militainment – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

American Exceptionalism, American Innocence

Review of American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News—from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror. By Roberto Sirvent and Danny Haiphong. Foreword by Ajamu Baraka. Afterword by Glen Ford. 256 pages. Published: April 2, 2019. New York: Skyhorse Publishing Inc. ISBN: 9781510742369. Hardcover, $24.99 US; e-Book, $16.99 US. We […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Pentagon Photography and Visual Anthropology

Could it be any more obvious how the Pentagon has learned to mimic certain styles of anthropological photography as shown in the instance above? Resembling any of a vast number of photographs of or by anthropologists, such as famous ones of Bronislaw Malinowski and Margaret Mead “in the field,” this one also features the note-taking […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Militainment: Militarized Romance that Kills

The following is a series of extracts from Laura Powell’s chapter, “Glorification of the Military in Popular Culture and the Media,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 167-184: Overview: Laura Powell argues that while our military members are generally perceived as heroes, this romanticized perception of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

New Book: Good Intentions (Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism)

Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism is the fourth volume in the New Imperialism series published by Alert Press, and it has just been released in hardcover, paperback, and in a couple of free versions online (a simple PDF, a bookmarked PDF [also here], or individual chapter files as below). In addition, over […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Zero Anthropology: Top Articles for 2013 That You Probably Missed and Shouldn’t Have

This was a year of giant losses, especially with the passing of monumental figures such as Hugo Chávez (March 5) and then Nelson Mandela exactly nine months later (December 5). While Chávez’s successor seems to have rebounded successfully, lengthening his electoral lead in what is already the second election victory for Venezuela’s ruling PSUV since […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Encircling Empire: Report #19—Militainment

Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period, providing links and representative extracts or key passages from each resource, usually focusing on certain countries/continents and/or processes in each report. The focus of the reports ranges from imperialism discussed in broad strokes, to specific facets of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Other Moral Squalor of U.S. Militarism

With at least five top U.S. generals currently in the media spotlight for corruption, abuse of power, sexual assault, and now the adultery commotion around General David Petraeus, now ex-CIA director, it is a relief to see militainment go in reverse. Now all of the media entertainment involving the icons of the media-military complex is […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Encircling Empire: Report #16—War, Hegemony, Ideology, and Resistance

Encircling Empire: Report #16—War, Hegemony, Ideology, and Resistance Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period, providing links and representative extracts or key passages from each resource, usually focusing on certain countries/continents and/or processes in each report. The focus of the reports ranges from imperialism […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Wikileaks’ Iraq War Logs: On War News Radio

Yesterday, War News Radio presented its radio report, Leaked, about the difficulties of media reporting on the Iraq War Logs, and then speaking with media critics about Wikileaks. The report was produced by Sam Hirshman and Anjali Cadambi have the story. It is an effective summary, about six minutes in length, that you can hear/download from […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Are You Afraid of the Digital Taleban?

In the latest in militainment news, Electronic Arts has bowed to pressure from military officials in the U.S. and UK–not that it wasn’t already predisposed to their sentiments–and to the overreaching complaints of family members of those who died killing Afghans, and removed mention of the Taleban from the upcoming release of “Medal of Honor.” […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Encircling Empire: Report #1, 03-11 September 2010

EE: Report #1, 03—11 September 2010 Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period, which can usually be glimpsed in raw form at zero.collected. They are intended to be useful for those interested in: ● contemporary and critical political anthropology ● public anthropology ● imperialism […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Military’s Media Whores: On Ethics, Power, Rapport and Responsibility

First, my thanks to Erik Davis (colleague, long time friend of this blog) for directing my attention to this brilliant piece by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone: Lara Logan, You Suck, from which I will quote extensively in the extracts that follow. This is a “notes and quotes” feature of this blog, apart from this […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Team USA at the 2010 FIFA World Cup: Motivation Unthinkable without the Military

In a military-dominated culture, where the militarist ethos tries to reach into every little corner of social experience and attempts to appropriate every possible making of cultural meaning, this is the latest for our files: Team USA at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was apparently unable to think of motivation, discipline, and […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Militainment: U.S. Military Propaganda in the News Media, Hollywood, and Video Games

“Propaganda is at its most effective when the audience does not know it is being manipulated and one of the best, glitziest examples of that is when propaganda is delivered on the big screen in the guise of a Hollywood blockbuster.”–The Listening Post, 12 June 2010 Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post had an excellent review […]