Pixelated Semantics

Life Imitates Art Imitating Life

A report this morning that the CIA are going "beyond the intelligence report, and into a world of plot development" - while also becoming strangely appreciative of creative types: "to truly nurture creativity, you have to cherish your contrarians and give them opportunities to run free". Although the word "contrarians" is very interesting - a new establishment buzz-word for creative dissidence? Note the phrase "opportunities..." - not "the freedom..." to "run free": an obsession with control. The possibility of self-reinforcing feedback loops is overlooked however - the FBI and CIA were reported to have conducted closed meetings with Film & TV types post 9/11 to influence themes of shows and movies in a pro-US manner (think "Alias"). So apparently after dictating the direction for Hollywood writers, the Agency then turns around to ask their advice. Cue current TV shows like "NCIS" and "Threat Matrix" that are straightforward propaganda vehicles for the Bush administration's agenda - justifying even torture and the removal of civil liberties in the name of "anti-terrorism", indeed joking about the treatment handed out in one recent episode. However, according to one former "real-life" Navy investigator, NCIS is "definitely from the minds of Hollywood and goes far beyond the constraints of any federal budget". There is something profoundly disingenuous in this report, that the CIA are now so eager to listen to "contrarians" like science fiction writers, especially when sci-fi writers like P.K. Dick have so adamantly warned of America's descent into a totalitarian state, and when the output of so much mainstream media and film is already ghost-directed by invisible hands. And "plot development" carries a very distinct double-meaning in the context of Intelligence.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 10:14 am ::