This Is Chuck Telling Bill to SHUT UP!

How does the Military Industrial Complex* ensure tight lips among the Silent Majority of its workforce? Why, with unintentionally funny office propaganda posters, that's how! This one's probably my favorite. (Link via Secrecy News.)

* What ever happened to that phrase anyhow?

Comments

[Stevo Darkly]

You know, if the goal is keep Pentagon office workers aware of security rules, these might actually be effective. They seem to be of the "if it's really obnoxious and goofy, at least people can't ignore it" school of marketing that made Popeil famous.

Although in the newer ones, I think I also detect signs of "if I have a graphic design program on my computer, then I must be a graphic designer" thinking.

[drf]

dammit. the posting thing doesn't work... hrumph

[drf]

oh - apologies. it did work.

anyhow, here's the oldie but goodie.

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

[The Military Industrial Comple]

* What ever happened to that phrase anyhow?

We had it, shall we say, "disappeared." Now you would be wise to stop asking such foolish questions.

[Happy Jack]

If these posters really work, maybe they can start using them at Homeland Security. Sounds like they have some loose lips over there.

[spcook]

Boy, who remembers "Night Shift?"

[mediageek]

"Although in the newer ones, I think I also detect signs of "if I have a graphic design program on my computer, then I must be a graphic designer" thinking."

*sigh*

Just because you own a Fender Stratocaster doesn't mean you're a rock star.

As a graphic designer, my only hope is that no one was actually paid to design that shit.

[phocion]

If you think those are funny, you should see the safety posters we get peppered with even more frequently. I hope I'm not Letting the CAT Out of the BAG by telling you that.

[s.m. koppelman]

All those trillions of dollars and the Pentagon can't put one decent graphic artist on the payroll anymore?

[Yogi]

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

great link drf, I went to the Banana-rama link on the right, and got probably the best one. Nearly fell out of my chair. Have a look.

[mediageek]

Something Awful sinks ships!

Had to go dig up this old PhotoShop Phriday just to remind myself of...something.

[chthus]

"What ever happened to that phrase anyhow?"

I suppose it depends on the fellows you keep and the dregs you read, but my fellows and dregs have me coming across the phrase nearly daily (in it's verbal form, it is usually coupled with a spray of saliva and the sight of dual corner-of-the-mouth foam).

A googlenews check shows it popping up in press 161 times in the past two weeks, though perhaps not always in the standard fare. If you want to find it, you should be checking Baltimore Business Journal, Free Market News, and Center for Research on Globalization more regularly.

[Hakluyt]

* What ever happened to that phrase anyhow?

We call it the Military Industrial Entertainment Complex these days. 🙂

[Jennifer]

When I applied for my current job as a "creative," my cover letter (detailing my postgraduate work history) said among other things "Right now I'm a copy editor for the military-industrial complex; when analysts write 'We needs us a whole buncha missiles what for to bomb the Middle East with' I change that to 'Meeting our mission objectives in the Middle East will require more armaments.'"

So I've done my best to keep the phrase alive.

[jac]

I remember these but they are nothing in silliness compared to the over seas AFRTS "public service" commercials. I still get a chuckle when I think about "hey buddy buy some broccoli" and it's been 15 years since I've seen it.

[Charlie Shaffer]

What happened to Military Industrial Complex?

It morphed into, 'don't close my base because we need the the jobs?'

Politicians of all stripes may have to angle for those lobbying jobs and angering a potentially high-paying client doesn't look good.

Also, calling into question anything about the military, except gays, means you support Osama bin Laden and burn flags daily.

[Jennifer]

I used to work with this one guy who was basically a walking parody of a "Bushbot," and literally knew nothing that wasn't reported on Fox News or National Review. He called me a liar when I told him the term "military-industrial complex" was invented not by a mud-bathing hippie at Woodstock, but a Republican president.

[mk]

Jennifer,
It was Eisenhower wasn't it? A general himself no less.
I'm going to do my part by using in a sentence today, right after I say Montesquieuesque

[drf]

Yogi and Media:

fantastic.

somethingawful.com is another goodie.

[Jennifer]

MK--

Yes, it was Eisenhower. Though it is slightly dishonest to call hiim a "Republican;" both parties wanted him to run on their ticket, and he chose to go Republican not from any principled belief in the party, but because Eisenhower believed that it was extremely important that the US remain in NATO. The guy who would run as a Democrat if Ike didn't, believed that the US should stay in NATO; the guy who would have been the Republican candidate if Ike wasn't, thought that the US should get OUT of NATO. So Ike ran as a Republican to ensure that the US would stay in NATO regardless of who won the election.

[Native NYer]

I thought it was the Prison Industrial complex these days, what with all the POWs in jail due to the war on drugs.

[Jennifer]

It's both, Native. This government no longer has a damn thing to do with liberty, justice, freedom or any other pretty platitudes; the purpose is to make sure the ones with money and power keep it.

Fuck it. I just hope, for the sake of humanity, that when we DO finally go down it's India or Europe, NOT China, that fills the power vacuum we left behind.

[joe]

Jennifer,

"Though it is slightly dishonest to call hiim a "Republican;" both parties wanted him to run on their ticket, and he chose to go Republican not from any principled belief in the party..."

I'm reding a bio of George C. Marshall. I didn't realize that, before WWII, it was considered bad form for military officers to be involved in politics, to the point that they'd be proud of the fact that they didn't vote.

[Jennifer]

Joe--

We'd be better off if that were still the case, I think. On the same theory that the Founding Fathers thought the country would be better off if judges were not subject to the whims of the electorate.

[Military. Industrial. Complex]

I am a five-times-decorated career officer in the French Marine Corps. who enjoys listening to the music of Nine Inch Nails, Art of Noise, Ministry, Throbbing Gristle and Skinny Puppy while sipping lattes or root beer and reading the works of Camus, Sartre, Crumb, Harlan Ellison and Joan Collins. I confound the stereotypes. I am a very complicated fellow.

[Military, Industrial and Compl]

Heh. But a clarification: Aside from that "French Marine" bit, my own post above wasn't really intended to be Gunnellian.

[Maurkov]

Speaking of,

Jennifer at October 14, 2005 11:29 AM,

Your info dump would be much more satisfying if concluded with, "I suggest you read X before you embarrass yourself further."

Very interesting anyway. Thanks.

[The Anti-Puritan]

spcook:
Boy, who remembers "Night Shift?"

Is that a great libertarian movie, or what?* It shows how prostitution becomes dangerous as a consequence of being forced out of the purview of the rule of law. It's one of my all-time favorite comedies.

*This is another obscure reference to a line from Night Shift. At one point, Michael Keaton says, "Is this a great country or what?"

[dhex]

"Throbbing Gristle"

discipline just popped into my mp3 playlist as i started reading this thread. it should be a DOD theme song.

[Jennifer]

Your info dump would be much more satisfying if concluded with, "I suggest you read X before you embarrass yourself further."

Actually, it would have been "I suggest you watch that documentary on Eisenhower that either Discovery or the History Channel aired a few months back before you embarrass yourself further."

Therefore, Maurkov, I suggest you learn from whence I glean my historical information before you embarrass yourself further.