I’m going to develop the following material into an anti-Afghanistan War commercial. Warning: The following treatment is pretty grisly – but then, so is war.
The following material:
From a newspaper: “Britain 's Prince Harry has been given the green light to return to action in Afghanistan
My response, posted on Yahoo News: “I wonder if pro-war fever in Britain would cool off if Prince Harry came back from Afghanistan
Developing this material:
A single picture:
First, there must be an indelible, iconic image. Picture in your mind an image of the prince in a modified military uniform. Missing would be pants legs and shirt sleeves. Pinned to what’s left of each of his extremities would be a Victoria Cross.
That’s right…as a result of extreme valor in the face of the enemy, the Prince is awarded four Victoria
After getting one arm blown off, our hero got up and reentered the fray.
After getting one leg blown off, ditto.
After getting his second leg blown off, unable to even hobble around, he continued firing his weapon with his one remaining arm.
After getting his second arm blow off, reinforcements arrived to save his life.
So, the logic went, the Prince had actually put himself (or what was, each successive time, becoming what was left of himself) in harm’s way four separate times. Therefore, he should be awarded four Victoria Crosses.
A single picture is worth a thousand words. And this particular single picture could easily be computer-generated, with no loss of limb to the good but all-too-young Prince. [My God, can you believe this man is only 26?]
That was the official story. However, in reality, Prince Harry was Pat Tillmanned. That is, he was totally the victim of friendly fire – American friendly fire. Well, that wouldn’t play terribly well in the press, now would it? People would run around saying, “With friends like that, we don’t need enemies.” Actually, the Brits (and others) would do well to draw exactly that conclusion.
More than a single picture:
Naturally, I can’t be satisfied with only one single image. So I will now proceed to gum up the works with added considerations:
The Prince could be shown going on tour to drum up support for the war effort, an effort which had cost him dearly. His oft-repeated slogan: “You have to give of yourself to triumph over evil – sometimes you have to give a lot of yourself.” [He intentionally uses the word “you” – for reasons which will become clear in a bit.]
Unfortunately, his public appearances have quite the opposite effect – they don’t inspire support for the war. Except in one kind of place – in the pubs. After the initial uneasiness wears off and the Prince buys a few rounds for the patrons, they don’t seem to notice his deficiencies. After a few more rounds, they don’t seem to notice much of anything at all.
But the Prince has his own agenda. After he was injured, he has an epiphany – deciding such wars of oppression are evil. However, he’s aware of many similarly injured soldiers who turn against their various wars – with their detractors accusing them of selfish bitterness. Or worse: That they’re not in a proper frame of mind. Besides, how could a royal directly oppose a war?
He concludes: “Nobody would believe me if I came out against the war simply because of my own injuries.”
So the Prince decides to hide his opposition. He knows the negative effect his appearance will have when he goes on tour (pretending) to support the war. So that becomes his anti-war strategy.
…Which works for a while until WikiLeaks blows the lid off everything. Wiki posts incriminating documents which prove that Prince Harry lost his limbs due to friendly American fire. With the tabloids in an uproar, the Prince appears on national television to apologize and to abdicate, saying: “I cannot ask for your forgiveness, nor can I further sully our nation’s image by remaining a Prince.”
He would close by saying: “Truth is not only the first casualty of war – it’s a continuing casualty of war. And as long as we insist on living in a state of unending warfare, the truth shall one day totally die out and refuse to come visit us even as a haunting spirit.”
Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
“I don’t imagine this post will play very well on the other side of the pond. Nor might I win any popularity contests there, especially should the Prince come to be wounded as I’ve described. For this reason, I say: I don’t care if you like me or not – get your Good Prince and all good sons of Britain and the empire the hell out of Afghanistan
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment