Aesthetica (submitted but unpublished) - 24 November 2005
We are led on a lightspeed journey cross a sea of stars and stripes, when Barry asserts: “The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth.” At this point, we can expect Barry to go one of two ways – either he will describe the U.S. as an economical phenomenon, led by humanitarian free marketeers, or will portray it as a nation led by neo-conservative, belligerent demagogues. Barry chooses the latter.
Barry begins his rant on U.S. foreign policy by describing the recent ‘War on Terror’ as “a campaign against opposition to U.S. domination”. We can only hear his voice, which is spoken with a calm sophistication. Visually, key words in Barry’s argument such as ‘Exploit’ glisten in black and blood red. We are subjected to a speedy slideshow of globes, tanks, bombs and caricatures of Cheney, Rumsfeld and, you guessed it – Dubya himself.
Barry’s argument is clear – the U.S. has developed an “insatiable appetite for conflict” as it is simply feeding its own financial interests around the world.
Barry argues that the U.S. aims to turn the world into “its very own enslaved global market”. He controversially asserts that “the attacks on the world trade centres by Al Queda were just one response to it.” Barry uses the idea that the Iraq war was a business trip to develop his concept of ‘War Corporatism’ and explains how “September 11th was merely a pretext.” Barry then turns his attentions to the U.S. Administration, Inc. He describes politicians Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld as a “sinister group” and explains how George W Bush is “merely the figurehead” of this monstrous war machine.
‘What Barry Says’ reeks sourly of Michael Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ although it is considerably shorter (under 3 mins). It’s Globalisation For Beginners, a bite-sized flick of world affairs that could politicise a sheep.
