Back while I was deployed, there was a bit of a dustup over some rather heated things I said on my other blog. For a while, I had to go dark, owing to large numbers of people in the conservative blogosphere trying to root me out--prove I was a phony, a fraud, or simply a "traitor." I received threats to my career, even threats to my life.
Even now, it angers me--for all the talk about "supporting the troops," it seems that said support only applies when you go along with the official line. I don't support the war, indeed I have lost my taste for war in general as a valid option for enforcing policy abroad. So when I spoke up, suddenly I was exposed to the ire of the warmongers and the party-line goose-steppers.
It was bad enough that I had already been extended for three more months, but then to be told that I had no right to be angry? It's said in the Army that "we don't live in a democracy, we just work for one." This only became clear to me after I dared to express my frustration.
A lesson: In the Army, you are not a person, you are property.
So imagine my surprise: A recent study by Special Operations Command has been released, which considered recommending that high-profile bloggers be co-opted, even be placed on the Army's payroll. That's right: your tax dollars went into research that considered turning us into propaganda tools. Don't take my word for it--go read. It's disgusting.
To think: I could have avoided all of this hardship, all of that fear, if only I had gone along. I might have even been able to make a dime on it.
Monday, March 31, 2008
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4 comments:
Make a dime on it...but lose your soul, eh? I remember that time you had to close down, it was after Slate started linking to you, wasn't it? I couldn't believe some of the nastiness that came at you. Gotta wonder about some of these freaks, really. I know a lot of the punditry don't believe what they're saying, they just want to make a buck; how they can look in the mirror after cheerleading war and mayhem, I'll never know!
Milo, Thanks for bringing this up again. It's like those news story's you hear about... then never know the ending.
Did anyone ever find out about your blog... I mean, that you were MILO FREEMAN? Did you have to talk to your CO?
Doonesbury, WOW!
And really, how do most of the other soldiers in your unit feel about Iraq... what's the percentage breakdown of those in favor vs against?
Can't say I'm surprised - elements of the administration and the bureaucracy have a long history of strategies to co-opt the media as whole and use them as propaganda outlets. The tactics range from the outright buying of TV figures, and making their own 'reports' to be stuck in nightly news shows, to intimidation and freezing out uncooperative reporters.
If a blogger is an Army serviceman, that puts him in a position where he can be leveraged with easier means.
It's unethical and immoral, but when has that stopped command or the government?
One of my nephews is supposedly in psyops - makes sense, his mom (sis-in-law), was a master at it. This kid didn't smile at anyone from babyhood on, and his graduation picture was more like a mugshot. It was either serial killer or psyops; I guess I should be relieved. My other nephew in Iraq just went for the paycheck. My sister didn't want her daughter to marry the guy, and actually thought Iraq was a great place for him.
Yeah, I got a fucked up family. That's why I don't have a lot of contact with them...
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