Naturally a nation puts its "best foot" forward when the entire world
is watching.
So as our football warriors take to the field of battle, the planet is
treated to a show of power by the Earth's Mightiest War Machine ever.
Did anyone even suggest that we might have featured the bright,
hopeful faces of our nation's children, the hope of our future?
We certainly can no longer feature the hard working men and women of
our once great Working Class. Featuring them would expose the growing
slums and street people begging for some crumbs to survive. We cannot
feature our once mighty labor unions. They now are in tatters.
Showing off our once mighty infrastructure, our super highways and
gleaming bridges and fast running railroad trains can't happen,
either. They are all in shambles. Even an attempt to feature our
nation as in the song, America the Beautiful:
Oh beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
That land is fast disappearing under heavy layers of human pollution.
So all we have left to show the world is the military might that is
murdering millions around the dying globe.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/9/16, S. Kashdan <skashdan@xxxxxxx> wrote:
The Might of the American Empire Was on Full Display at Super Bowl 50: A
Bizarre War Spectacle Extraordinaire
By Sarah Lazare [1]
AlterNet [2], February 8, 2016
http://www.alternet.org/print/civil-liberties/might-american-empire-was-full-display-super-bowl-50-bizarre-war-spectacle
From the fighter jets soaring overhead to the armed troops patrolling Levi
Stadium, Super Bowl 50 was a highly militarized event, its 70,000 spectators
and millions of television viewers subject to a showcase of war propaganda
and heavy security crackdown.
To much fanfare, the Armed Forces Chorus, comprised of 50 men and women from
the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Air Force, kicked off the massive
sports event by singing "America the Beautiful" from the field. CBS’
broadcast of the song cut away to footage of uniformed troops standing at
attention, with text on the screen reading, "United States Forces
Afghanistan." The clip was a nod to a brutal war and occupation, now
stretching into its 15th year, as top generals press [3] for an even slower
withdrawal.
Following the national anthem, the U.S. Navy flew its signature Blue Angels
Delta formation over the cheering stadium, located in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Navy is open about the propaganda purposes of such flights, stating in a
press release they are intended to demonstrate "pride" in the military. In a
country that dropped [4] 23,144 bombs on Muslim-majority countries in 2015
alone, the war planes are not just symbolic.
The heavy-handed display follows revelations [5] that some NFL teams have
long been accepting payment from the Department of Defense to honor and
celebrate the military and its service members.
Some were open about their profiteering aims. Military weaponry was also
displayed off the field on Sunday, when the arms giant Northrop Grumman
released [6] a 30-second television advertisement for a terrifying and
futuristic fighter jet complete with lasers.
Meanwhile, at the stadium and in surrounding communities, a real crackdown
took place. The Super Bowl was determined by Homeland Security to be a
"level one" security event, prompting a massive deployment of police and
troops. Service members in uniform carried automatic rifles as they
patrolled the stadium, and camouflaged Humvee vehicles with roof gun mounts
were seen throughout the area.
According to [7] SF Gate writer Al Saracevic, "At one point, near the media
entrance to the event, a column of military personnel could be seen marching
into the interior of the stadium security zone, boots clomping, weapons in
hand."
The crackdown extended far beyond the event itself. In the leadup to the
Super Bowl, authorities in nearby San Francisco began clearing homeless
encampments in anticipation of a large influx of tourists, prompting
protests [8]. In a city already beset with dramatic inequality and
displacement, the sweeps prompted the campaign Not So Super SF, demanding a
moratorium on the criminalization of homeless people.
The buildup to the event saw a heavy surveillance and law enforcement
crackdown, in a city with powerful movements demanding an end to police
killings and recognition that Black Lives Matter.
"In the leadup to the Super Bowl, we've seen high-tech surveillance cameras
go up with zero public input or protections [9], a black protestor arrested
just for taking photos [10], and homeless people harassed, displaced, and
saddled with unpayable citations [11]," Abdi Soltani, the executive director
of the ACLU of Northern California, warned [12] days ahead of the Super
Bowl.
Amid the militarized spectacle of the Super Bowl, there was some recognition
from the field of the issues nearby communities are struggling with. In a
powerful homage to the ongoing legacies of women in the Black Panthers
movement, dancers accompanying Beyonce’s halftime performance of "Formation
[13]" held a sign [14] demanding "Justice for Mario Woods." African-American
man Woods, 26, was killed [15] by San Francisco police on December 2.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, Sarah co-edited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [16].
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mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on The Might of the American
Empire Was on Full Display at Super Bowl 50: A Bizarre War Spectacle
Extraordinaire [17]
[18]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/might-american-empire-was-full-display-super-bowl-50-bizarre-war-spectacle
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/650370/campbell-to-sasc-afghanistan-not-a-short-term-problem
[4]
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/us-dropped-23144-bombs-muslim-majority-countries-2015
[5]
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/05/taxpayers_pony_up_for_jets_salutes_to_nj_national.html
[6]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/02/06/this-futuristic-fighter-jet-will-likely-be-unveiled-to-america-during-the-super-bowl/
[7]
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Huge-military-presence-at-Super-Bowl-50-6813940.php
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSgY3CKC3n4&feature=youtu.be
[9]
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/ACLU-Critical-of-New-Muni-Cameras-Along-the-Embarcadero-366163331.html
[10] http://sfist.com/2016/02/04/black_protester_detained_and_cited.php
[11]
http://abc7news.com/sports/i-team-super-bowl-puts-strain-on-homeless-in-san-francisco/1184577/
[12]
https://www.aclunc.org/blog/super-bowl-city-and-beyond-sf-must-affirm-blacklivesmatter
[13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrCHz1gwzTo
[14]
https://twitter.com/BLMBAYAREA/status/696519908050362368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[15]
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Family-of-man-shot-by-SF-police-to-file-federal-6691945.php
[16] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[17] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on The Might of the
American Empire Was on Full Display at Super Bowl 50: A Bizarre War
Spectacle Extraordinaire
[18] http://www.alternet.org/
[19] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
