Invincible Summer |||

The Hollywood effect

Is this the Hollywood effect in international relations? We watch horror and thriller films for the adrenaline rush of fear, and the relief when it ends. Has the preposterous ‘War on Terror’ become a entertainment brand in which we collaborate in being scared in the expectation that Arnie or the US military will appear at the last moment and save us? And justify treating this solemnly because real people are getting killed? These endless recitations of the importance of ‘security’ allow us to look away from the violence we inflict or sponsor. ‘Real people’ getting killed refers to dozens in Europe, thousands in America — not tens of thousands in Palestine, not the half-million in that Iraq.

On any reasonably objective test the United Kingdom and the United States are nuclear-armed rogue states, sponsors of terror.

We are what we fear.

Up next Give war a chance A claim that only an idiot or a member of the British government could believe More dancing
Latest posts In the mean time between failures For Nigel, whenever I might find him A struggle for life Notes on post-secular – 2 Before I forget Homily 1 – Education Heroes and villeins Swimming to America Notes on post-secular – 1 Meditation as civil resistance Without reservations Tour notes A revolution in France Your right to bare arms Y q? The return of the king Clarity, rigour and Rory Stewart The World’s End Book Club Remembering Bel Macdonald Barts hearts and faces Summer on wheels All that jazz: The librarian’s song Sandals on their way home A short history of the Australian Flat White Cycling glove, slightly foxed Untoward occurrence at embassy poetry reading To Go to Lvov The founding of Iverson College The pot-boy’s story Prisoners of our own device How green is my valley