Mercs, at one point they were considered the lowest scum

[nadinbrzezinski]

on earth.

You did not admit to being one... if you knew what was good for you (and yes I have met younger Mercs in this town that work
for the local merc outfit, no, not blackwater, but just as scary)

So it got me thinking.

We've gone from you'd never admit to this even in impolite company, to people are proud to be them

So it got me thinking... HOW? Popular culture, that is how kiddies

I KNOW why games like BattleTech have them... in 1986 it made sense as part of the fluff, after all they ARE the condotieri of this fictional universe (The Italian Mercs of the 16th century were called Condotieri), but you had a generation of gamers who grew up with them as something regular.

Then this expanded to the video games, which are a far larger slice of the market, First with the BattleTech Franchise, and then in other games were you too could be a Merc, drive the coolest shit around, blow up buildings and kill civvies no problem. To their credit the Tech franchise never went that far, and one of the universe factions hated Mercs... with a passion.

But mercs have been part of sci fi, not only gaming, but ficiton, for years, and so has the glorification of war in the United States, which is damn easy to do when only five percent of the population actually face the horrors at any one time.

Now you might say... but you have mercs in future nexus. Yep... I do... one of my alien societies is stuck in 16th century italy... and if any of these mercs outfits ever went ito total war... that is not good for business. What is more... like the Condotieri... they go to the field, do a Damage assesmtment and the guys who should loose, quietly bow out. They haven't really shot at each other in hundreds of years... and the consequences to such a society are incredibly damming. No safety net, for the most part... except one human run area, and a dog eat dog world mentality... (Yes, here is a little secret, they are a possibly US)

But here is the point. I think we in the media should take some responsibility for the thoughts experiments we carry out regularly. I just don't expect this to happen any time soon... but we also have to have an honest discussion of our media system, and the games we play.

Oh and for the record, our games are not violent enough, before you blame games for all ills, not when compared to Japan, for example. Do a comparison of crime rates, ok... so it is more complex than little Johnny playing DnD, which has some benefits that are very obvious, use of readying skills, math skills and in some cases, when kids take it seriously enough, even liberal use of historical texts.

But I do believe we need to start examining the role of games honesty in how we came to accept Mercs... And for anybody familiar with Battletech, we went from a Rasahalgian atitude, of hate their guts, to quite accepting of them.That worries me, since even the lowest scum in the battletech universe is noble and honest compared to the real deal.

[Hugabear]

1. I think pop culture has made mercenary units more "acceptable"

Especially video games, where mercs provide a staple source for protagonists.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. As I said, we need to start examining the role of

popular culture in the glorification of war and the acceptance of the unacceptable

Hell Blackwater insignia reminds me loosely of one in a game

[gaspee]

2. I still think they are

But I'm not a big fan of the militarization of our culture.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Perhaps our media system has played a role in this

starting with the fringes (yes Paper and Pencil gaming is very much fringe)

That said, if I wrote a game about kumbaya trying to influence attitudes long term, since all well written games have snipes at the current system... it won't sell

[whistle]

4. The French Foreign Legion thieves, cutthroats, killers for hire

... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6777372516104300363

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Silly me, I was expecrting a video GAME

this is what this is about, the media....

By the way, the Foreign Legion is quite possibly the model for our recruiting in other countries these days... and we will have to create such a unit

In the field of mental experiments one particular game said that the future uS military is a private corporation, General Defense, and her troops are hired abroad... this is the kind of exercise I am talking about (Though given this was a british game, it was also critical of US today)

[JackintheGreen]

7. but SOOOOOO romantic

ne c'est pas?

[whistle]

8. As in Gary Cooper in "Beau Geste"?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. now that IS some funny shit... but the comedy

helped to glorify them. I wonder what where the reruitnment numbers after the movie ran... from the US that is

[JackintheGreen]

10. More like Phil Silvers

in "Follow that Camel" :P

[Iggo]

11. They've cleaned up the language.

Now they're called "contractors." I've been telling people since the beginning of this charade that these innocent contractors everyone feels bad for are what we used to call "mercenaries" or "soldiers of fortune." You'd think I slapped them in the face or something.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Black Water is What Comes Out of the Toilet

Calling themselves that was at least one rare bit of truth in advertising on the part of the notorious "security" firm.

[ljm2002]

13. It's also a language / framing thing...

...as we all know, the mercenaries we brought over to Iraq can never, ever be *called* "mercenaries" -- too many bad connotations. So they're called "contractors" and voila! -- problem solved.

Anyway, so then if you or I or Rachel Maddow or whoever now refers to them as "mercenaries", we will be called on it by the keepers of the frame, our pathetic press pundits. Whereas, we should be calling them on it every single time they refers to these people as "contractors".