More fun and hijinks on The Wright Stuff, earlier, with Matthew and co. discussing the Army’s misgivings regarding a new Jimmy McGovern drama being screened later on. The reason: it depicts bullying amongst the ranks and, as such, stands a risk of lowering morale for the efforts of Our Boys™ in Afghanistan.
Just imagine Full Metal Jacket, Platoon or Casualties of War being made whilst the Vietnam War was on.
And, why the fuck is this Tim Collins, a fucking army colonel, bitching about “gratuitous violence” and use of “foul and abusive language”? Did Mary Whitehouse reincarnate on the frontlines, or what?
It always amuses me whenever groups notorious for being “un-PC” get all torn-up and censorious over things they find offensive; like the time the tourism minister of Italy, an administration not known for its cultural sensitivity, demands the removal of an iPhone app for its “negative stereotyping” of her nation.
And remember those anarcho-paleocons from the Bay?
Special interest groups, indeed!
But I wonder: is there more to this than a replay of the tired moral(e)-panic and “support our troops” memes? As amped up as I expect it will be for drama, does this show’s subject matter highlight something unsightly on the military underbelly, something that might have been cast in shade for way too long? One Wright Stuff caller, an ex-Army captain, vehemently made a case for it, describing, with quavering anger, the belittlement and torment she endured within the force.
Perhaps I’m making too much out of one person’s experience.
Then again, maybe not, if the alleged one-in-ten statistic from a few years back carries any weight.
As the statist rhetoric goes: if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear, eh, Colonel?
As for the fears ‘n’ tears that Accused’ll undermine faith in the war effort (as if it could dwindle much further!), I live in hope….
~MRDA~
Pingback: Hypocrisy & Halal V: Poppycock! « MRDA's Inferno