Channel 4 is, as they say in the meejia, 'courting controversy' with a new mockumentary about the fictional assassination of the current US President, one George W. Bush. Head of 4's subsidiary MoreFour, Peter Dale says that "I'm sure there will be people who will be upset by it. But when you see it, it's not sensationalist or exploitative. It's a very powerful and thought-provoking drama." Perhaps, and I will reserve wider judgement until I see it. But there is a whiff of Channel 4's usual sensationalism here, the production front-heavy with a headline-grabbing concept. Films like this are not 'exploitative' but rather 'provoke thoughts', 'raise issues' and 'stimulate debate'. And of course play straight into the hands of the neo-cons and their allies, most of whom are far smarter than the useful idiots with leftist leanings in the British media. The White House says that it "does not dignify a response", which already sounds a lot wiser than the folks over at Channel 4.
A friend of mine has pointed out that a file for such a scenario probably already exists in a classified vault in Langley, Virginia (and probably has for past presidents too). Which is not unlikely. But I would prefer these navel-gazing armchair leftists to do something about these fantasy scenaria they devise and walk the walk. This would mean actually assassinating the president (by the way, I would like to point out to the good people at the CIA, MI5 and associated franchises listening in that I in no way condone the assassination of any US President, living or dead). Perhaps if these overpaid Islington bores got their fingers out and donned the mantle of Gavrilo Princip, Leon Czolgosz or Lee Harvey Oswald, it might 'provoke thoughts', 'raise issues' and 'stimulate debate' more effectively than their production will. Not that it would change anything because, even though Bush is not the errant fool that the media (and he, himself) like to portray him as, the real brain behind the regime lies elsewhere. But it would be nice for media types to actually upset the apple cart rather than light a tinderbox and then scamper away back to their offices so they can plan their next reality TV show when international politics gets boring again.
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1 comments:
Hey again, I'm happy to see that you are aware of being watched, due to your provocative style, by the key-word hunting Big Brother. As for the piece of writing in itself, I think you should submit your op-eds to Irish and/or British papers. I would, however, consider replacing expressions such as "navel-gazing armchair leftists", which are pointing fingers in words somewhat obvious, with wittier critical between-the-lines descriptions of the targets. This is a personal note so you might want to leave it out of the "commentary" link.
A.
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