Nick Turse, who visits the NYS Writers Institute tomorrow, calls out the Pentagon for its selective rewriting of Vietnam War history, and makes some dark predictions about the future of propaganda:
"It’s 2053 -- 20 years since you needed a computer, tablet, or smartphone to go online. At least, that’s true in the developed world: you know, China, India, Brazil, and even some parts of the United States. Cybernetic eye implants allow you to see everything with a digital overlay. And once facial recognition software was linked to high-speed records searches, you had the lowdown on every person standing around you. Of course, in polite society you still introduce yourself as if you don’t instantly know another person’s net worth, arrest record, and Amazooglebook search history. (Yes, the fading old-tech firms Amazon, Google, and Facebook merged in 2033.) You also get a tax break these days if you log into one of the government’s immersive propaganda portals. (Nope, “propaganda” doesn’t have negative connotations anymore.) So you choose the Iraq War 50th Anniversary Commemoration Experience and take a stroll through the virtual interactive timeline."
More on Huffington Post via TomDispatch.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-turse/misremembering-americas-wars_b_4808201.html
More about Turse's visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/turse_nick14.html
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
On Writing and Erasing History-- Nick Turse
