Programming Chaos: The Arab Spring

The Soul of the East
Thanks to an advantageous geographical position set between the world’s two major oceans, Americans have been in large measure immune to the consequences of war, upheaval and terror in the Eurasian Great Game. Since Vietnam the United States military-industrial complex has managed to prosecute expeditionary wars across the span of the globe while maintaining losses at a level acceptable to an American citizenry manipulated through its patriotism and distracted by an entire synthetic universe of amusements. Yet on occasion, even in a disneyfied haze of pornography, sports, and television, moments of clarity on America’s mission in the world do arrive, even from the most unexpected quarters. Director Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, a film portrayal of the September 11th, 2012 Benghazi disaster, is one such instance.

Bay, known for his love for combining cartoonish explosions, high-tech firepower, and swimsuit models, wouldn’t likely be the first…
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