Attend or Host a film screening of "War Made Easy"
Media critic Norman Solomon has just released "War Made Easy," a film based on his important book analyzing how the U.S. media passes along presidential spin on war to the American public. The film, narrated by actor Sean Penn, uses dramatic video clips from the past 50 years to make its case. We want to encourage folks to watch the film together. To that end, we are offering a $5 rebate on those who purchase the film to host a screening. After the screening, you could donate the DVD to your local library to give more people access to it.
To find a screening near you:
Look at the list of current screenings here. If there is not one near you, consider hosting one by following the steps below.
To host a screening:
First, buy the DVD here (they are selling for $20; if you are one of the first 50 to send us a photo of your screening, we'll send you a rebate for $5; see below).
Second, register your screening here.
Third, plan your screening and promote it online and offline. Click here for help with these tasks.
Fourth, take a picture of the folks at the screening holding up an anti-war message and send it to us. We will feature the pictures on our website and we will send a $5 rebate to the first 50 hosts who get 10 or more people to attend.
To just buy the DVD: click here (they are selling for $20).
More On the Film
The film demonstrates the following types of deception:
- The rhetoric of democracy is repeated over and over to convince Americans that bombing other people is actually an act of kindness.
- As war approaches, we are told it is inevitable. Neither outside events – such as Iraq allowing weapons inspections – nor domestic opposition will stop it. So why work against it?
- The media defers to war planners. In the film, a top CNN official brags that he asked the Pentagon to approve a list of possible military commentators.
- If you are pro-war, you are objective. If you are anti-war, you are biased. Phil Donahue and Peter Arnett were fired for not supporting the war, even though Donahue hosted MSNBC’s highest-ranked show. The channel’s executives wrote privately that they did not a want an “anti-war face.”
War propaganda in the U.S. is sophisticated, and most of it blends into the media background. But while the media makes war “easy,” citizen actions like ours make war difficult. Informed citizens who are connected to each other represent the most potent force to end current wars and to impede politicians from starting new ones.
