Sebastian Junger's Tribute to Tim Hetherington

Documentary honors war photographer Tim Hetherington (includes embedded video, a preview of the documentary)

HBO: "Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington"



Misc.
Chains of Office in the Tudor Court

Sebastian Junger Remembers Tim Hetherington

Vanity Fair
The death of an incomparable photojournalist, killed on April 20 while covering the conflict in Libya, is recounted by his collaborator, confrère, and friend.

Tim Hetherington killed in Libya

NYT and Washington Post

RIP.

Cunningham's Climb

(via Kitchen Dispatch)

Sebastian Junger, Why the Right and Left Are Wrong About My Movie

Book Beast

He makes it clear that he's a liberal intereventionist.

Items of Interest, 15 July 2010

CHT: On the Anti-Occidental Edmund Burke Institute for American Renewal

Field Report: A Michigan Teen Farms Her Backyard (via Rod Dreher)

Zenit:
History of Norms Addressing Gravest Crimes

Father Lombardi on Significance of New Norms
"A Great Contribution to the Clarity and Certainty of Law in This Field"

Norms Addressing "Gravioribus Delictis"

Changes Made to "Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela"
Made to "Render the Text More Useful"

Asia News:
Fr. Samir: French ban on burqa a welcome law!
by Samir Khalil Samir
For the expert on Islam, the law is an invitation for European Muslims to strive for integration and marginalize Salafi trends of opposition and conflict. Moreover, the burqa has no justification in the Koran or Islamic tradition, it is merely a custom of Saudi Arabia (and some other countries) which confirms chauvinism and the "the woman’s grave".

New bishop of Yulin (Yan’an), a PhD graduate from Rome
by Zhen Yuan

Church tightens, clarifies rules on sex abuses by priests
Changes on ‘Rules on the Most Serious Crimes’ are made public today. They include faster procedures, a longer statute of limitations (20 years), treating as a crime the acquisition, possession or disclosure “in any way and by any means” of pornographic images of minors by priests. Changes are also made to the rules that govern crimes against the faith and the sacraments.

Religious freedom, the path to peace: a Carmelite convert from Hinduism comments
by Nirmala Carvalho
Sister Mary Joseph, a former Brahmin Hindu, since 1977 has lived in the cloistered Carmelite Convent in Mumbai. Here she comments to AsiaNews the theme "Religious freedom, the path to peace", chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for World Day for Peace 2011.

Ethnic unrest in Guangxi over water pollution by industrial plant
Thousands of villagers come out to protest against polluting aluminium plant, but are beaten by company security guards. Police face sit-ins and demonstrators, who belong to the Zhuang ethnic minority.

Asia Times:
Death on your doorstep
Restrepo directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

Repeated tight shots of earnest US soldiers are the perfect metaphor for what makes an otherwise cinematically-pleasing film almost useless for telling us anything about the real war. The lack of critical local knowledge of what it's like to live through decades of conflict leaves a gaping hole in this Sundance prize-winner. - Nick Turse

A year after Xinjiang riots, tensions simmer
On the surface, Urumqi, scene of last year's deadly riots in China's western Xinjiang autonomous region, seems calm. But as Beijing moves to develop the country's west, there are underlying ethnic tensions it will need to address to avoid future flare-ups. - Gordon Ross

Counterpunch:
Frida Berrigan, Trillion Dollar Babies: Re-examining the Pentagon's Spending Habits
Dave Lindorff, How Bank of America Got Away With a Huge Swindle
Paul Craig Roberts, Economics in Freefall

Another of Stiglitz’s shortcomings, one that he shares with most economists, is his habit of reifying the market economy. The market is a social organization. The results of market activity reflect the behavior of the human participants in the market. When economists reify the market, they attribute the behavior, ethics, and morality--or lack thereof--of humans to the market itself. Thus, Stiglitz describes human failures as “market failures,” and he asks in his new book, Freefall, “why didn’t the market exercise discipline on bad corporate governance and bad incentive structures?”

Social institutions are inanimate. They do not possess life and cannot impose good outcomes on human action.

Libertarians also reify markets, but instead of blaming markets for human failures, they imbue the market with human virtues and even with the super-human virtue of producing results that human intelligence cannot improve upon. Economists’ “risk models” for which Nobel Prizes have been awarded and Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan attributed the social institution with economic wisdom beyond man’s.

It is likely that the practice of reifying the market economy developed as a form of shorthand. It was convenient to say that the market did this and that rather than to have to describe the human interactions that produced the results. The market was transformed from an abstraction into a life form and became the actor instead of the humans operating within the institution.

If the outcomes are good, libertarians attribute the good results to the market’s virtues; if bad, libertarians blame human interference--government regulation. Economists of Stiglitz’s persuasion see it in the opposite way. Good results are produced by regulation; bad results are the result of allowing the market to make decisions on its own.

This way of thinking, which reifies a social institution, is ingrained in economics. It is the source of enormous confusion and has resulted in a pointless long-running ideological battle that Stiglitz calls “a battle of ideas.”

It is possible to clear away the confusion. First, understand that a free market is one in which prices are free to respond to supply and demand. Economists of all persuasions understand that to fix a price below the price at which supply and demand equate results in shortages. Economists have learned this from rent control. Fixing a price above the price at which supply and demand equate results in surpluses. Economists have learned this from agricultural subsidies. A free market does not mean a market in which human behavior is not regulated. A free market is one in which supply and demand are permitted to equate.

Second, understand that regulation regulates human behavior, not the market. It is the actors in the market who are charged with regulatory infractions, not the institution itself. Regulation is necessary because of human faults, such as greed, fraud, carelessness, not because of market faults. Regulation is necessary because of human failure, not because of market failure.

Third, understand that the problem of regulation is that it is done by flawed humans. Human flaws do not disappear by moving human action from the economy to government. Most likely the flaws worsen as government decisions are often unaccountable. Many economists assume that regulators act in the public interest. However, as George Stigler, another Nobel Prizewinner, pointed out several decades ago, regulators are invariably captured by the industries that they regulate.

Restrepo and comments on some products

PFC Juan S. Restrepo, after whom OP Restrepo was named.
(source: Sky Soldiers Killed in Action)

Friday afternoon:

The early bird special at Cinearts Santana Row isn't bad -- $6.00. (I think that's also the early bird special for AMC as well.) Cinearts Santana Row is now showing Toy Story 3. For a while I was the only person under 40 -- there were 15 to 20 other people watching the movie, but they were all seniors. Then 2 women under the age of 40 entered the theater, but they left 20 minutes or so into the movie. Why? Was it too boring? Not enough handsome men?

The glimpse that Restrepo offers us of the life of the American infantrymen serving in Afghanistan is too short. I didn't mind that there wasn't much actual war-making (combat) in the documentary -- I just wanted to experience more of what their life was like, and to become more acquainted with the men in the platoon. The documentary is a bit like the clips one sees in the 5 or 10 minute short stories shown on the news or a television news magazine program, with enough of them strung together to make a 90-minute film.

Still, I think the documentary might be revelatory for American civilians who have no idea what it is like to be a soldier in the infantry or what sort of sacrifices our soldiers have to make in executing the foreign policy decisions of the Federal government.

Is it proper for American army officers to serve as diplomats and intermediaries between local Afghan leaders and the US government? Do they have the training and knowledge of the culture to really do this? Both the CO of Battle Company, and the CO of the 173rd Brigade Combat Team carry out this role. Is it one reason why the United States is lousy at "empire-building"?



Now for some remarks on the previews and trailers they showed before the movie:

The theater showed some previews -- you know, the package of 3, usually a TV show plus a movie plus something else. The first brought a welcome sight, even though I didn't recognize her at first, and I had to concentrate and try to remember who the stars of this TV show were, as I had read about it earlier this year. Sasha Alexander is back on TV; she's starring in a new procedural on TNT along with Angie Harmon. The show, Rizzoli and Isles, is supposed to take place in Boston; Sasha Alexander is , the logical scientist/medical examiner, while Angie Harmon plays , the tomboy who goes with her gut instinct. Does this remind you of any other pairings? The first one that came to my mind was Kirk and Spock of Star Trek. The two "extremes" of male psychology transferred to female characters.





It's another girl power show. If I had cable, I might be happy to see Sasha Alexander on the television again, but I'd have to put up with the nonsense.

There was also a brief short for Scott Pilgrim versus the World, which is based on the comic books. He seems like a beta; and then there is the (extreme) female fantasy of a man fighting other men (in this case, the ex-bfs) in order to win the heart of the outcast girl. He doesn't much care for the Asian girl who has a crush on him. (Is there some sort of bias against Asian women?) So what do women think of Scott Pilgrim? A beta having to become an alpha?

Julia Roberts was interviewed for her movie Eat, Pray, Love. The main character is travelling the world (Rome, India, Thailand?Bali) to find herself. Ms. Roberts claims that we all seek to redefine our lives from time to time, and this movie is about self-examination and figuring out what you want. Of course the exotic locales are an additional appeal to those who suffer from that sort of existential crisis. What modern woman doesn't love to travel? How is getting away from one's roots to pursue a path of individual self-discovery anything but shallow, unless it somehow helps them realize that they need to become rooted at home? Hollywood's therapeutic answer to clueless women who are ignorant of their vocation, and don't know what to do with themselves. At least Ms. Roberts concedes that one doesn't have to travel the world to figure these questions out. (Is the original book this bad?)

There's a new show on USA, Covert Affairs. The show and its main character, a woman who is supposedly a CIA agent, reminded me a bit of Alias. I had to look carefully to make sure it wasn't Jennifer Garner starring. (It's actually Piper Perabo. She looks different. I don't remember her cheekbones being so prominent.) I think USA is doing better than the major networks, but soon it will be the equal of TNT with respect to promoting girl power. (Hulu has some clips and will netcast the episodes.)



The majority of the trailers became an unintended contrast to the masculine appeal of Restrepo. The noticeable exception? Perhaps the new Robert Duvall movie, Get Low. So much of what is produced in Hollywood is geared towards women. I also noted that many of the commercials were examples of how consumer goods are being marketed to women.
What would happen if women stopped purchasing so much? What would marketers do without their audience?


Related links:
For Angie Harmon, another baby, another show
Keeping her daughter away from Corpses! Sasha Alexander talks Rizzoli & Isles
Tess Gerritsen
Herc Has Seen TNT’s New Lady Cop Show RIZZOLI & ISLES!!

TED: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Herc’s Seen USA’s New Romantic CIA Drama COVERT AFFAIRS!!

Alison Krauss Contributes New Recording to Get Low Film Soundtrack

Begun on July 9.

2 Interviews With the Creators of Restrepo

Making Of


Tim Hetherington is quite a speaker. I'm impressed.

CNN: New documentary shows raw side of life at war

The New York Times: A Conversation With Sebastian Junger.

See also this video from 2009: Stalemate in Korangal Valley.

Video of Sebastian Junger's talk at the Commonwealth Club now available.

My blog post on his talk.

Twitch Film has a review of Restrepo

here

The results are both fascinating and unexpected. Interspersed with the in-field footage are candid interviews of the soldiers taken from their base in Italy, which reveal a depth to their personalities that strongly encourages us to identify (who wouldn't be disgusted, for example, on hearing that one's next posting would be in an area notorious for its high casualty rate, with an infrastructure so skeletal that one would be forced to burn one's own faeces in order not to alert the enemy?) On the other hand, there are moments when the soldiers discuss their targets with such an alarming lack of humanism that one is inclined to view them as little more than black-hearted killing machines; until, that is, one recognizes that it is this mind-blocking mechanism that is the very proof of their humanity.

More than anything else, the film succeeds in placing us on the level of the soldiers, and as such, it falls more comfortably under the heading of "necessary viewing" than "entertainment." During their one-year deployment to the remote outpost named after a fallen member of their detachment, their struggles are as much taken up with the fight against long stretches of boredom - or winning the hearts and minds of the local villages - as they are with the detection and elimination of a largely invisible enemy. Indeed, some of the most affecting scenes involve watching the soldiers interact with the village elders, from the weekly "shura" that the captain holds to address their concerns, to the large commotion caused by the inadvertent death of a cow.

More reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.

NYTimes review of Restrepo.

Specialist Misha C. Pemble-Belkin. (Tim Hetherington, courtesy Chris Boot Ltd.)

The Restrepo trailer @ Apple.

Sebastian Junger at the Commonwealth Club

"Sebastian Junger (left) and Tim Hetherington in eastern Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Photo courtesy of Tim Hetherington"

Source: Sebastian Junger on War, and the Edge

President Obama was also in San Francisco tonight; how many protesters showed up for that?

I had planned to see Mr. Junger on Sunday, but his appearance in San Jose was canceled. If I had known, I would have made an attempt to go to Kepler's right after Mass. Last night he was in Berkeley, but by the time I got out of work, I was not inclined to make the trip. So I decided to go to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco today to hear him speak. (Fortunately I was alert enough to see if tickets were required for the event. I probably could have purchased tickets there, but it was a rather full audience, which was mostly senior citizens. There was a young brunette there -- a Junger fan? Or someone with a relative or loved one in the military? Two older men sitting near me were talking about tomorrow's event at the Commonwealth Club -- a debate about open carry in California and elsewhere:

Guns in Public: Exploring California's Open Carry Policy

Chief Ken James, Police Chief, Emeryville, CA
Sam Paredes, Executive Director, Gun Owners of California
Professor Franklin Zimring, William G. Simon Professor of Law and Wolfen Distinguished Scholar, UC Berkeley
John Diaz, Editorial Page Editor, SF Chronicle - Moderator

The gun debate is more heated than ever. In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled against a sweeping ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., and affirmed an individual's right to self-defense and gun ownership. Numerous analysts believe that this year, the court might be poised to overturn Chicago's strictest-in-the-nation handgun ban. In a majority of states, law-abiding citizens may openly carry a loaded handgun with no license or permit required. In much of California, it is legal to openly carry firearms as long as they are unloaded and visible.

Open carry policies are now being hotly debated. Here in the Bay Area, in communities such as Walnut Creek and Antioch, open carry groups have been congregating at different locations to demonstrate their right to carry unloaded, unconcealed firearms in public. Opponents have come out en masse to protest. There is now even a proposed bill that would make it a misdemeanor to openly carry an unloaded handgun in specified public areas.

As the state struggles with what's right - constitutionally and morally - we take a close look at this controversy from many sides. How do you feel about people carrying guns in public places? Does it matter if they're loaded or unloaded? Is this a justifiable assertion of second amendment rights or a potential disaster waiting to happen? Should open carry be the law of the land?

I was considering attending the debate, but I probably won't. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the audience was against open carry (or guns in general), but the two men talking about it seemed to be more open to the idea. Or at least they seemed "conservative" on gun rights.

Mr. Junger reminds me a bit of Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock. I don't think he played football for his school, but he said he was a competitive runner. He looks younger than his age. (A photo from 1997 in People magazine.)

He was introduced by Robert Rosenthal of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Mr. Junger talked a bit about his background -- he started off as a war report in the early 90s. He was in Bosnia and Sierra Leone. On 9/11 he was in Moldova. He commented on his attitude towards the U.S./Western militaries, as he was appreciative of what they had done a lot to intervene in foreign wars, for humanitarian reasons. (Including the changes it brought to Afghanistan, which he witnessed. He had seen the tragedies taking place in these lands before Western militaries had put an end to them.) In 2000 he was with Ahmad Shah Massoud, and in 2002 he was with his fighters when they took Kabul.) He think the liberation of Afghanistan was a good thing, but the problem was that the war was "undermanned, under-resourced," as we walked away from Afghanistan for a war in Iraq.

He admitted knowing nothing about the military before being embedded with 2nd Platoon, Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. This unit had seen 1/5 of all the combat in Afghanistan. During the course of its deployment it was involved in 500 firefights. Everyone in the unit had come close to dying, and this was true of Mr. Junger himself. He was shot at and a bullet came close to hitting his head. He recounts that during combat he himself did not feel fear, but was instead strangely calm, to the point that he wondered if there was something wrong with him psychologically. But the fear and the accompanying emotional responses came 6 hours later -- PTSD is this phenomenon taken to a greater extreme.

When the outpost known as Restrepo (named after a medic who was killed in action) was being built, the platoon came under attack 13 times. The soldiers lived in their clothes, had no running water or hot food, just MREs. In many ways it was the anti-paradise. There was the threat of death and other unpleasant things. But the book sought to address the question of how men who are subjected to combat and deprivation miss it?

Soldiers are often said to want to go back to a combat zone because they are adrenaline junkies. When soldiers are ramped up and there is nothing happens, they have to release this somehow, and this often came in the form of tension and strife with other soldiers. Combat was not necessarily negative psychologically -- in fact, one feels the most "alive" during combat. What was demoralizing was the downtime, when nothing was happening. Hence, there was a lot of value placed on humor, which helped alleviate these times. (The soldier who was both brave and funny was king of the hill.)

Mr. Junger concedes that adrenaline is a component but it is not a major factor. What they really miss is group inclusion. Adrenaline is a transitory narcotic. What is stable and abiding is the identity of a soldier: the role one plays and his relationship to everyone else, and perceiving that one has a purpose and is a necessary part of the group. There is a security to having that identity. One doesn't have to worry about one's worth and value, so long as one is a good soldier. The soldiers saw their base in Vincenza, Italy as a "coward's land" -- here they were given orders by men who had not experienced combat, and it was disconcerting to them. In Afghanistan what was important was that one was a good soldier, everything else, bad character traits, etc., were just footnotes that didn't really matter. Part of the reason why soldiers can make jokes about mothers and sisters is that they know that these jokes won't destroy the bond they have with one another. They can count on the others to put their lives at risk for each other.

Mr. Junger pointed out that there are guys in the unit who hate each other but would die for each other. What explains this readiness to sacrifice one's self for another? This willingness is more common to family members. Combat experience also made men more emotional -- somehow it enabled them break whatever was holding their emotions back. (According to Junger's explanation.) This happened to Junger himself, who remarked that he could now understand why women cry at weddings.

Junger does have his own opinions about politics and the war in Afghanistan, but he wanted to write about American soldiers. He went to Afghanistan in part to learn more about fear, which the military also studies. He found that the levels of fear are not connected to levels of danger, but to perceived control. The military also studies courage, but this is a more difficult thing to study than fear because soldiers refuse to admit its existence. It is part of a soldier's identity to take care of their own, to risk their lives for their comrades -- "it's part of the definition." A soldier is distinguished from a non-soldier, and being a good soldier is also the minimum requirement for friendship (in the foxhole). What did soldiers fear the most? Causing the death of a friend and fellow-soldier (through negligence or some other mistake). This is why soldiers feel guilty when they go on leave -- they worry that because they are absent, unit strength (and survivability) is affected.

In a combat zone things are rather simple -- one's relationships with everyone else are well-defined, the social dynamics or rules are black and white. He contrasted this with marriage, in which a spouse can get in trouble if they miss the small things (or cues.) In a combat zone any problems affecting relationships are readily understood. People will be straight-forward about their grievances and so on. And when they are not in combat the men will be rather laid-back. Maybe that's why life in a combat zone appeals to the male brain, because it is so simple. (The audience got a laugh from this joke.)

From the Q&A session:
Junger thinks that if the US had enough manned outposts on high ground, things would have turned out better. He believes that a battalion would have succeeded where a company could not, in the Korangal Valley.

There are two options: pull out or do it right. Mr. Junger favors doing it right. He claims that the number of civilian deaths now (due to the U.S. military) are much less than the number of civilian deaths during the 90s, when the Taliban was in control. He doesn't understand why the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are supplying 90% of the troops. If he could give Obama advice it would be this: the President should give the coalition allies an ultimatum -- the U.S. will stay in Afghanistan for one more year, and if other allies, including Muslim countries like Jordan and Egypt, do not contribute more troops, then the U.S. will pull out, regardless of the consequences.

As for his opinion about whether victory is possible in Afghanistan? He thinks the war is winnable, if there are enough boots on the ground.

He also thinks the rationale for Don't Ask, Don't Tell is circular [poor] logic, because in the units to which the argument about unit cohesion would most apply, combat units, the soldiers do not really care if someone is a homosexual or not, as long as they do not show sexual interest, etc.

The Q&A session concluded with Mr. Junger telling the audience that regardless of their politics, they should embrace the soldiers when they come back. It was reemphasized that the soldiers are a rather apolitical lot--they leave the decision-making and justification up to the politicians; they joined the military to serve their country and their fellow citizens, and this is how they view it.

Re: the sense of purpose and the boredom that soldiers feel when they are not in combat and so on -- would this be helped if they had a better spiritual life? I can understand why members of our society feel like they do not have a purpose. Is the true of pre-modern psychology?

I've read the first 30 pages or so of the book. Junger does not devote much attention to the hardware or the war-making -- it seems that he focuses primarily on the soldiers and their stories. It's written for a wide audience, and not for military geeks, but it is appropriate -- civilians should be reading more about the experiences of soldiers fighting wars overseas.

Restrepo will be in wide release in June -- I plan on seeing it and I hope I won't be alone. The DVD will be out later this year. I asked him if there'd be extra footage, and maybe it seemed like a stupid question to him, but I didn't have an opportunity to clarify since there was a long line of people waiting to get books signed. I wanted to know if there'd be extra footage, since the two directors took 150 hours of footage and made a 90 minute movie out of it. I should ask my friend RHK if he'd be interested in going.



More:

Sebastian Junger on 'War' in the Valley of Death
Sebastian Junger's War by Claire Martin
Vanity Fair: Into the Valley of Death
When Uncle Sam met the Taliban
Sebastian Junger On The Thrill And Hell Of 'War'
Sebastian Junger is embedded with a combat platoon
Restrepo Directors Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington: The Movieline Interview

I could have been caught by the CHP as I went home, but the officer decided not to take any of us in. Then I was put in a somber mood by the occasion of something, something pertaining to RHK...

Related: Winners of 79th Annual California Book Awards Announced
Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell
William T. Vollmann, Imperial

RESTREPO - Sundance Film Festival 2010

Interview with co-directors Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger. RESTREPO.

Sebastian Junger's book on the Korengal Valley

War. Harper Collins Canada. Junger is one of the creators of Restrepo. Review in the Miami Herald. Mr. Junger will be appearing in California this month. From the FB page for Restrepo:

Kepler's Books; West Menlo Park, CA
Sunday, May 23 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm

Commonwealth Club; Historic Hoover Theatre; San Jose CA
Sunday, May 23 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm

Will he be giving a talk for the Commonwealth Club?

Elsewhere in the Bay Area:

KPFA public event; First Congregational Church, Large Assembly Room; Berkeley CA
Monday, May 24 from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm

Commonwealth Club; San Francisco CA
Tuesday, May 25 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Sundance Film Festival Honors Sebastian Junger's ‘Restrepo’



One of his previous book, Fire.


Sebastian Junger Community
Afghanistan's Korengal Valley
US withdrawal from Korengal Valley a 'Taliban propaganda coup'

Restrepo is being shown as a part of 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival.

Restrepo

The Daily Dish: Restrepo



The movie is a documentary, so it can't be too Hollywood; right, Sarge?