Nobel Laureates Call for End to TV's "Stars Earn Stripes"

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Nobel laureates call for end to TV's "Stars Earn Stripes"

Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:32pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nine Nobel Peace laureates, including retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Monday called on television network NBC to cancel its "Stars Earn Stripes" reality show, labeling it a bid to "sanitize war by likening it to an athletic competition."

The competition show, due to air for the first time on Monday evening, puts eight celebrities such as singer Nick Lachey and politician Sarah Palin's husband Todd, through military-style training, including helicopter drops and long-range weapons firing.

- snip -

But in an open letter to NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt, the Nobel prize winners said that "preparing for war is neither amusing nor entertaining.

"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.

"Real war is down in the dirt deadly. People — military and civilians — die in ways that are anything but entertaining," the letter added.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87C11020120813?irpc=932

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/13-3"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."

- snip -

"The group also pointed out that sanitizing war for a primetime cable show is a profitable business for at least one of NBC's parent companies, General Electric. "GE is a big weapons manufacturer," the group said, and having 'a retired general hosting a war-o-tainment show is another step in the normalization of permanent war.'l

[Tom Ripley]

1. It sanitizes war AND demeans the military

[rocktivity]

2. Basic Training With The (Fallen) Stars

rocktivity

[Ezlivin]

3. At the show's conclusion they should send them off to Afghanistan

Then the next season can show how these stars fare.

[chimpymustgo]

6. That's keeping it REAL.

[Hissyspit]

12. At the show's conclusion, they should give the "stars" traumatic brain injuries. nt

[elleng]

35. They're contributing to charities.

http://www.nbc.com/stars-earn-stripes/about/charities/

[catbyte]

40. Who cares?

Write a fucking cheeck. They all can afford it. This is obscene.

[AlphaCentauri]

71. They could do it without the show n/t

[Glaisne]

83. after sending them to Afghanistan

then follow them when they get back trying to get health care, integrating back into civilian life while dealing with PST, and finding a job. Wonder if they will show that?

[LibGranny]

53. Great idea! They should be prepared then.

[gordianot]

4. Would like to see Todd Palin take the old Vietnam era tradition of half a helicopter ride.

The helicopter crew stays safe.

[Skittles]

24. Todd would have shit his pants the first week of Basic Training

same for Nick Lachy

[AnnieBW]

59. Can anyone say "fragging"?

Any bets on which "star" gets fragged by their fellow "trainees" first?

[Bandit]

67. The helicopter crew stays safe.

Do you have any idea of the statistics of helicopter pilots and crews in Vietnam compared to say infantry soldiers? Remember it was the Helicopter that was first on the scene and last to leave it....Those grunts usually got to where they were going by helicopter and then whenever they made contact they called in helicopters to support them and to bring them back to safety..Helicopters were the number one target for the VC and the NVA.. NUMBER ONE....

[gordianot]

68. Helicopter crews had it rough and I would guess still do.

I remember very well how the term was used in interrogation and in extreme cases fragging. A helicopter is not the place to have a protracted disagreement according to Major XX three tours in Vietnam. Half a helicopter ride was also a part of officer training into a lake with a bag of rocks greatly feared by those who had opted for ROTC with a low draft number. In the early 1970's some Second Lieutenants took flight training with the understanding they would be deployed to Germany. Given helicopter crew casualty rates in Europe they even exceeded Vietnam which was terrible. Of the four of us who volunteered I am the only one who survived I failed the flight physical. Thanks to hypertension.

[AntiFascist]

5. K&R! n/t

[fantomas]

7. Why is Todd Palin trying to steal our soldiers' valor?

I'm sure he'd put in on his resume that he served in combat and try to get free lunch at the VFW.

[Grammy23]

8. I felt the same way when I began seeing promos for this show.

To me, it trivializes the dangerous and difficult work that our soldiers do in far away places. To liken it to a "game" is disgusting and I agree this show needs to go but before they do, they should apologize to our military men and women (and VETS)!

[femmocrat]

9. I am disappointed that Wes Clark would associate with this crap.

It hasn't aired yet, but I won't be watching.

[nanabugg]

18. Me too. War is not a reality GAME. It is a reality tragedy! nt

[catbyte]

38. Wow. And after all the tragedy Clark has seen in combat,

I can't believe he would be associated with this insult to true warriors. We Native Americans take our nation's warriors very seriously and honor their sacrifice. This is a travesty. To add insult to injury, the network thinks Tod Palin is a fucking celebrity? SERIOUSLY? First Bristol is a "star" according to ABC and now NBC thinks Tod is a celebrity. What a sick fucking joke pardon my French.

Diane
Anishinaabe in MI &
Mom to Taz, Nigel, & baby Sammy, members of
Dogs Against Romney, Cat division
"We ride inside--HISS!"

[patrice]

42. No one knows what is sacred anymore. This is one of the worst symptoms of our dysfunction

I can imagine. And to see that so many will be so completely clueless about this sin against the dead.

I am ashamed.

We NEED new/old teachers.

[Glaisne]

84. it is amazing how

some people are elevated to fame in this country. The Kardashians?!? Really? What for? Meanwhile great scientists, artists, thinkers, community leaders labor in obscurity truly doing good things for this country and the world.

[Tom Ripley]

57. No one has a sense of dignity anymore

[Fuddnik]

74. They could film the next episode at Wes Clark's former command.

Formerly known as "School of the America's". Then turn the contestants loose on some Central American country.

[yesphan]

80. i agree. Guess he needed

the money. Horrible premise. It's not real at all. If they were shooting live rounds
at the participants and otherwise actively trying to kill them, then we can talk real.

[DavidL]

10. NBC did not return calls seeking comment.

Owned by General Electric, (which pays no taxes and thus didn't pay for these wars).



"NBC did not return calls seeking comment."

NBC makes a profit on this?

[Hissyspit]

11. NBC:

"The group also pointed out that sanitizing war for a primetime cable show is a profitable business for at least one of NBC's parent companies, General Electric. "GE is a big weapons manufacturer," the group said, and having 'a retired general hosting a war-o-tainment show is another step in the normalization of permanent war.'"

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

13. I am appalled and disgusted at this attempt

To make war a game. My kid is getting fucking shot at in Afghanistan. It is not a fucking game, and General Clarke should be ashamed of his part in this fucking disrespectful spectacle.

[pasto76]

45. Word - general clarke is a minute portion of a drop in the bucket

-everyone- in this society romanticizes war. Until you have to fight -IN- it.

[VWolf]

73. "War is sweet to those who haven't tasted it." — Erasmus n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. OutWelling Orwell.

Didn't dear Carlin also have something to say about a tv show like this?

[maxsolomon]

15. Par for the course

more propaganda in a militarized and nationalistic nation.

[Vietnameravet]

16. Just the beginning

Now this is just the beginning folks!

Next season we can have some black folks running through the Georgia swamps as guys with white hats and clubs chase them! Imagine the laughs!

And maybe we could have one which shows Sarah Palin confronting the dangers of hunting wolves.... with an assault rifle from a helicopter! Now that is real dangerous.

And I think they could make a great one out of some family in Texas or Oklahoma that is morphing into cockroaches but still denies global warming! (Hey watch your antenna, gramps! and you kids, finish eating that coagulated grease.)

It's all for fun and profit..in the name of the ( add a bit of echo).. FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM!!

[Gregorian]

46. Haha. I'm laughing and cringing, simultaneously.

We seem to be going backwards as a nation. Well, in commercial ways.

[the_chinuk]

17. They've finally come up with a program that will allow …

… viewers of American Idol and The Voice to feel smug about their discerning and relatively intellectual choices in reality-tv programming.

Well played, American entertainment. Well played.

[SoapBox]

19. "sanitize war by likening it to an athletic competition."

wow...THAT is what our house has been saying, in respose to those ads.

War, really bloody, deadly war is not clean and not sanitary and, well...it's very bad.

[Skittles]

20. Nick Lachy and Todd Palin

[tk2kewl]

21. K&R

[Solly Mack]

22. K&R

[DinahMoeHum]

23. Will the theme song for this show be: "America. . .F**k Yeah" ???

. . .just askin'

[elleng]

34. No

[truebrit71]

25. I have to disagree...it compliments those in the armed forces..

...and reinforces that it is bloody hard work and very dangerous business. I don't think that Gen Clark would participate in something that was trite or glib seeing as how he was badly wounded in combat himself...

[patrice]

27. Wesley Clark is in this thing? How disappointing! Disgusting!

[elleng]

30. 'While the competitors

will be toughing out their missions, they will b...e fighting for various charities. Check them all out!'

http://www.nbc.com/stars-earn-stripes/about/charities/

[patrice]

36. That doesn't make it right. If I were one of thoe charities, I'd say, "No thanks!" Charity should

be done because it's the right thing to do. It shouldn't need this kind of crap piggy-backing on those in need, using them for celebrity fame and to glorify the deaths of INNOCENT people.

People should just give because giving is good. They can get their entertainment elsewhere.

[elleng]

28. Thanks, true.

[WinkyDink]

44. WTH doesn't KNOW this?? These are celebrities playing AT "war." Maybe they could also read "My Pet

Goat."

[obamanut2012]

63. I 100% agree with you, as does my cousin

My cousin is a Ranger. He and his friends loved it, because it gives just a little taste of what real soldiers go through. Two of the civilians almost drowned, literally, on the first episode.

They are competing for 100K each for charities that support vets and their families.

And, for those giggling about Nick Lachey: he was very respectful of the process and the service military members give. Actually, all of the celebrities were. He and Picabo Street were, by far, the best at the training. He also said he had no idea how intense and scary it is, even just in training missions (they had live fire).

It wasn't shown much on TV, but they had to have a certain degree of physical fitness, and they had rather intensive training for a few weeks. Each celebrity is teamed with an active or retired service member, all but one an Elite, like SEAL or Delta. One is a "regular" Marine.

I understand Bishop Tutu's concern, but it really does not demean the military in any way, nor are the celebrities doing this as a joke.

[atreides1]

77. Real war is bloody and dangerous

This isn't real war, not unless someone ends up either missing a body part or dead...this is just one step above what my brothers and friends use to do when we were kids...

[nichomachus]

26. Having the Palin clan around is like having dogshit on your sneaker

Just when you think you got rid of it all, you find more.

[tularetom]

29. People who have been there don't talk about it

My dad served in the 1st Marine Division during WWII and it wasn't until after he died that we discovered he'd been injured during the battle of Peleliu.

As kids we used to try to get him to tell us war stories but he's always clam up. Traumatic stress wasn't part of anybody's vocabulary during those times but I suspect he was dealing with it or something very similar.

I don't feel that a show like this does anything to honor his memory or that of those who served with him. It's just another cheap attempt to cash in on the basic decency of the American people.

[patrice]

31. Desensitizing War for Profit. Commercialization of killing. It's over, all. What have we become?

[elleng]

33. You've got it wrong.

Contributing to charities.

http://www.nbc.com/stars-earn-stripes/about/charities/

[patrice]

39. No YOU have it wrong. Charity should not NEED this kind of sacrilege against the deaths of INNOCENT

people throughout history.

If people can't do the right thing by Charity because it IS the right thing and for no other reason or motive, there is no hope.

This is whoring at the expense of the least amongst us.

[patrice]

41. This is whoring for what makes charity necessary in the first place, for what MAKES people POOR.

[Tom Ripley]

49. Is NBC keeping the advertising revenue or are they also "contributing to charities"?

[LanternWaste]

66. I don't think the latter denies the former...

I don't think that desensitizing war for profit and the commercialization of killing denies the contribution to charities...

Yet, at the end of the day, I imagine we have to examine our own conscience and ask ourselves if the money being given is worth the image being promoted.

[stockholmer]

51. an empire

[elleng]

32. The competitors will be fighting for various charities.

http://www.nbc.com/stars-earn-stripes/about/charities/

[DonCoquixote]

37. This is worse than any porn

because it is aimed at kids and young men and women who will want to be cool. Even the most realistic Video games do not pretend they are reality, while this does.

I hate to sound evil, but I hope one of these participants gets crippled or killed. That way, they can ask the REAL heroes of war how they dealt with it. Oh, hand have thje losers have to donate money to buy houses that get foreclosed on, so that the real veterans do not become homeless when they get home.

[WinkyDink]

43. This is just the latest push to make the military an acceptable element of civilian life; aka, mili-

tarization of society.

Watch (youtube) any Pop music video. Chances are you will see some depiction---maybe in costuming, maybe in the storyline---of the mingling of the military with normal society.

Heck, it was part of the Olympics (See: Soldiers escorting the large photos of models during the Closing Ceremony).

And before anybody starts: I highly respect our soldiers, and give monthly to SEVERAL veterans' groups.

[Cass]

47. if Todd Palin and Nick Lachy are so into military training they ought to enlist instead of playing

pretend army men. What a revolting concept for a show.

Figures we'd see another Palin jumping on the reality show bandwagon.

[Glaisne]

85. Exactly!

Well said, excellent point!

[JonLP24]

48. I disagree

I don't think the show intends to be a "fake war" but rather to put semi-famous people into the same training as elite military members go through. I actually may watch just to catch Terry Crews and Ali.

[obamanut2012]

64. That is what it was

I posted a long post up thread about the show, which I actually watched, and what a Ranger relative thought of the show.

I am anti war, but I have many relatives in the military, and know what they do and what they really have sacrificed.

The only sour note to me is Todd Palin, but he wasn't supposed to be on it, Jack Osbourne was. He, however, was diagnosed with MS and not allowed to be on the show because of how rigorous it is.

[Katashi_itto]

50. I'm cool with it if they use real bullets and landmines...

and dump them in Somalia.

[longship]

52. Hosted by Wink Martindale?

Or, maybe by Art Fleming... Nah! He wouldn't lower himself. But I'd bet Jack Narz would have.

I'll stick with Wink, who The Muppets always characatured so wonderfully.

[Paladin]

54. Amen. Enough Of This Military Jock-Sniffing. (nt)

[femrap]

55. j

Last edited Tue Aug 21, 2012, 07:05 PM - Edit history (1)

[Beartracks]

56. They say "normalization of permanent war" like it's a BAD thing...

...

I was envisioning the rightwing/MIC response.

=====================

[NYC Liberal]

58. Sounds like something out of "Idiocracy"

[Dustlawyer]

79. That movie was not far from the truth! They

Want us dumbed down to make it easier for them to control.

[WooWooWoo]

60. 10 years ago when I was a different DUer, I would have felt this was absurd

Having been to war now, though, I think there can be some positives to take out of it.

I don't think a lot of people realize how difficult it is to train to go to war and do the things people in the military do. If it helps people better appreciate the sacrifices and hardship that go along with being a soldier or marine or sailor or airman, then I think its okay.

I haven't seen the show, however. But I can say with utter certainty and experience there's nothing glorious or entertaining about really being in a war or in combat. Its terrifying and agonizing (not to mention tedious and boring most of the time).

But celebrating the people who put themselves in harms way at the behest of our not-always-righteous leadership is nothing to be ashamed of.

[AllyCat]

61. I'm concerned about this show

Horrible preface. And Clark is hawking this?

[sofa king]

62. It would be powerful with a few changes.

Make the stars train and then enter actual combat, have their friends die around them and then make the public watch as their personalities inevitably change and their careers fall to pieces around them.

But that would be an entirely different show, wouldn't it?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

65. If they want to make the public understand what soldiers go through, they should dispense with the

D-list "celebrities" and just show live combat footage of actual soldiers getting gut shot, like they did during the Vietnam War.

Oh, but wait, that would turn the public against the war instead of drawing the "Survivor" crowd.

[Wednesdays]

69. This reminds me of those army "commercials" they put on at the movies

You know, the ones that show how exciting and fun it is to serve in the armed forces, and liken it to video games. Those have been around for years, and this is no different.

[Mosby]

70. Of all the disgusting, stupid reality shows on TV

This is the one people are freaking out about?

[Hissyspit]

86. This is disgusting and stupid in a particular way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014194254

[Uncle Joe]

72. It's part of the corporate media promoted police state, Big Brother, loving propaganda effort.

They not only want to sanitize war, they want to acclimate the American People in to viewing Big Brother corporate owned government as a game to win cash and prizes instead of a nightmare threatening individual liberty, they also want the American People to primarily view their fellow citizens as criminals.

The vast majority of "reality" programming is geared toward this end; tearing down and dividing the people, bringing out, magnifying and/or highlighting their worst.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[CoffeeCat]

75. Our military trains this way...

...in order to kill people. They're not training for a 5k. They train and endure these physical rigors so that they can hunt down people and kill them. Our military killed 100,000+ Iraqi civilians and has also killed thousands of innocent Afghan people. It's the cost of being at war. We should be somber and serious about these matters--not celebrating them during prime time with a rollicking entertainment program.

This is a PR effort, designed to glamorize war and desensitize us to the horrors and reality of war. If you don't show the killing, the blood, the dismemberment, the soldier suffering from PTSD--then you are lying by omission.

NBC should be ashamed. This is a disgrace.

[yesphan]

81. Indeed, it is.

[nolabear]

76. I'm so glad. I am horrified at the very idea of putting peoples' lives in danger for thrills.

And I agree that this is an insane glorification of war. Making it a celebrity event smacks of luring impressionable kids into signing up and going off for glory. It's a sign of a regressive, hysterical culture, and I'm damned tired of us not being past that.

[VWolf]

78. I find it funny that

it's on the same network that airs another reality show called "Love in the Wild"

Not sure WHY I find it funny. I just do.

FWIW, my kids really enjoyed American Ninja Warrior.
Of course, the show had nothing to do with ninjas.
Or warriors.
It was just a really cool obstacle course.

[Glaisne]

82. this show is disgusting

The idea of this show is disgusting. It both at the same time trivializes and demeans the soldiers and glorifies and sanitizes warfare. Absolutely barbaric and medieval. What is this society coming to?