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Unmaking an American Myth
Posted By Matt On 13th September 2006 @ 02:26 In Politics, Sports, War in Iraq, 9/11, War, NFL, Pat Tillman | 5 Comments
Awash as we are in mass-media memorializations of 9/11, all tied in propagandistic fashion to the never-ending War on Terror, it’s surprising to find a mass-market sports magazine, Sports Illustrated, providing one of the most incisive and subversive takes on the construction of national identity, myth, and memory.
In an extraordinary article titled Remember His Name, which appeared in the September 11, 2006 issue of SI, Gary Smith recounts the life of death of Pat Tillman, the iconoclastic football player, Army Ranger, and thrill-seeker who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
Smith sets out to breathe life and personality back into the myth of Pat Tillman. He also provides a story about a story, a cautionary tale about the ways in which the political need to make Pat Tillman’s death fit the imperial narrative of martial sacrifice demeaned the ideals for which the man himself strived.
Thanks to the members of his family, who have refused to be silenced by military brass, most of us have known the truth behind Tillman’s death for some time. But what makes this piece remarkable is its ability to convey that truth — and Tillman’s fiercely independent personality — to a wider audience. As Smith points out in the last paragraphs of the story, facing Tillman’s death, and his life, honestly is about the least we can do to honor his service.
Although the piece is in some ways apolitical, its implications are obvious. The piece casts deserved blame on the Bush Administration and the U.S. military for their repeated cover-ups of the real cause of Tillman’s death, but also points toward larger problems with our political speech that have been very much on view in recent days during our nation’s remembrances of 9/11.
If Pat Tillman’s story teaches us anything, it’s that the symbols being used so callously by politicians of all stripes — but most often and most callously by the current administration — to promote war and extend political power represent a contemptible misuse of human lives that borders, in the end, on fascist propaganda. Whether the subjects at hand are Pat Tillman, Private Lynch, or the victims of the 9/11 attacks, we need to find a way to deconstruct the political mythology driving our country deeper into this endless, losing war.
This article, in a mass-market sports magazine, is a start. But there is a long way to go.
5 Comments To "Unmaking an American Myth"
#1 Comment By Kevin Wolf On 13th September 2006 @ 09:21
Still reading the article, but it becomes immediately apparent that one reason Pat Tillman was so well liked was because he was the type of person many of us try to be - reading, trying to understand and experience, not content to let others do his thinking. Growing and living.
That he took it even further than most of us and that this resulted in his death so far from home is not the saddest part of the story, per se.
As you indicated, the misuse of his death by politicos looking to cover their sins and mislead the public may be, for everybody outside his family, the worst part of his story.
#2 Comment By Matt On 13th September 2006 @ 14:49
Exactly, Kevin. I have a feeling that it is and was a shocking read for many SI subscribers. It’s not insignificant that this piece appears in a sports magazine, since the mythology of sports is related to the mythology of war in so many ways.
The story is perhaps more personal in nature than I’ve described it as being in this post — but that’s because I’m interested in its larger implications. The realm of personal narrative that Smith engages is a wonderful way to get readers who may not be all that interested in politics to understand the ways in which our government betrayed Tillman.
#3 Comment By Fred On 13th September 2006 @ 14:57
My former next door neighbor, Sgt Don Walters was one of the people killed in the Ambush on the 507th (the unit Jessica Lynch was in). His family has never learned of the real circumstances of his death, although it is theorized he was the person the Iraqis mistook as Pvt Lynch, the one who’d single handedly taken out so many Iraqi soldiers. I’m sick to death of the myth making the Administration feels it needs to employ to make this whole endevour seem worth while.
#4 Comment By Kevin Wolf On 14th September 2006 @ 09:07
Finished the piece and, yes Matt, it is the life story of Tillman that is emphasized. It’s certainly been making some waves on the blogs but I do wonder how many apolitical SI readers will pick up on the semi-subtext.
#5 Comment By Lance Mannion On 14th September 2006 @ 16:02
Thanks for the heads up on this one, Matt. Gary Smith is a great writer, just the guy to tell Pat Tillman’s story.
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