Anyway, I was listening to Seth Harp talk about his book The Fort Bragg Cartel and it suddenly hit me: this is why I find James Bond intriguing. The very nature of being a killing machine is antithetical to our natural state, yet the government breeds men to commit crimes against humanity. Of course James Bond’s actions are portrayed as necessary and even ethical but the truth is that lots and lots and LOTS of people die. And for our own consumption, death becomes spectacle. So the truth is I see James Bond as a perverse and almost Paul Verhoeven-esque tale.
Harp talks about how crimes that are committed by Delta Force operators are swept under the rug. In a sense, these guys have a license to kill with impunity. He goes further and explains that operators can even put up James Bond-like numbers on their kill count for each mission. That ain’t cool. That’s pants-shittingly terrifying. Imagine if you had that as a job. What kind of person would that make you? Meanwhile, Hollywood and the propaganda machine portray this kind of endeavor with fantastical reverence.
So James Bond isn’t escapism. it’s a horror story; a horror story that you play a part in by making it escapism.
Anywho, hope Seal Team 6 doesn’t come after me for buying that book 😬
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