<< PRESIDENT PLEASES OPPONENT ~ MAIN ~ THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW >>
US SUPERSIZED
Ads on SBS for upcoming anti-US documentary Enemy Image refer to the US as “the world’s largest democracy”.
Er, that would be India. Well done, multicultural broadcaster.
Well, we’re the world’s physically largest democracy, if you bear in mind that Russia cancelled democracy due to lack of funds and Canada isn’t a real country anyway.
Posted by Aaron - Freewill on 2005 08 14 at 12:07 PM • permalinkSo this is just a Burchett love story?
Great, let’s get all the old communist reporters together and do a documentary on their views! How about we do a Jane Fondaesque “I [heart] Communists” tour of North Korea next?
http://www.awm.gov.au/korea/faces/burchett/burchett.htm
Posted by Secret Agent X-9 on 2005 08 14 at 01:31 PM • permalinkFrom the documentary description…
“Vietnam was the “living room war,” the first war played out on television. The debate over whether or not television “lost the war” has had far-reaching consequences on how we see war on television today. The Pentagon and the White House have evolved strategies to control the image of war. Television has adapted.”
Your problem isn’t that the Pentagon has “developed strategies to control the image of war”, your problem is that Iraq simply is NOT Vietnam. In Iraq, the US has lost an average of 700 soldiers PER YEAR. In Vietnam, that was the total PER WEEK. This is the reason for the lack of outrage and bloody scenes broadcast to American living rooms. Simply comparing it to Vietnam constantly does not make it so.
Maybe they meant the world’s largest democracy where a cow is not considered to be the reincarnation of your grandmother. Seriously, though, it looks like ties between India and the U.S. are getting stronger, and it’s good to have some friends in the region who aren’t muslim (not that there’s anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld might say).
Tim, Tim, Tim… remember, to a true progressive, the brown folks only count when you can be indignant on their behalf…
...or, you know, when they’re threatening to jail hot blonde dope smugglers…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 08 14 at 04:30 PM • permalinkTune in this week for another SBS-ay on the deceptive and cruel USA versus the kind and honorable Middle East. See and hear historical footage of past errors and crimes, and be told how these relate to the current debacle, where simple folk are being dudded, and freedom fighters just do what they must do!
/sarc.From the SBS website:
“What truths does television tell us about war? What do we see? What don’t we see? And why?”
Y’know, in the hands of dispassionate intellectuals who hadn’t aleady pre-determined the answers, this wouldn’t be a half bad topic.
My idea is that as Westerners, we have arrived at a place in history that says watching the dead and dying on display for public titillation is a prurient activity.
Any time our media outlets show a victim of violence, from car accidents to suicides to murders to war, it is considered important to protect the privacy of the afflicted and/or the deceased. Even condemned criminals are afforded the right of privacy.
On 9/11/2001, decisions were made in real time to NOT show Americans that people were jumping to their deaths from the WTC so much of the world saw what US citizens could not.
Other cultures such as that that Al Jazzerrah (sp?) cater to demonstrate a near fetish with death and dismemberment with explicitly grotesque and exploitive images.
As a society, we Westerners left death masks, bloody shirts, public hangings, etc., in the 19th and 20th centuries. Showing gory battle footage is part of that phenomenon as much as governments ‘managing’ information.
One could argue that the ‘shock value’ of these scenes may force us to reconsider war. Perhaps they would.
[Tongue in cheek—please don’t consider this a real endorsement and start flaming me]
We could also show images of executions, paedophilia, abortions, anal sex, bestiality, etc., etc., so viewers could make more ‘informed’ decisions…
Hey, I thought SBS didn’t consider the US to be a democracy since McBushHilter rose to power. This could be the first sign of the network making a sudden shift to the right - ok, well, shifting from the extreme lift to just to the right of the extreme left, which is to say to the left of Che but the right of Mao.
I’m surprised they didn’t say “world’s largest so-called democracy”.
Posted by arrowhead ripper on 2005 08 14 at 07:42 PM • permalinkI likw how they used a quote from Willie Burchett in the intro- a commie stooge who had his passport cancelled while he was propagandising for the Chicoms. It took a fucknucke like Whitlam to let the stupid sod back in the country. i think there’s a lot to be said for pissing off ratbag journalists to whichever shithole they’re trumpetting- it would be better for all concerned, for example, if Margo was dropped off in Baghdad, complete with burkha. Pilger could be sent to Nth Korea, preferably strapped to the warhead of a MIRV.
#18. Double scare quotes on that one please ie, ” world’s largest so-called “democracy” ”
Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2005 08 14 at 08:45 PM • permalinkOr if you wanted to be cutting edge progressyve it’d be ” world’s largest “(so-called)” “democracy” “.
Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2005 08 14 at 08:49 PM • permalink#19 Slight amendment on the Burchett passport story. Burchett never actually had his passport cancelled by the Liberal government: for various reasons, he had managed to travel on a British passport for years, and when the Brits finally tightened up on this, and Burchett applied for an Australian passport instead, he was told to go F#*+ himself. Slight, but significant difference.
Burchett was a traitor who actively aided our enemy in time of war by assisting the Chinese to torture Australian and other UN force members like Private George Madden GC captured in Korea.
Burchett should have been shot.
Private Madden was captured by Chinese Communist Forces on 24 April 1951 near Milton. He was a signaller attached to Battalion headquarters (3RAR) at the time and received concussion prior to being captured.
Private Madden was held prisoner by the enemy until about 6 November 1951, when he died of malnutrition and the result of ill treatment. During this period he openly resisted all enemy efforts to force him to collaborate, to such a degree that his name and example were widely known through the various groups of prisoners. Testimonials have been provided by officers and men from many units of the Commonwealth and Allied forces which showed that the heroism he displayed was quite outstanding.
Despite repeated beatings and many forms of ill treatment inflicted because of his defiance to his captors, Private Madden remained cheerful and optimistic. Although deprived of food because of his behaviour, resulting in severe malnutrition, he was known to share his meagre supplies, purchased from Koreans, with other prisoners who were sick.
It would have been apparent to Private Madden that to pursue this course must eventually result in his death. This did not deter him, and for over six months, although becoming progressively weaker, he remained undaunted in his resistance. He would in no way co-operate with the enemy.
Pilger and the rest of his fellow travellers have taken up where Burchett left off ...
Wikpedia reckons that his passport was cancelled in 1955, and I was under the impression that Menzies had his declared persona non grata about then; Willie himself claims he “lost” his passport in Vietnam, and his requests for a replacement were ignored for 17 years. Either way, fuck him. Pity a B52 didn’t get the scrote.
I’m glad someone else picked this up!
What absolute deadshits they are.
I gave them a spray about this myself on their Dateline website.
And for them to assert such appalling ignorance in their promos of this SCHLOCKUMENTARY in such self-righteous, smug tones, truly IS the height of stupidity!!!
Good one SBS!
Thanks Tim & Andrea!Longest Documentary? A mere 37 years? What about the 7,14…42,49 Up Series? 42 years and still going.
But surely the title of world’s largest documentary should be based on film size, rather than length?
Something shot in 70mm, or perhaps IMAX format, should be up for the prize.
Posted by Evil Pundit on 2005 08 15 at 03:26 AM • permalinkDateline this week to showcase a liberal al jazeera styke Iraqi? radio station thats just so chic’n'crazy they entertain folk from terrorist groups.
Meanwhile back at cousin abc,their fixation with NUMBERS has suffered an amazing turnaround.
News tonight on V.P. celebrations “the defeat of the Japanese came at a terrible cost to Australian lives.” er -how many sport? Reporter Joe O’brien??.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
Information on the world’s largest documentary can be found here. I apologize for sending anyone to that site, by the way.
Here’s the relevant quote:
“A number of documentaries at the festival observed the changing pattern of life in the newly reunited German republic. The film Brigitte and Marcel—Golzower Lives, by Barbara and Winfried Junge, completes a film project consisting of several parts and constitutes the longest documentary in the history of international film, spanning a period of 37 years.”
Jokes about the “world’s largest documentarian to commence in 3… 2… 1…