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Everything Zen, I Don't Think So
by anna at 08:16 PM on March 20, 2003
This is the first war of the Internet era. Thus we're treated to online polls, real-time coverage and AOL's war-o-meter. All of which confers an air of unreality to the hostilities. Some might even argue that it trivializes a momentous event.
That said, I'm not particularly interested in Iraq's array of death germs. But I am fascinated by soldiers involved in combat. Specifically I wonder about the mindset behind those stoic facades. And I think I've got a pretty good idea. If you ask me our brave warriors are "in the now," to borrow a Zen Buddhist term.
Rarely does modern man find himself in this hyper-focused state of mind. He's constantly distracted by petty workaday concerns. Seldom if ever is his life threatened, so he doesn't ever achieve total focus. GIs marching across the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border do.
Once I was sitting in a bar observing people and taking copious notes about their behavior. This, for you single folks, is an excellent pickup technique. Someone invariably saunters up and asks what you're up to. This instance proved to be no exception. Up popped a compact blonde factory worker named Crystal. "What you writin' in that journal there, sugar," she asked in a distinct Southern drawl. As I launched into my student-of-human-nature spiel, a slack-jawed yahoo approached. He proceeded to strike me in the face. His sucker-punch was so effective you'd have thought he was Mike Tyson before he lost his mind. I crumbled into a heap on the barroom floor. When I came to, a crowd had gathered with grave looks etched across their faces. The factory girl seemed particularly concerned. No thoughts crowded my mind. All I knew was that I felt emasculated and I wanted Crystal's redneck ex-husband dead. I was in the now.
Another time I spent a week in a logging camp. From sunup to sundown we'd fell huge trees. When you're a would-be lumberjack with trees falling in your immediate vicinity, nothing else matters. There is no past and no future. You are in the now.
I think I know how our troops are feeling. Although most probably wouldn't know a Buddhist from a Bud Light, they're in the moment. In fact, I bet they're more focused than Richard Pryor was running down the street ablaze.
And lastly in regard to the conflict, I have one observation about the news coverage. CNN keeps talking about its female correspondents who are "embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division." Somehow that seems a poor choice of words.
comments (7)
Interesting...although, as I remember it, Pryor was so fucked up (and nonchalant about the prognosis of death) that he had to be INFORMED he was on fire by passerbys.
Can someone explain the value of the "videophone?" Sometimes you have reporters live on the scene, and at other times you have this "voyeur-dorm-room-via-28.8k modem" feed--showing virtually the same footage. I know I'm supposed to be impressed, but can't figure out why. If this is the new wave of war coverage, let's call it the "Atari" phase. During subsequent wars, the advancements in technology will surely elicit the "Nintendo, [Sony] Playstation, [Sega] Dreamcast, [Sony] Playstation 2, and [Microsoft] XBOX" phases of battlefield coverage. Granted, we're getting positively GORGEOUS views of the Iraqi countryside, but the jerky images give me a headache alleviated only by a Patrick Bateman refrigerated gel mask.
by douchenation at March 21, 2003 2:22 AM
Interesting indeed, Douche. You and me are tracking. The original draft of this post made mention of the archaic videophone. It got edited out lest I appear to be rambling again. And I still love Pryor's quote, "When you runnin' down the street on fire, people get outchou way!"
by Anna at March 21, 2003 7:45 AM
I think we're kind of at the Colecovision/ADAM stage. myself. Gulf War I was Atari, Bosnia was Intellivision, Somalia was some fucked up thing or another...possible the Atari 5200.
by Ezrael at March 22, 2003 4:00 PM
Actually I'm digging the real-time coveage, some of which is quite graphic, some of which is video game-like. Call me a ghoul.
by Anna at March 22, 2003 4:55 PM
What a freakin' ghoul. Since you've came out as a man, you've gotten much less sensetive (m)Anna. Or maybe that's just my impression. Anyway, considering the quality of the images comming back, doesn't it seem that the footage could be comming from anywhere? For all we know, it's being filmed on some soundstage on the moon. Baghdad is really just a minature built by the same people who build the Star Trek ships. There is really no war at all, just a couple of actors, cameras, and some green gels over all the lights.
by mg at March 22, 2003 8:55 PM
Don't get all Wag the Dog on us, man. If they're faking this war, why didn't they have Hussein murder a puppy or something on TV, get everyone on their side? I know, I know, he's murdered lots of people, but come on, have the animatronic Hussein wax a golden retriever right on the telly, even Noam Chomsky would have signed up.
by Ezrael at March 22, 2003 10:21 PM
Oh yeah, they've faked everything. This whole disastrous new millennium was all a big hoax. Y2k meltdown is coming! It is!
by Anna at March 23, 2003 1:38 AM