I find it nearly inconceivable that the media saturated American blogosphere needs to be told what a big fucking deal it is to out our NOCs. Didn't anybody see the movie Mission: Impossible?
A quick look around the Net through the lens of Google and I note that at least one blogger, Sylvain Galineau of The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid, did. Unfortunately for my attempt at levity, he brings the movie into a post titled in all seriousness "How the Company Really Works". It appears, according to Mr Galineau, that if Paul Krugman had ever seen M:I he'd be, if not a better person, at least a more, um, entertained one? I admit to some mystification about the post since the absurd aspects of M:I's plot details, in particular its treatment of the "NOC list", would seem to preclude any correspondence with reality other than something like my low-key popcult irony.
Before being distracted by Google, I was going to recall that the culture war complaint about M:I was that Jim Phelps would never betray America - and that only in a debased, nihilistic, Clintonian America could patriotic service be twisted into treason (as at least one otherwise long-forgotten op-ed argued - forgotten . . . except for an indelible impression on me). Why, they asked, why would Phelps out the NOCs? What possible purpose could it serve?
ETHAN HUNT Why, Jim? Why?JIM PHELPS ...when you think about it, Ethan, it was inevitable...no more Cold War. No more secrets you keep from everyone but yourself, operations you answer to no one but yourself. Then one morning you wake up and find out the President of the United States is running the country - without your permission. The son-of-a-bitch! How dare he?
Truth, it seems, is only just barely stranger than fiction.
Posted by Martial