Monday, May 9, 2011

Art as a weapon

Yesterday on the radio, I was listening to AC/DC's song, "Thunderstruck" (the video for which can be seen here on YouTube). That song always reminds me of the war against Al-Qaeda, because I remember a U.S. Navy sailor saying that the song was blasted across the deck of one of the aircraft carriers, the night that the U.S. first launched fighter jets against terrorists in Afghanistan.  No one knew back then that it'd be about ten years before Osama Bin Laden's skull was cracked by a bullet, but there would be plenty of other action and successes in the meantime.   In particular I remember Mohammed Atef, Al-Qaeda's military leader, being killed by an airstrike in the early stages of the war.  


I've also read that the U.S. military, as a passive form of persuasion, will sometimes play Western music at extremely loud decibels at terrorist hideouts, in an attempt to force them to give themselves up (or at least to annoy them greatly during a stand-off).  It's interesting to see art being used as a weapon.  Surely there have been enough instances where war has been waged against art, such as Hitler's persecution of "degenerate" European modern artists, and the incalculable damage and looting done at museums in war zones around the world..!

4 comments:

  1. Wow thanks for posting this! I'm getting my master's in psych (counseling, specifically) and I don't know why I've never thought of this! I guess I've heard of it before, when I heard the "We didn't start the fire" was played nonstop for days at a time as a form of torture. Not sure how factual that is...but it sounds torturous to me....

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  2. Hi Marlee! Yes, it's an interesting topic... I have sometimes wondered myself, what it would be like if one were made to listen to one song over and over again. Would the ears grow numb to it, or would the person go insane? Maybe it depends on the song. :)

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  3. There are some songs out there that just beg to be played over and over again. "Wicked Game" is one of them!!!!

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  4. I was familiar with the Wicked Game song, but had no idea what the title was, or who sang it. :) Yes, it's a good song!

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