Hollywood and Madison Avenue: Elevating the U.S. Military’s Public Image: “Towards the Sound of Chaos”,
Hollywood and Madison Avenue have always played a crucial role in elevating the U.S. military’s public image. Their latest bombastic effort entitled, “Towards the Sound of Chaos”, is perhaps one the boldest efforts yet in advancing the modern mythology of the military’s newly celebrated humanitarian interventionalist modus operandi.
The film’s voiceover thunders heavy: “Where chaos looms, the few emerge. Marines move toward the sounds of tyranny, injustice and despair — with the courage and resolve to silence them. By ending conflict, instilling order and helping those who can’t help themselves, Marines face down the threats of our time.”
It’s nothing less than an over-blown, fictional, made-for-cinema story showcasing MV-22 Ospreys, trucks and Amphibious Assault Crafts loaded-up with thousands of props made to look like boxes marked “AID” – ready to strike in a humanitarian intervention.
Humanitarian AID boxes are escorted by hundreds of ground troops charging the beach head at full speed, in what appears to be a ridiculous WWII Normany-style, D-Day invasion scene, meant to be taking place in a desert somewhere in Africa, or the Middle East. Other hard to believe, over-the-top cinematic shots include aerial views of platoons charging across the desert floor reminicent of Star Wars’ Attack of the Clones, and Ospreys unloading infantry which looks straight out of James Cameron’s sci-fi hit movie, Avatar.
Over the years, Americans have become accustomed to seeing these theatrical depictions of military escapades overseas, but few have actually stopped to consider that what they are watching is a level of fictional sensationalism that far surpasses anything produced by Joseph Goebbels during Hitler’s reign in Nazi Germany, and far and away past the very best pieces of militarized propaganda produced during Joseph Stalin’s Soviet military police state.
In a cynical and somewhat racist move, the advert clearly features Black African American soldiers in extreme close-ups and also in the final shot of the film, clearly working extra-hard to target that demographic in America who ironically, are suffering most from what this advert describes as “despair” and a genuine lack of hope – currently dogged with record-breaking unemployment numbers.
Curiously, the only place in this advert where the US flag is visible is on the side of the AID boxes, and nowhere does it say “US Marines” – only “Marines”, possibly because the US Marines seem to be undergoing a rebrand – as the ‘UN Marines’, this according to recent testimonies by US General Dempsey and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta – who now say that’s who our boys are actually working for (see video below).
Our military and defense heads seem to be a little confused about to whom their allegiance actually lies – with the US Constitution and a Congressional approval – or with ad hoc international coalitions, the UN, Arab League and of course, NATO.
Like it or not, we are presently moving closer towards a world government-type authority, one which has all but usurped our own national sovereignty.
