Nine Nobel Peace Laureates Call on NBC to Cancel "Stars Earn
Stripes"

Nobel Women's Initiative

August 13, 2012

http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/2012/08/nine-nobel-peace-laureates-call-on-nbc-to-cancel-stars-earn-stripes/?ref=18

New show promotes an "inglorious tradition of glorifying war
and armed violence"

(Ottawa) - Nine Nobel Peace Laureates today issued an open
letter to the Chairman of NBC Entertainment, as well as
General Wesley Clark and others involved in the new
"reality" show premiering tonight on NBC - "Stars Earn
Stripes" - calling on them to walk away from the show
immediately.

In the letter, the Laureates - who include Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams and President Oscar Arias
Sanchez - note that "war isn't entertainment" and challenge
NBC's promotional line that such a television program would
be "pay[ing] homage to the men and women who serve in the
U.S. Armed Forces and our first-line responder services."

The Laureates say that the program pays homage to no one and
is "a massive disservice to those who live and die in armed
conflict and suffer its consequences long after the guns of
war fall silent."

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, all of whom won their
prizes for their contributions to ending violence and
creating more peaceful and democratic societies, note that
real war is "down in the dirt deadly", and should not be
sanitized for a "reality" TV show. US Nobel Peace Laureate
Jody Williams won her prize for helping ban antipersonnel
landmines, a deadly weapon responsible hundreds of thousands
of civilian casualties.  Archbishop Tutu was recognized for
helping bring an end to apartheid in South Africa and
President Arias for his contributions to bringing peace to
the war-torn Central America of the 1980s.

The Laureates wrote the letter to add their voices to the
growing chorus of global citizens who are alarmed by the
increased militarization of societies, and how the
entertainment industry contributes in particular to
desensitizing people of all ages to the realities of war.
They are supporting a protest today at 5 pm outside NBC
headquarters:  30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.

The following Nobel Peace Laureates signed the letter:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984), Jody Williams (1997),
Mairead Maguire (1977), Dr. Shirin Ebadi (2003), President
José Ramos-Horta (1996), Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (1980),
President Oscar Arias Sanchez (1987), Rigoberta Menchú Tum
(1992) and Betty Williams (1977).

 
Read the full text of the letter below or download here.
http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Laureates-Letter_War-Isnt-Entertainment-08-13-12.pdf?ref=18

For more information, please contact:

Rachel Vincent, Manager of Media & Communications
Nobel Women's Initiative
[log in to unmask]
613-276-9030; 613-569-8400, ext. 113

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WAR ISN'T ENTERTAINMENT -  
AND SHOULDN'T BE TREATED LIKE IT IS

August 13, 2012

An Open Letter to Mr. Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC
Entertainment, General Wesley Clark (ret.), Producer Mark
Burnett and others involved in "Stars Earn Stripes":

During the Olympics, touted as a time for comity and peace
among nations, millions first learned that NBC would be
premiering a new "reality" TV show.  The commercials
announcing "Stars Earn Stripes" were shown seemingly
endlessly throughout the athletic competition, noting that
its premier would be Monday, August 13, following the end of
the Olympic games.

That might seem innocuous since spectacular, high budget
sporting events of all types are regular venues for airing
new products, televisions shows and movies.  But "Stars Earn
Stripes" is not just another reality show.  Hosted by
retired four-star general Wesley Clark, the program pairs
minor celebrities with US military personnel and puts them
through simulated military training, including some live
fire drills and helicopter drops.  The official NBC website
for the show touts "the fast-paced competition" as "pay[ing]
homage to the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed
Forces and our first-responder services."

It is our belief that this program pays homage to no one
anywhere and continues and expands on an inglorious
tradition of glorifying war and armed violence.  Military
training is not to be compared, subtly or otherwise, with
athletic competition by showing commercials throughout the
Olympics.  Preparing for war is neither amusing nor
entertaining.

Real war is down in the dirt deadly.  People - military and
civilians - die in ways that are anything but entertaining.
Communities and societies are ripped apart in armed conflict
and the aftermath can be as deadly as the war itself as
simmering animosities are unleashed in horrific spirals of
violence.  War, whether relatively short-lived or going on
for decades as in too many parts of the world, leaves deep
scars that can take generations to overcome  -  if ever.

Trying to somehow sanitize war by likening it to an athletic
competition further calls into question the morality and
ethics of linking the military anywhere with the
entertainment industry in barely veiled efforts to make war
and its multitudinous costs more palatable to the public.

The long history of collaboration between militaries and
civilian media and entertainment - and not just in the
United States - appears to be getting murkier and in many
ways more threatening to efforts to resolve our common
problems through nonviolent means.  Active-duty soldiers
already perform in Hollywood movies, "embedded" media ride
with soldier in combat situations, and now NBC is working
with the military to attempt to turn deadly military
training into a sanitized "reality" TV show that reveals
absolutely nothing of the reality of being a soldier in war
or the consequences of war.  What is next?

As people who have seen too many faces of armed conflict and
violence and who have worked for decades to try to stop the
seemingly unending march toward the increased militarization
of societies and the desensitization of people to the
realities and consequences of war, we add our voices and our
support to those protesting "Stars Earn Stripes."  We too
call upon NBC stop airing this program that pays homage to
no one, and is a massive disservice to those who live and
die in armed conflict and suffer its consequences long after
the guns of war fall silent.

Sincerely,

Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize, 1997

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize, 1977

Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize, 2003

President José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize, 1996

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize, 1980

President Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nobel Peace Prize, 1987

Rigoberta Menchú Tum, 1992

Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Prize, 1977

===

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Phone: +1.613.569.8400
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