GRAY
CUP AS WAR TROPHY
Militarization of team sports gets a big endorsement from
Canadian media (2007)
Like
comic Bill Mahr, I’m starting to understand why writer
Hunter S. Thompson blew his head off. What’s the use of
gonzo journalism in a world gone gonzo? What do you do when
satire is overtaken by the state?
Consider the pomp and circumstance surrounding the
transport of the Grey Cup trophy last week. In it’s voyage
to the host city of Toronto, the CFL’s Holy Grail was
"given the VIP treatment," according to CBC anchorman Peter
Mansbridge. Bagpipes ushered the thing out of its home at
the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and into a waiting
limousine. Cut to a shot of the Cup reclining in the limo’s
back seat, traveling Trump-style through the streets of
Hamilton.
The guest of honour had a police escort to the Ivor Wynne
stadium, where it was picked up by police helicopter and
flown to a nearby airport, and transferred to a Canadian
forces helicopter. The Canadian navy entered the picture to
escort the Cup across a lake, and hand it off to the
Canadian army, who transported it in a military convoy to
Toronto City Hall. That’s right, the Grey cup was traveling
in a fricking TANK.
So began the Cup’s "one week party," with all three
branches of the Canadian forces participating, reporter Kas
Roussy eagerly observed, and "giving new meaning to the
expression ‘traveling in style.’" Reality check here, Pete
and Kas. We’re talking about an inanimate object.
We’re also talking about the militarization of Canadian
culture and an operation that looks as much psy-op as
public relations. The forces’ 22-page manifesto, "Operation
Sterling Silver," riffed off a previous military event
staged last year for the Grey Cup in Winnipeg. You might
call this marketing opportunity a ‘win-win situation’ for
team sports and Team America. The CFL gets a little buzz
from cammo n’ ammo, while the Canadian forces go for
mindshare, rebranding football as the military’s
beer-guzzling, torso-painted younger brother.
Life is starting to imitate artillery. It’s the new normal
for Canada, for everything from military recruitment ads in
movie theatres to police cars detailed with yellow ribbons.
In military jargon, the Canadian forces are "penetrating
soft targets" – which happen to be hearts and minds from
St. John’s to Port Hardy.
The Grey Cup/Canadian forces non-event was celebrated with
the expected hoopla from "respectable" Canadian media. The
CBC’s cheerleading was consistent with their reporting on
the war in Afghanistan. Before Prime Minister Paul Martin
was bitch-slapped out of office for his non-role in the
Gomery affair and his non-support for Star Wars, Mothercorp
still had some vestiges of journalistic integrity left. Yet
ever since the crowning of Stephen Harper, the CBC has gone
crazy for anything in a uniform. Nor only has Peter
Mansbridge hosted several newscasts directly from army
bases in Canada, his delivery on war stories has become
more Fox News stentorian, his booming voice inflected with
canned excitement. As for the reports themselves, the fine
arts of embedding have ensured the nature of Canada’s
mission goes largely unaddressed and unquestioned on the
air.
During the nonstop celebration of the anniversary of Vimy
Ridge, there was endless talk from Canadian pundits how
"Canada came of age" during the First World War battle, as
if a nation’s identity is determined only through war.
But now that war is being conflated with organized sports,
it would be nice if Canada’s media darlings offered some
token signs of intellectual resistance - especially
considering the target audience for pigskins and propaganda
crosses generational lines. In the same way that US Central
Command partners with Marvel Comics to produce stories of
superheroes battling swarthy super villains from foreign
lands, so too does the Canadian forces and its
political/corporate overlords aim for family-friendly
parades that make war look sportsmanlike and fun.
Of course, real war has no more resemblance to a Grey Cup
convoy than a MASH unit to a Saturday morning cartoon. It
takes a lot of public relations to reposition the Angel of
Death as Canada’s Next Top Model. You need all the
archetypal baggage of flag and fatherland to convince the
domestic herd to sign on for a chidren’s crusade against
the heathen. A compliant public broadcaster helps.
As the Bush White House ratchets up the tensions with
Tehran, do we have any doubt where Harper will stand on an
expanded war in the Mideast? Give this guy a majority
government and you can expect more sanctimony and spin,
along with cynical exploitation of the young’s innate sense
of heroism. But ultimately the universe cares less about
ballistics than balance. While there are still parents to
cheer the next military convoy carrying a gleaming prize to
a host city, there will still be parents to grieve sons and
daughters returning home in caskets.
Geoff Olson
