"For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years."
Of course modern art also is a great means to throw lots of money around, which is probably a bonus for these sorts of programs.
They used the art. The difference here is that the CIA is actually painting the pictures.
While rare for a group like the CIA to actually create content, a great many movies have been influenced. The US military supports many productions, from StarTrek to Battleship, reducing costs and increasing accuracy. But when asked they have failed to support others, notably Independence Day. Influence and persuasion has always been there in hollywood. Zero-Dark is just that much closer to the line between legitimate art and propaganda.
ok, TopGun was pure propaganda, but USN wasn't actually writing the scripts.
Odd that piece didn't actually mention more of the scholarship around this, especially since they reference the "wurlizter" line. The book by Hugh Wilford on exactly that topic was excellent and the bibliography in the back was a gold mine on art, intellectuals, labor fronts, etc.
www.amazon.com/The-Mighty-Wurlitzer-Played-America/dp/067403256X/
The Cultural Cold War by Saunders is, as far as I know, the best main stream scholarship on specifically the art scene.
EDIT: ....and I'm an idiot. Saunders is the author of that article. Jesus. Nice find OP.
Similarly, The Paris Review was founded by CIA agent (and novelist and National Book Award winner) Peter Matthiessen[1] as a form of "cultural propaganda"[2].
If you watch almost any superhero show, even the ones that are explicitly for children, you'll see that a huge amount of "investigation" into crimes is done by threatening to kill criminals and often by torturing them. Look at Batman.
The idea that torture works is bedrock in the entertainment world, partially because it's a narrative shortcut and shows how far the "hero" is willing to go.
Seriously though, the disgusting narrative over the last 16 years has left me completely numb and disenfranchised from the idea of justice in the US.
There is just a mountain of evidence that we are living in the police-state side of an Empircal Oligarchy in the US.
The Oligarchs experience unfettered financial, political and legal freedom -- whilst their position is protected and enforced by the police-state-complex that punishes the poor or the questioning.
Sadly this is a very common message in popular culture. In a race to be "gritty and realistic" there are so many cop and military shows where torture is used by the "good guys" in service to the plot, with positive results. It's a shame how willingly and unthinkingly hollywood puts forth this torture propaganda, most of the time of their own volition.
I haven't seen the movie and I don't know what's depicted in it, but I'm pretty sure torture can be morally justified in some cases. Consider a real-life example of torture described in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.[1] At a gas station, a woman briefly leaves her car to pay for fuel. In the minute she's gone, a man hops in and drives away. Unbeknownst to the car thief, the woman's infant is sleeping in the back seat. The thief soon discovers this and ditches the car. Police quickly catch him at a nearby train station. He's carrying valuables from the car. There is video of him stealing the car. Despite his denials, there is no question this man is the car thief. It's over 100ºF out. The police need to find the car before the baby dies of heat stroke. A police officer describes the incident:
> In the police truck on the way to the police station: “Where did you leave the Hyundai?” Denial instead of dissimulation: “It wasn't me.” It was—property stolen from the car was found in his pockets. In the detectives' office: “It's been twenty minutes since you took the car—little tin box like that car—It will heat up like an oven under this sun. Another twenty minutes and the child's dead or brain damaged. Where did you dump the car?” Again: “It wasn't me.”
> Appeals to decency, to reason, to self-interest: “It's not too late; tell us where you left the car and you will only be charged with Take-and-Use. That's just a six month extension of your recognizance.” Threats: “If the child dies I will charge you with Manslaughter!” Sneering, defiant and belligerent; he made no secret of his contempt for the police. Part-way through his umpteenth, “It wasn't me”, a questioner clipped him across the ear as if he were a child, an insult calculated to bring the Islander to his feet to fight, there a body-punch elicited a roar of pain, but he fought back until he lapsed into semi-consciousness under a rain of blows. He quite enjoyed handing out a bit of biffo, but now, kneeling on hands and knees in his own urine, in pain he had never known, he finally realised the beating would go on until he told the police where he had abandoned the child and the car.
> The police officers' statements in the prosecution brief made no mention of the beating; the location of the stolen vehicle and the infant inside it was portrayed as having been volunteered by the defendant. The defendant's counsel availed himself of this falsehood in his plea in mitigation. When found, the stolen child was dehydrated, too weak to cry; there were ice packs and dehydration in the casualty ward but no long-time prognosis on brain damage.
I think the actions of the police are unimpeachable. Had they not tortured the thief, an innocent child would be dead. Now, does that mean I think torture should be legal? Of course not. Do I think the CIA has committed atrocities and violated human rights? Yes! But that doesn't mean torture doesn't work.
Read half of it and haven't found anything newsworthy. So far they describe that (1) one of movie authors was present during the secret award ceremony without getting a proper security clearance and (2) the officer the movie was based on ordered fries in movie guy's hotel, got cheap knock-off earrings as a present and declined offers to go to a Prada show and attend private movie screening with family.
Is there anything actually worth the time in the second half?
The "behind the scenes" information is interesting, but you are right, there is nothing particularly scandalous here. This article is meant to feed into the backlash over the thematic narrative of Zero Dark Thirty (probably the reason for the FOIA lawsuit in the first place).
In fact, I can't help but feel for civil servants (in general, not just for the CIA) who apparently have to walk on tip-toes, lest the smallest details of their lives be scrutinized under a microscope every time there is a bit of attention from a controversy-hungry media. This is an issue with local reporting (at least, here in San Diego) and it is bothersome, especially when there is really nothing to report, for the sake of column inches.
Yeah, at the time people like Sy Hersh called out ZDT as being a completely fabricated propaganda piece. Of course, if you watch the movie, it's obviously fictitious, but the veneer of realism is enough to implant ZDT as the cultural "canon" story.
That's the problem. We let them define what the canon is.
Many if not most of the TV shows or movies where you see heavy army gear and equipment that wouldn't be there without the government's cooperation, will be heavily influenced by the government and in what light it shows the US government.
It's why I stopped watching shows like 24, Homeland, Person of Interest, and so on, after the first season or two. I couldn't stomach the propaganda anymore.
I have little respect for any director or producer who produces propaganda and absolutely no respect for any director or producer who does so at the behest of the government. Also, the movie itself was terrible, even seen as the far fetched fiction it is.
I see a lot of movies like this as a sort of propaganda. what it does is shows that our heros are hard working american soldiers that defeat that worst of the worst.
It's interesting contrasting American/UK films against other western films.
I'm a big fan of the Hamilton movies, which are basically Swedish James Bond movies. In them, the PLO are actually the good guys, and the Americans are the bad guys. It's an interesting contrast.
Angry about this? Director Panetta tried to throw the book at Ishmael Jones for his 2010 CIA memoir, The Human Factor. Suitable method of protest and entertaining read would be to buy the book:
I always wondered if Kathryn Bigelow is somehow related to Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Airospace. Later has long been the center of a bunch of conspiracy theories.
You haven't wondered very much, I guess, or you would've cleared your doubts by now.
From wikipedia, after a 5 sec search:
Bigelow was born in San Carlos, California,
the only child of Gertrude Kathryn (née Larson; 1917–1994),
a librarian, and Ronald Elliot Bigelow (1915–1992),
a paint factory manager.
[+] [-] Spooky23|10 years ago|reply
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-w...
"For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years."
Of course modern art also is a great means to throw lots of money around, which is probably a bonus for these sorts of programs.
[+] [-] sandworm101|10 years ago|reply
While rare for a group like the CIA to actually create content, a great many movies have been influenced. The US military supports many productions, from StarTrek to Battleship, reducing costs and increasing accuracy. But when asked they have failed to support others, notably Independence Day. Influence and persuasion has always been there in hollywood. Zero-Dark is just that much closer to the line between legitimate art and propaganda.
ok, TopGun was pure propaganda, but USN wasn't actually writing the scripts.
[+] [-] dtornabene|10 years ago|reply
The Cultural Cold War by Saunders is, as far as I know, the best main stream scholarship on specifically the art scene.
EDIT: ....and I'm an idiot. Saunders is the author of that article. Jesus. Nice find OP.
[+] [-] michaelf|10 years ago|reply
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Matthiessen
[2]http://www.salon.com/2012/05/27/exclusive_the_paris_review_t...
[+] [-] mynewtb|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smt88|10 years ago|reply
The idea that torture works is bedrock in the entertainment world, partially because it's a narrative shortcut and shows how far the "hero" is willing to go.
[+] [-] gaius|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] newman314|10 years ago|reply
I'm okay with say Die Hard as that's entertainment but these go far beyond with the veneer of "truth"
[+] [-] samstave|10 years ago|reply
---
Seriously though, the disgusting narrative over the last 16 years has left me completely numb and disenfranchised from the idea of justice in the US.
There is just a mountain of evidence that we are living in the police-state side of an Empircal Oligarchy in the US.
The Oligarchs experience unfettered financial, political and legal freedom -- whilst their position is protected and enforced by the police-state-complex that punishes the poor or the questioning.
/cynicism
[+] [-] InclinedPlane|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wmeredith|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kiba|10 years ago|reply
Even I think that, even though with sufficient amount of torture, you can get a guy to say anything you want to hear.
[+] [-] chroma|10 years ago|reply
> In the police truck on the way to the police station: “Where did you leave the Hyundai?” Denial instead of dissimulation: “It wasn't me.” It was—property stolen from the car was found in his pockets. In the detectives' office: “It's been twenty minutes since you took the car—little tin box like that car—It will heat up like an oven under this sun. Another twenty minutes and the child's dead or brain damaged. Where did you dump the car?” Again: “It wasn't me.”
> Appeals to decency, to reason, to self-interest: “It's not too late; tell us where you left the car and you will only be charged with Take-and-Use. That's just a six month extension of your recognizance.” Threats: “If the child dies I will charge you with Manslaughter!” Sneering, defiant and belligerent; he made no secret of his contempt for the police. Part-way through his umpteenth, “It wasn't me”, a questioner clipped him across the ear as if he were a child, an insult calculated to bring the Islander to his feet to fight, there a body-punch elicited a roar of pain, but he fought back until he lapsed into semi-consciousness under a rain of blows. He quite enjoyed handing out a bit of biffo, but now, kneeling on hands and knees in his own urine, in pain he had never known, he finally realised the beating would go on until he told the police where he had abandoned the child and the car.
> The police officers' statements in the prosecution brief made no mention of the beating; the location of the stolen vehicle and the infant inside it was portrayed as having been volunteered by the defendant. The defendant's counsel availed himself of this falsehood in his plea in mitigation. When found, the stolen child was dehydrated, too weak to cry; there were ice packs and dehydration in the casualty ward but no long-time prognosis on brain damage.
I think the actions of the police are unimpeachable. Had they not tortured the thief, an innocent child would be dead. Now, does that mean I think torture should be legal? Of course not. Do I think the CIA has committed atrocities and violated human rights? Yes! But that doesn't mean torture doesn't work.
1. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/torture/#CasStuBea
[+] [-] jMyles|10 years ago|reply
Standing in contrast, if you are looking for that, is a wonderful two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "The Chain of Command."
[+] [-] golergka|10 years ago|reply
Is there anything actually worth the time in the second half?
[+] [-] jallmann|10 years ago|reply
In fact, I can't help but feel for civil servants (in general, not just for the CIA) who apparently have to walk on tip-toes, lest the smallest details of their lives be scrutinized under a microscope every time there is a bit of attention from a controversy-hungry media. This is an issue with local reporting (at least, here in San Diego) and it is bothersome, especially when there is really nothing to report, for the sake of column inches.
[+] [-] beams_of_light|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wukerplank|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rasz_pl|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chippy|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cryoshon|10 years ago|reply
That's the problem. We let them define what the canon is.
[+] [-] mtgx|10 years ago|reply
It's why I stopped watching shows like 24, Homeland, Person of Interest, and so on, after the first season or two. I couldn't stomach the propaganda anymore.
[+] [-] Gustomaximus|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] walshemj|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anonbanker|10 years ago|reply
You know, if you could get them to pay attention long enough to believe it.
[+] [-] toomanybeersies|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rawTruthHurts|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joesmo|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SN76477|10 years ago|reply
In reality I think that it is much more grey.
[+] [-] toomanybeersies|10 years ago|reply
I'm a big fan of the Hamilton movies, which are basically Swedish James Bond movies. In them, the PLO are actually the good guys, and the Americans are the bad guys. It's an interesting contrast.
[+] [-] rrggrr|10 years ago|reply
http://www.amazon.com/The-Human-Factor-Dysfunctional-Intelli...
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] 1337biz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] psykovsky|10 years ago|reply
From wikipedia, after a 5 sec search:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Bigelow#Early_life_and...