War Is Fun! Especially When You Can Make Money Off It!
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- kennymotown
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http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/07/30-0
Did I wake up in an alternate universe or is this really happening?by Abby Zimet
Moving ever further to render war in this culture akin to sport and game and entertainment, NBC has come up with an amoral whopper of a "reality" show: Stars Earn Stripes, wherein a "star-studded cast" - with the likes of Todd Palin - will act out military missions, "from helicopter drops into water to long-range weapons fire," paired with real live soldiers. A campaign to protest war as bloodless sport by Just Foreign Policy and RootsAction.org here.
About
Hosted by General Wesley Clark (retired) and Samantha Harris, "Stars Earn Stripes" is an action-packed competition show that pays homage to the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and our first-responder services. The star-studded cast includes four-time undefeated world boxing champion Laila Ali, actor Dean Cain ("Out of Time," Five Days of War"), actor and former National Football League player Terry Crews ("The Expendables 2," "The Newsroom"), multi-platinum recording artist, actor, producer and television personality Nick Lachey (NBC's "The Sing-Off"), Alaska businessman and four-time Iron Dog snowmobile race champion Todd Palin, NBC's "The Biggest Loser" trainer Dolvett Quince, Olympic gold medalist Picabo Street, and WWE diva, Eve Torres.
In this fast-paced competition, the eight celebrities will gather at a remote training facility where they will be challenged to execute complicated missions inspired by real military exercises. From helicopter drops…
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Contestants
Dean Cain
Dolvett Quince
Eve Torres
Laila Ali
Nick Lachey
Picabo Street
Terry Crews
Todd Palin
Operatives
Andrew McLaren
Brent Gleeson
Chris Kyle
Dale Comstock
Grady Powell
J.W. Cortes
Talon Smith
Tom Stroup
Hosts
Samantha Harris
General Wesley Clark
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trut
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I woke up this morning to find my girlfriend had recorded the first episode and when I asked why she liked a show glamorizing war and killing she told me to mind my own business.
I am very tempted to ask her why she chose Canada to move to instead of the usa? And if she would like to pack her things and move down south.
Good riddance.
Discussion of any relative subjects for this woman is simply unheard of and only leads to anger on her part. - 9 months ago
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trut
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COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
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"...,", if, you're on the firing end of the gun!
- 10 months ago
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COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
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warman1138
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Only in Hollywood is war fun, everyone else has to pay the consequences.
- 10 months ago
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warman1138
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BrushwithDeathToothpaste
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Network television is a desperate cornered animal that should be put down.
- 10 months ago
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BrushwithDeathToothpaste
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rerushg
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Are we having fun yet?
Maybe we'll get lucky and this will provoke a strong anti-war reaction. - 10 months ago
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rerushg
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artemis6
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They did not read 1984 ...
- 10 months ago
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artemis6
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kennymotown
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artemis6:
Or they did and they are following the script to the tee!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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Incredulous
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nailed it kenny.....another attempt to normalize a permanent state of war.
- 10 months ago
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Incredulous
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kennymotown
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Incredulous:
Thanks!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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budsnews
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probably started with those video game ads.shame they don't show these 'stars' holding their intestines after an enemy ied attack.
- 10 months ago
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budsnews
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kennymotown
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budsnews:
It used to be when I was growing up a story from the Vietnam war on the nightly news every night, no matter how upsetting it was! The War mongers have this shit down to a science these days!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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budsnews
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kennymotown:
so true..
- 10 months ago
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budsnews
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Leen61
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NBC is doing this for profits. How disgustingly shortsighted can this network be to put ratings above damage to society? But this is the same network that made Donald Trump a TV star. But even more disgusting is Wesley Clark….a former soldier getting paid to be nothing more than a war profiteer.
- 10 months ago
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Leen61
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kennymotown
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Leen61:
NBC is part General Electric I believe and they make a lot of profit from the War machine! Wesley Clark has made a very bad move!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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Leen61
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kennymotown:
I agree, kenny! Here's what I read on David Swanson's blog about this:
NBC Invents War-o-tainment
July 29, 2012
War/Peace
By David SwansonIf you've watched the Olympics on NBC you've probably seen ads promoting a war-o-tainment reality show cohosted by retired U.S. General Wesley Clark, co-starring Todd Palin, and with no apparent role for reality.
The ads brag about the use of real bullets in a way that promoters of the new Batman movie probably wouldn't try. But the chances that any of the celebrities engaged in "war competition" on NBC's "Stars Earn Stripes" will be shot and killed is essentially what it was for John Wayne, as he promoted war while dodging it (even if nuclear weapons testing got him in the end).
RootsAction.org and Just Foreign Policy have set up a website at StarsEarnStripes.org to push NBC to show the real cost of war, and to help get them started.
"Stars Earn Stripes" is being produced by the TV “genius” behind Donald Trump’s “Apprentice” and “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” (Husband Todd Palin is a “Stars Earn Stripes” co-star.) NBC is promoting the show during its Summer Olympics telecast as the next big sporting event. But the sport it's exhibiting is war.
On "Stars Earn Stripes," celebrities will pair-up with members of the U.S. military to compete at war-like tasks, including "long-range weapons fire." Only there won't be any of the killing or dying.
Our wars kill huge numbers of people, primarily civilians, and often children and the elderly. NBC is not showing this reality on its war-o-tainment show any more than on its news programs. Other nations' media show the face of war, giving people a very different view of war-making.
NBC news programs have repeatedly used retired generals, pretending independence but getting their pro-war talking points from the Pentagon. See New York Times: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand and Glenn Greenwald: The Pulizer-Winning Investigation That Dare Not Be Uttered on TV.
In the United States, our tax dollars are spent by the billions each year marketing the idea that war is a sport and associating the military with sporting events. Media companies like NBC are complicit in the propaganda. While 57% of federal discretionary spending goes to the military, weapons makers can't seem to get enough of our tax dollars. In the spirit of transferring veterans' care to the realm of private charity, "Stars Earn Stripes" will give prize money each week to "military-based charities" in order to "send a message."
One of NBC’s corporate parents, General Electric, takes war very seriously, but not as human tragedy -- rather, as financial profit. (GE is a big weapons manufacturer.) A retired general hosting a war-o-tainment show is another step in the normalization of permanent war. And consider for a moment who that retired general is. During the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia commanded by Gen. Wesley Clark, civilians and a TV station were bombed, while cluster bombs and depleted uranium were used. Had Clark done these things for another nation, NBC would probably favor his prosecution and certainly not employ him. See Democracy Now! Confronts Wesley Clark Over His Bombing Of Civilians.
StarsEarnStripes.org is asking NBC to stop treating war as a sport, and to air an in-depth segment showing the reality of civilian victims of recent U.S. wars, on any program, any time in the coming months. We've provided some resources to help NBC research and show the reality of war, at http://StarsEarnStripes.org
- 10 months ago
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Leen61
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kennymotown
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Leen61:
Thanks Leen61, war forever is the plan. Crush and kill any body in the way of resources we need for our Corporate Overlords!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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Leen61
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kennymotown:
You're welcome, kenny, and I agree with your comment. I suggest everyone visit StarsEarnStripes.org and give NBC a piece of their mind!
- 10 months ago
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Leen61
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kennymotown
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Leen61:
Totally agree, but if I give too many more pieces of mind away someones going to have to wipe my drool off my chin for me! :)
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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letsliveinpeace
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Leen61:
Agreed!
- 10 months ago
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letsliveinpeace
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SIBob
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kennymotown:
It seems the former "Big Three" networks are getting desperate. They just can't compete with the expanded cable lineup, (and with pay-per-views, etc.). They were always blatantly commercial but this is ridiculous. All the more reason to leave it switched off.
- 10 months ago
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SIBob
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wolfess
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SIBob:
Well at least for some of us this will backfire for them if they're trying to lure us back with it -- I don't do war for fun, and even more, I REFUSE to watch anything that has a palin in it!
- 10 months ago
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wolfess
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SIBob
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wolfess:
Don't you feel that in this age of unlimited exposure to so many things that the value of any one show, movie, blog, website, etc becomes very small in comparison to the whole? Even when the VCR was big, and we watched a handful of movies in one sitting, I couldn't always remember what I saw the next day. The same thing is happening with television. They are all chirping like baby birds in the nest, trying to get the attention of the audience, which is, more often than not, distracted with other things. Maybe they will bring back Roman gladiators next, (before the ultimate implosion of our empire).
- 10 months ago
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SIBob
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Vic_Romano
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AMERICA FUCK YEAH!!!
- 10 months ago
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Vic_Romano
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kennymotown
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Vic_Romano:
Fuck Yeah!!!!!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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MSII
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Just goes to show pentagon needs MORE cuts! Military-industrial and crony-contractors MORE CUTS!!! This society is death-bed-sick with these sick memes!
- 10 months ago
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MSII
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Swisher
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And to think I might have voted for Clark back in the day.
- 10 months ago
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Swisher
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kennymotown
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Swisher:
I know, I thought that was odd seeing him in this crap!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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youngdebater
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so celebs go through what soilders go through (and some of them have an athletic background). this show is gonna suck
- 10 months ago
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youngdebater
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lazloman
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You have got to be kidding me! Say this is not true!
- 10 months ago
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lazloman
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kennymotown
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lazloman:
Looks legit, the War is fun is probably not the title!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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kennymotown
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This is how the ever changing way in which War is presented to the dumbed down American public by the Military Industrial Complex, to make War seem like fun. Our Media is so corrupted by these war for profit Corporations that selling you and I the idea war is good for business will apparently go mainstream!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
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MSII
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kennymotown:
Well said!
- 10 months ago
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MSII
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kennymotown
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MSII:
Thanks my friend!
- 10 months ago
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kennymotown
