{"id":20955,"date":"2012-08-20T16:32:31","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T15:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=20955"},"modified":"2012-08-21T00:06:52","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T23:06:52","slug":"nbcs-stars-earn-stripes-continues-an-inglorious-tradition-of-glorifying-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/08\/nbcs-stars-earn-stripes-continues-an-inglorious-tradition-of-glorifying-war\/","title":{"rendered":"NBC’s ‘Stars Earn Stripes’ Continues an Inglorious Tradition of Glorifying War"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Nobel Peace Prize laureates, we call on NBC to cancel this reality TV show that likens military combat to Olympic athletics.<\/em><\/p>\n

During the Olympics, touted as a time for comity and peace among nations, millions [in North America] first learned that NBC<\/a> would be premiering a new “reality” TV show. The commercials announcing “Stars Earn Stripes” were shown, seemingly endlessly, throughout the athletic competition, noting that its premier would be Monday 13 August, following the end of the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

That might seem innocuous since spectacular, high-budget sporting events of all types are regular venues for airing new products, televisions shows and movies. But “Stars Earn Stripes” is not just another reality show. Hosted by retired four-star General Wesley Clark, the program pairs minor celebrities with US military<\/a> personnel and puts them through simulated military training, including some live-fire drills and helicopter drops. The official NBC website for the show<\/a> touts “the fast-paced competition” as “pay[ing] homage to the men and women who serve in the US armed forces and our first-responder services”.<\/p>\n

It is our belief that this program pays homage to no one anywhere and continues and expands on an inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence. Military training is not to be compared, subtly or otherwise, with athletic competition by showing commercials throughout the Olympics. Preparing for war is neither amusing nor entertaining.<\/p>\n

Real war is down-in-the-dirt deadly. People \u2013 military and civilians \u2013 die in ways that are anything but entertaining. Communities and societies are ripped apart in armed conflict and the aftermath can be as deadly, as the war itself as simmering animosities are unleashed in horrific spirals of violence. War, whether relatively shortlived or going on for decades as in too many parts of the world, leaves deep scars that can take generations to overcome \u2013 if ever.<\/p>\n

Trying to somehow sanitize war by likening it to an athletic competition further calls into question the morality and ethics of linking the military anywhere with the entertainment industry in barely veiled efforts to make war and its multitudinous costs more palatable to the public.<\/p>\n

The long history of collaboration between militaries and civilian media and entertainment \u2013 and not just in the United States<\/a> \u2013 appears to be getting murkier and in many ways more threatening to efforts to resolve our common problems through nonviolent means. Active-duty soldiers already perform in Hollywood movies, “embedded” media ride with soldier in combat situations, and now NBC is working with the military to attempt to turn deadly military training into a sanitized “reality” TV show that reveals absolutely nothing of the reality of being a soldier in war or the consequences of war. What is next?<\/p>\n

As people who have seen too many faces of armed conflict and violence and who have worked for decades to try to stop the seemingly unending march toward the increased militarization of societies and the desensitization of people to the realities and consequences of war, we add our voices and our support to those protesting “Stars Earn Stripes”. We, too, call upon NBC stop airing this program that pays homage to no one, and is a massive disservice to those who live and die in armed conflict and suffer its consequences long after the guns of war fall silent.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize<\/a>,<\/em> 1976
\nBetty Williams, 1976
\nAdolfo P\u00e9rez Esquivel, 1980
\nArchbishop Desmond Tutu, 1984
\nPresident Oscar Arias Sanchez, 1987
\nRigoberta Mench\u00fa Tum, 1992
\nPresident Jos\u00e9 Ramos-Horta, 1996
\nJody Williams, 1997
\nDr Shirin Ebadi, 2003<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 guardian.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

[Note from TMS editor]:<\/em> <\/strong>Mairead Corrigan Maguire is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. She won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in Northern Ireland. Her book <\/em>The Vision of Peace (edited by John Dear, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a preface by the Dalai Lama) is available from www.wipfandstock.com<\/a>. She lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. See: www.peacepeople.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Nobel Peace Prize laureates, we call on NBC to cancel this reality TV show that likens military combat to Olympic athletics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nobel-laureates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}