A2 - Sunday, May 9, 1982 - North Shore News xed cos strictly personal by Bob Hunter FOR THE MOMENT, I thought my TV had gone wonky, switching me on to some kind of video game channel, instead of bringing the latest news from the Falklands. The similarity between the animated graphics used by the big networks to illustrate the battle and the game of Pac-Man can't be just a coincidence. We can call this the world’s first video war. The battles themselves are almost instantly simulated or re-created on TV _ from available military footage. In a sense, the whole world — or at least those of us with televisions — can look over the generals’ shoulders and watch the little electronic impulses go beep, beep, beep. Somehow, the total effect is to make war seem more hike a game than ever. Adding to that sense of unreality is the fact that the coverage has been slanted to wring the last drop of en- tertainment value out of every move. When the British task force set forth, one magazine's headline read: The Empire Strikes Back! That's good copy-wnting. There is no doubt that those incredible harrier jumpjets look like something straight out of a sci-fi flick (too bad our TVs don't have Dolby Sound). But there is a price to pay for all this wallowing in the spectacle of space age ar- madas locked in deadly embrace. A kind of numbness about Apocalypse sets in. I too am more or less mesmenzed by all these macho images of ships and soldiers, heaving seas and tremendous guns. It is practically impossible not to find yourself being caught up in what must be, simply. war fever. Then the word comes through of young men drowning by the hundreds, and suddenly it’s not a game any more. Except. Except, well, it still is, isn't it? There is nothing that can be done about the news/entertainment in- dustry’s efforts, unconscious or otherwise, to ape the video game craze in its coverage of the Falklands’ war. But I do know that it’s not just an issue any longer of truth being the first casuality of war, it is the far more serious matter of our very perception of war being altered. There is a strange young generation of people in the Western hemisphere for whom this war is a turn-on. A fmend of mine — a longtime pacifist — admitted ruefully the other day that fis 15-year-old son was an avid watcher of the news, all Playing the war game of a sudden. “He's getting off on the Falklands thing,” my friend complained. “He can't get enough of it.” The irony for my fnend lies in the fact that hke many other parents who were early ban-the-bomb marchers and who raised their kids on Spock, he had refused to allow the kid to play with toy guns. The idea filling him thoughts in years. Here it is, 1982. And the kid is glued to the boob tube, thirsting for blood. But let's not blame liberal techniques of child-raising for this rather ominous shift in youthful attitudes away from hippie ethics back to jingoism. It's more a matter of the medium being the message, one more time. was to avoid up with evil his formative If the medium is perceived as an ultimate video game of some kind, then the emotions which are likely to be enlisted will be those of a thumbless voyeur poised over a pinball machine. It's a new kind of apathy. Instead of merely being numb, I detect a mood of enjoyment - a sense of being entertained, for free. As though all those lives really didn’t matter much more than blips on a Space Invaders screen. Fire training centre gets nod A TRAINING CENTRE for North Vancouver Distnet firefighters got the nod from council last week despite some hesitiaton by officials to accept the low tender for the proyect on grounds it was “suspicious” However, Distncet Fire Chief Bob McDonald recommended acceptance ol the low bid of $525,000 by Arlen Construction since “they have done other muocipal work and these chents appear satished with his (Arien’s) performance — The training centre's locauon is slated for 9OO St Dents Avenue Tenders ranged from the low to oa tgh of about $700,000 Once completed. If its a game, what a ghastly game. total cost of the training facility wall be $693,250 Classified 986-6222 GAMBIER ISLAND —ne rl : babu ti - « Aunique experience im waterfront living an outstanding tax shelter and a sound lavestrent in 300 acres of Land only 40 minutes from downtown Van. couver. Ptaase Lb sere bed woate nti. eUVGUUSEavaets wemate Fane tape wtbvaets beaeed Poe seer berl ota te firsts von deat barge devel gd bee CT OO OT re Dea ape cette ah deo dpee feet we tude pore bcdeat freotte Phe ot se sti ie call Joy Anne Mac Kenac ONY 2867 of 669 6500 pager 223 oozan/ide realty Cod Francis takes over as NEWS ad director Former production and creative director Tim Francis (right) took over last week as Advertising Director of the North Shore News/Sunday News from Eric Cardwell who recently purchased The West Ender, a non- competitive Vancouver 100 copies se 00 plete, money saving fine off copying servi- ces. Concord Copy 101-1515 Pemberton | 985-5115 Ss lalist in suburban weekly. In top Intertocking paver picture News publisher Sidewalks, driveways Peter Speck congratu- Patios and pools etc. lates Cardwell on his advance to fellow-pub- lisher status. 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