Why I hate 'The War."

Oh PBS, how you have failed me. I remember the 'Civil War' fondly. Incredible documentary that covered both the human side of the war and the grand scope of history. 'The War' is simply confused, confusing, trivial, and misguided.

I feel compelled to watch, I can't turn away. Yet, Ken Burn's 'the War' is tedious and boring. Very little new or interesting is presented. The documentary has many internal contradictions. For example, it state's that the Pearl Harbor attack was a surprise, then later details how the American's knew there would be an attack somewhere. Elsewhere, the documentary jumps around in time and places. Talking about Midway one minute, then the attack on North Africa the next. I didn't know where we were fighting or when half the time.

It very rarely details the diplomatic battles taking place, everything is either simply about the fighting or the people involved. I don't really care that some guys dad drove him to be shipped off to war. I wasn't very moved. I haven't even mentioned the lack of diverse perspectives in the film. Sure, they cover Japanese American's, but very briefly. Where are all the blacks and Latinos? This is needed especially if they are going to cover Alabama and California. Talk about "whitewashing" history.. Are you telling me there were no black soldiers that could have been profiled from Mobile?

Burn's seems to have something out for MacAuther. Is this to set up his return later? Who cares really. They didn't even mention why he was in the Philippines in the first place. I just think its funny he is the whipping boy for the failure in the Philippines. Burn's makes it seem like he was reading my pet goat, like Bush was during 9/11, during the Japanese attacks.

Notice how the photos are blurred so you don't see faces or wounds? I am sure this is to keep this show for family viewing, yet it decreases the impact. You can hardly tell the images are blurred. I didn't notice for a bit until I looked closely, and consider I am watching in HD. Besides, the point is that war is brutal and devastating. We never get that point since all the images in the film are blurred, just like the whole enterprise. But then again, did we really need to see a dead starved baby? Why can't you show dead soldiers yet a dead baby is ok?

Why he did choose to point out that some solider was peeing in a photo? Why did they have some creepy 'junglevision' camera work that was mixed in with old photos?

More to come...I am going to keep watching because its my job. But really, I would rather watch Two and Half Men at this point. Its more intellectually engaging.

Extras
Are you kidding me? The extra Latino coverage started out great with a focus on the Marine Raiders, my grandfathers old unit. But did they really have to focus on the atrocities or the fact that the Latino guy wished his best friend would die from his wounds (he didn't know it was his best friend at the time and he was screaming, preventing the unit from sleeping). Thats like making OJ or the KKK the main contributions of black and Anglo culture in a documentary 100 years from now.

Nice NYTimes article that makes fun of the American-centric perspective of the documentary.

Iran Vacation Fall 07?

It should not be surprising that the USA is planning on attacking Iran. Even France is warming to the idea. What is surprising and disheartening the lack of support internally for an attack and also that it seems this will be an Air Force only plan. Limited wars do not work!

"The US president faces strong opposition to military action, however, within his own joint chiefs of staff. “None of them think it is a good idea, but they will do it if they are told to,” said a senior defence source."

Domestic Politics

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/opinion/15skinner.html?pagewanted=print

Al Qaeda Franchising

Apparently Al Qaeda is into franchising. Pretty scary article, but I wonder if by claiming so often how dangerous the group is, the United States is making Al Qaeda into a more a potent attack force by branding alone.

"Some of those groups have jumped at the chance to align themselves with the Al Qaeda "brand name," which has soared in popularity because of its increasingly sophisticated multimedia campaigns and widespread opposition to U.S. foreign policy, particularly the war in Iraq, the officials and private experts say."

America the Textbook

Grad school colleague of mine has been using Jon Stewart's America as a textbook in Intro to American Politics. Now he seems to be getting some interesting press. Don't anyone get any ideas, movies are enough of a stretch for me.

Isreali Lobby

Dr. Walt and Mearsheimer made the NY Times with their new book. Lets all look at their picture.

French Education System

This video makes Teen South Carolina look good. I still don't know if this is real or if the audience flubbed the question on purpose. Either way, its pretty funny. On that note, geography quiz next week students.