Assassinations of Kennedy and Oswald

Globalization and the Media & Who Really Owns the Mainstream Media

By Evan Long, on November 19th, 2010%

Above are two short media-critical films from different filmmakers. At top, “Globalization and the Media” from the Media Education Foundation highlights the rise of independent and primarily internet-based journalism in recent years. (Many more excellent videos touching on various topics related to the media and society are available at the link.) At bottom, part three of “Who Really Owns the Mainstream Media” (parts one and two are unavailable) discusses the convergence of upper-class interests in the governance of American media. [END] Permalink: Globalization and the Media & Who Really Owns the Mainstream Media

Hearts and Minds

By Evan Long, on November 12th, 2010%

The Vietnam war was about communism and the “domino theory,” “they” say. Then again, some of the same “them” also say that today’s so-called “war on terror” is about terrorism and “fightin’ ‘em over there so we don’t have to fight ‘em over here.” This gem from the Criterion Collection explores other ideas about the United States’ financial and military involvement in the war to control the natural resources and people (“human resources”) of southeast Asia, and relates various accounts of individuals connected with it in some way. [END] Permalink: Hearts and Minds

Vietnam: American Holocaust

By Evan Long, on November 10th, 2010%

This incredibly frank Vietnam war documentary takes a bold look at the outrageously cynical political maneuvering behind the United States’ military involvement in Southeast Asia, first as a financial and political backer of imperial France, then as an installer of various puppet regimes, and finally through the stupefying and horrific violence of the many years of combat which followed. No matter how much or how little you may know about the Vietnam war, “Vietnam: American Holocaust” is simply not to be missed. [END] Permalink: Vietnam: American Holocaust

Spin

By Evan Long, on October 13th, 2010%

In 1992, Brian Springer spent months cruising the back channels of satellite TV feeds and came up with hours and hours of “news behind the news” which were to be edited out by the networks. His documentary, “Spin,” demonstrates how TV personalities act when they don’t think anyone’s watching and the careful perception management that goes into the crafting of the American political landscape. With a special focus on the Bush-Clinton-Perot presidential race, “Spin” will probably give you new insights into modern democracy. [END] Permalink: Spin

The PentaCon: Smoking Gun Version

By Evan Long, on September 20th, 2010%

Between 2003 and 2006, not a great deal of new research on 9/11 was performed. A majority of the information which circulated at this time criticizing the official story of the attacks was based upon points which had already been made in years prior. In 2007, however, the Citizen Investigation Team published new information in “The PentaCon,” a video which summarized their original interviews with eyewitnesses to the Pentagon attack, a segment of the attacks which had left so many researchers confused due to the lack of video footage of the event and other factors. From their research, the CIT group came to the conclusion that a large airplane had most likely flown toward the Pentagon along a different trajectory than the official one, then flew over the top of the section of the Pentagon which showed damage later on while an explosion of some other origin occurred which was responsible for the explosion there. Many of the witnesses to this event specifically stated that the plane made its approach on the north side rather than the south side of a CITGO gas station near to the Pentagon, meaning that the plane’s trajectory could not match the official version and its downed light poles and other damage. [END] Permalink: The PentaCon: Smoking Gun Version

Enemy Image

By Evan Long, on August 30th, 2010%

“Enemy Image” is a history of the American media’s presentation of U. S. wars and the U. S. government and military’s fight to control that presentation, beginning with Vietnam and moving on through the 2003 war in Iraq. While early newsreels, with their patriotic narrative overdubs, presented a polished and sterile image of heroic troops bravely fighting like a well-oiled machine, the relatively unregulated television journalism of the later 1960s showed the common soldier up-close and personal, without the touch-ups of Hollywood. Although the film has a curious lack of mention of the late ’90s war in eastern Europe, it does a good job of comparing the Vietnam era to the much more heavily controlled time from the 1980s to today. “Everybody just wants to go home and go to school. [...] The whole thing stinks.” – U. S. soldier in Vietnam [END] Permalink: Enemy Image

Iraq: The Hidden War

By Evan Long, on August 20th, 2010%

BBC reporter Jon Snow’s “Iraq: The Hidden War” focuses on the impossibility of accurate media coverage, or even of much media coverage at all in Iraq’s “Red Zone,” the unsheltered area of extreme violence outside of the heavily fortified U. S. military compound known as the “Green Zone” in Baghdad. The U. S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has resulted in a deadly destabilization of the country, where electricity is often available only a few hours per day and the cost of fuel has skyrocketed, where it can be purchased at all. In Iraq, much of the journalism by Westerners must be done from within the Green Zone and consists of the editing of footage shot by hired locals paid to capture what they can where it is safe to get a story. Reporters then attempt to apply what context is available to them to weave a narrative for the viewer. The kidnapping of journalists in Iraq is widespread and cameramen must be extraordinarily careful when in the field. These difficulties have resulted in a war of which the reality, the overwhelming day-to-day violence, has yet to be fully appreciated by the Western nations whose governments have commissioned the fight. [END] Permalink: Iraq: The Hidden War

It Can’t Happen Here

By Evan Long, on July 21st, 2010%

Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel, It Can’t Happen Here, is simply a must-read. While more widely known and certainly important social and human commentaries such as Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World have received the lion’s share of attention among dystopian literature enthusiasts for their surreal, almost fantastic depictions of totalitarian super-states, It Can’t Happen Here, out of print for years but republished in 1993 and now available for free on-line, paints a starkly realistic portrait of a political seizure of the United States by fascists. Several European governments had come under fascist regimes at the time of the novel’s writing and Lewis, with his keen grasp of American politics, was able in It Can’t Happen Here to create a convincing narrative of such a series of events taking place in the U. S. Indeed, the reactionary incrementalism which has made itself felt since about the time of Nixon and especially during the George W. Bush presidency has borne more than a passing resemblance to Lewis’ detailed and accurate vision. In 2010, the worst may be behind us or it may still lie ahead. In any case, this brilliantly prescient work can serve for us as a potent aid to reflection and also to action on the political, economic and social crises we are facing. As Lewis’ thoughtful protagonist, fictional Vermonter Doremus Jessup, notes from his flea-ridden bunk in a “Corpo” (corporatist) concentration camp, It Can’t Happen Here‘s fascists were able to have their way mainly because those who believed in American democracy did not do enough to halt its destruction. [END] Permalink: It Can’t Happen Here

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Operation Hollywood

Evidence of Revision 1: The Assassinations of Kennedy and Oswald

Hearts and Minds

Vietnam: American Holocaust

Spin

The PentaCon: Smoking Gun Version

Enemy Image

Iraq: The Hidden War

It Can’t Happen Here

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