Nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates have spoken out against a new American reality show, ‘Stars Earn Stripes’, because they claim it glorifies war. In the show, well-known Americans play war games as if their life depended on it.
One of the laureates is José Ramos-Horta, who served as president of East Timor until May of this year. He explained to Radio Netherlands Worldwide why he was so upset about a TV programme being broadcast on the other side of the globe.
“I signed the letter because I know full well that we live in a world full of conflicts, wars and violence,” said Ramos-Horta. “We know that the levels of violence in the United States are influenced by television and cinema. A programme like this one will only make the situation worse. It won’t contribute to a peaceful climate.”
Through the mud
In NBC’s ‘Stars Earn Stripes’, eight American celebrities undergo gruelling training, given by a real-life officer who trains soldiers for war missions. The programme is hosted by retired General Wesley Clark, who was for the former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe and later a Democratic presidential candidate.
Among the people taking part in the series are Laila Ali, the daughter of boxing legend Mohammed Ali; Todd Palin, the spouse of the former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Olympic ski champion Picabo Street. In the first episode, they crawled in the mud, jumped out of a helicopter and then back in, fired at a building and hacked doors into pieces using axes.
Everything was for real: the uniforms, automatic weapons, tears, the mud rubbed onto their faces and the spectacular explosions. “This is no joke. I know that I can die,” said Superman actor Dean Cain in between the commercial breaks for pizza and cars.
NBC says the new reality show “pays homage to the men and women who serve in the U.S. armed forces”. The American military has lost 6,500 soldiers so far in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Desmond Tutu
The nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including South African bishop and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, have protested against this attempt “to turn warfare into a sporting competition”. In an open letter to the NBC management, they condemned the realism of the war game. “In reality,” they wrote, “war is extremely deadly. People – both military and civilians – die in a way that has nothing entertaining.”
In the week that NBC issued a statement, saying that the reality show wasn’t glorifying war, six American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. According to Joan Wile, the founder of Grandmothers Against War, “it’s abominable that a major TV network has broadcast that war is something glamorous, while our young people are dying in real wars.”
Deep wounds
José Ramos-Horta fears that NBC underestimates the effects of this type of show. “There are tens of thousands of people in the United States who have deep wounds – in their bodies and their hearts – caused by wars. Thousands of veterans have committed suicide. The US public needs a more humane, positive approach to deal with this trauma. By glorifying war, the producers are simply aggravating the pain.”
The former president of East Timor knows what he is talking about. He played a key role in his country’s long and bloody struggle for independence from Indonesia.
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The US has always been a violent nation, so this doesn't come as a surprise. Take a very close look at the sacrosanct American cartoon...this is where the youngsters start getting introduced to violence.
As an American who has lived in the U.S. for 78 years, I can't agree that the U.S. has always been a violent country. When I was young, street crime hardly existed. On summer nights we slept without molestation in the parks when our apartments were too hot. We could be on the dark streets and not worry about being attacked. This began to change in the late 50s after the ending of racial segregation. Even the black areas were safer before that. Other violent changes have come about because of the ending of the influence of Christian teachings and the growth of the drug use, introduction of multiculturalism and mass third world immigration. Recent FBI stats reveal that the U.S. is now home to 1.4 million gang members, mainly hispanic. Our law enforcement is much fewer in number. Thank God we still have our firearms. If those are confiscated we will be sitting ducks in our homes. The criminals will never give up their guns. The threat is real and stems from left-wing policies.
They are right! War is not an adventure. It is a disease.
These people are such hypocrits. They accept Nobel "Peace" Prizes from the war mongering elite then criticize a stupid tv show.
Regardless of what these nobel people are, the show is insensitive and demeaning. It must be criticized. The argument that such shows will glorify war is valid at least for the younger generation in America. I doubt if any of these opinions will be considered in America, but that would just show how immature some Americans are.
Since when are Norway and Sweden "war-mongering elites"? It is widely agreed that the 1996 Nobel PEACE Prize contributed in no small part to the eventual independence of Timor-Leste some 4 years later. It was certainly a bright note in the dark years of occupation for the East Timorese - not to mention the fact that it severely got up the nose of the (war-mongering) Indonesian elite! Previous awards acknowledged the cause of the oppressed and neglected people in Burma and South Africa. Surely a good thing. As is speaking up for what is right and speaking against what we believe to be wrong - no matter who we are!
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