Response to "Have You Played the War on Terror?" by Roger Stahl

The thing that struck me the most about Stahl's article is how popular culture and media are effecting the military. I realize that the military effects popular culture, like in many of the examples from Hall's article. The "burp gun" and "M16 marauder" that has authentic sounds to make war play seem more realistic where both influenced by the military. Stahl however talks about how popular culture and media have the ability to influence the military. "Toy manufacturers help in generating ideas for futuristic weapons. Hollywood screenwriters brainstorm about potential terrorist plots. Academics suggest strategies for urban combat and psychological operations. Gamemakers devise new methods for soldier training. Set designers help build virtual environments." (Stahl, 117) Before this article, I always thought of militarization as more of a one-way process that was affecting civilians rather than the reverse. I was struck by how often the military has adopted civilian video games to serve their purposes. Doom was just one of the many examples that Stahl sites. Modified the game becomes Marine Doom to train soldiers for war. It amazes me that video games are used as training modules for war. To me, it trivializes war. When you shoot an opponent in a video game, you might see a mist of blood or even just watch the body fall down. In real life however a gunshot and resulting death is slightly more graphic. While video games might serve a purpose in training for tactical reasons, I can't imagine that it makes it any easier for a soldier to pull the trigger in a combat situation. Most children have at some point played a video game with the object being to outlive your competitors and have become desensitized to the idea of death. In combat, unlike a video game, soldiers will experience actual death, and no video game can prepare someone for that.

Aside from the video games that Stahl discusses I thought it was interesting when he talked about the "CNN effect", where reporters divulge the militaries actions before they even happen. Potentially putting those soldiers in harms way. Again civilians are playing a part in the military. Now the military must guard against reporters having knowledge that could put them in harms way. Embedded journalists become a problem. In their quest to bring news of military action to news-hungry civilians the journalists put themselves and the military in danger by divulging to much information. In turn the military might have to change their plans or might even find themselves in a dangerous situation. War is brought to civilians in real-time.

Civilians watch war unfold on their televisions and almost simultaneously can re-create the scenes they see in their latest video games. Because the media is kept from showing coffins returning home or civilian casualties Americans can "play" the war on terror without actually understanding the consequences that war entails. As Stahl calls it, war becomes a "sanitized fantasy" for many.