Answer TWO
of the following:
Q1: Why
does Ronson suggest that NBC’s Today show
and its anchors (Ann Curry, Katie Couric, etc.) completely missed the point
when they reported on the Barney the Dinosaur story? Why in this case is
something that sounds satirical not quite as funny as it first appears?
Q2: The
PsyOps specialists explain the point of the leaflets (and other materials) they
drop on the Iraqi army to Ronson: “Our most effective products are the ones
which link an unfulfilled need on their part with a desired behavior on our
part” (131). What does he mean by this, and how might this relate to the “cunning”
Jim Channon tried to pioneer years before?
Q3: What
is the “Bucha Effect” and how does it relate to the First Earth Battalion’s
techniques? Do you think Jim Channon (and others) would approve of how Pete
Brusso, Sid Heal, and others are implementing this technique in modern warfare?
Q4:
Lynndie England, one of the soldiers implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal,
suggested that most of these events were orchestrated by PsyOps as a piece of
military “theatre.” What do you think she meant by this? How can war be a performance
in the same way as Shakespeare or a movie?
1)The music when played a few times is supposed to lighten the mood. But when its played over and over again, the results are people who hate it and want it to stop. The use of children's music on the prisoners opened up the military's mind to psychological use of music on the battlefield.
ReplyDelete3)The Bucha Effect is when strobin lights interferes with the brain's ability to communicate with other parts of the body and the body cant function. The others were using this on the prisoners along with Barney music. I think they would approve because they agreed it was nonlethal.
Ashley Robertson
Q1: When a song or essentially anything is played over and over repetitively, it can be unbearable, but in this case it’ll drive you completely insane. In our society we view these children songs as annoying and just plain dumb, but for these people its their hell. It was hard for the American people to see this as torture because of the lack of violence, and I thing that this truly serves the purpose that Psychological Warfare is trying to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteQ4: It served as a show put on display for the enemy. To them, the actions were horrendous. When you show someone, what happens when you fall off a cliff (you die), most people will do anything in their power to sway away from that happening. In this case, the enemy feared what would be done to them if they were imprisoned. But the reality was that this wasn’t what was going on, but it presented the idea and sold it. It put fear into the enemy.
Japheth Cardwell
Emily McCarn
ReplyDeleteQ1: I think that the point they missed was that even though there is no violence or physical harm that there is still undeniably a whole lot of torcher going on maybe even worse than actually getting beat. Essentially when you hear a certain noise like a beep or songs like the Barney one over and over again inevitably you will go literally insane. In some cases maybe to the point that you would do anything to never have to hear it again.
Q4: I think they put on a show to make things seems worse than they actually were so that people would start out abiding by the rules and scared to do anything other than what was asked of them. Basically putting the fear of being severally beaten or maybe even torched to death in them so that they will have complete control over who does what, when and how.
Sebastian Sabisch
ReplyDeleteQ1
He thinks they missed the point because while it may seem funny that they are using a kids song, they are using to try and torture someone to the point they are willing to divulge secrets. At first glance it looks like they are making fun of the people who think they are doing terrible things to the POWs, like “look we are only playing kids music to calm them down” or something to that effect, something that seems harmless. In reality they are trying to break these people mentally, rather than it being something harmless and funny.
Q4
I think that she meant that the events that took place in that prison we falsely created to be used as a bargaining chip and to send a message. Created to be used as a sort of pressure against prisoners who don't want to cooperate. War can be shaded in many different ways to create a different view on it depending what the person telling you wants you to think. It can also be shifted based on what side is hearing about it. For instance the media could be saying that one side is winning by a landslide even if it is just a small advantage, this is a sort of propaganda that discourages the opposing side.
Jessica Stephens
ReplyDeleteQ2
The products that combine the enemy's unfulfilled need with our desired behavior are effective because they benefit everyone involved. For example, by promising no severe retribution, the enemy would not use weapons of mass destruction, ultimately benefiting both parties. It is a smarter method of engaging in war and utilizes Channon's idea of "cunning" warfare. Instead of killing one another as a first resort, we would try to negotiate.
Q4
War is compared to a performance/theater because it is usually well-planned and well-choreographed complete with a director. The Abu Ghraib scandal was, according to England, staged or choreographed meaning the pictures did not display how the detainees are treated everyday. Rather, it was a one-time staged photo set used as propaganda against young Iraqi men discouraging them from joining any terrorist-affiliated organization.
1. To most people, the Barney story would just be another funny story that almost nobody would pay attention to. Most people would just laugh and go on with their day. However, it is something that people might want to take more seriously, because, in a way, it is a form of psychological torture. Torturing POWs violates the Geneva Convention, so the government is honestly walking a fine line when it comes to trying different types of warfare.
ReplyDelete4. Ms. England meant that the actions performed by PsyOps were not actually torture, and that they were used specifically for propaganda purposes. The pictures taken were meant to discourage anyone from joining an enemy of the U.S., basically by saying, "This is what will happen to you if you decide to fight for [Insert name here]." A war can be labeled a "performance" because there is always a plot (why the war is being fought and what happens during the war) and actors (soldiers or civilians) that are included in the plot.
Coleman King
Q1 Because everything about this sounds like a total joke. He felt like it was made fun of rather than the news hitting the point the made it into a joke.
ReplyDeleteq4 War is like theatre in the fact that it can be over or underplayed. Our perceptions are what is released by our government, and media. There could even be situations like the one disclosed in the book. It wouldn't surprise me.
Jordan bussey
Q1. The use of Barney music made the people who hated the music that normally if only heard a few times, was just annoying. But being played over and over again caused for a huge account on psychological warfare
ReplyDeleteQ.4. Military theater is used as propaganda. In this instance however is only used 1 time in order to make the terrorists think this is the daily life of the terrorists that are captured. This makes their actions reduce due to the fear of going through this
Q1: I think that he thinks they completely missed the point because they kind of made light of the situation when there was a lot of harm being caused to these people by hearing those songs. They turned it in to a joke and said that it was just trying to calm them down when really it was doing mental harm to many people.
ReplyDeleteQ4: they used it to exaggerate how bad things where so people would fear it when really nothing that bad was happening. They use their words to make somebody believe something untrue or not fully true.
Kasandra Beeler