islam-a-thon

The modern US army and by extension modern war-fare is rather dissatisfying and distasteful--if only for the fact that the desk-jockeys are rarely valiant and merely tremolo-heroic. Too much of what's called battle is relegated to the eschelons of one's level of administrative-rights. Never mind the tardy circumspecion when it comes to applying technologies in a sensible way--the wonder of the modern paperless office, or taking a sensible or a merely timely stance towards vulnerabilities and breaches of security. Instead the army has jumped headlong into integrating dangerous and scary kill-bots, well beyond the kin of any would-be peach-keeper or world police. No one's invisible or private in the face of dragnet wire-tapping or satillite-survelliance. Thank goodness that electonc filters are not yet good enough to monitor everyone and that casual spying is limited by manpower and priorities and prejudices. There is, however, the matter of roving drones--employed liberally by defense contractors in the name of the US army and the CIA. Mind you, it is not soldiers or mercenaries who play these video games, but rather drones themselves. There was formerly a bit of bitter-sweet honour in being a paid assassin, but I doubt that sense is preserved for those who play this long, boring game with little elements of arcade fantasy. It's like out-sourcing another decidedly American institution--like the ventured by the largest fast-food chain, whose drive-thru orders were being attended to by a West Indian call-center. It is a treacherous thing when being off-line is a genuine work-stoppage and conversely when going underground simply is off-the-net.