Scholar of the Strange and Mysterious
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Professor Hex
Scholar of the Strange and Mysterious
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?


Monday, November 22, 2004

The Men Who Stare at Goats  
A review of Jon Ronson's The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Jon Ronson is forced to begin his book with an extraordinary disclaimer: 'This,' he writes, with some authentic shock and awe, 'is a true story.'

As you read on, it is hard to shift the impact of those five small words from your mind. It would be far, far better for all of us, you can't help thinking, if it turned out that Jon Ronson had actually made up his entire, wonderful investigation into 'psychological warfare' techniques used by America's elite Special Forces.

If he had not, for example, discovered that there was a Major General Albert Stubblebine III directing operations from Arlington, Virginia, who firmly believes he can walk through walls. Or if the existence of a secret unit in which psyops personnel stared at goats for hours on end with the aim of killing them was actually a figment of a warped author's imagination. Or that the Pentagon's playlist of torture music for use at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib was, in reality, a juvenile attempt at satire. Terrifyingly, however, all this - and much more - is shown, as he says, to be true.


Thanks to Professor Pan for the link.

Comments: Post a Comment

Select Language: