College Campuses Now a Hotbed for Developing Frightening New Weapons

via AlterNet:



College Campuses Now a Hotbed for Developing Frightening New Weapons

By Bryan Farrell, Voices of Central Pennsylvania. Posted October 2, 2008.

Military culture is taking hold of universities, which defense researchers are using to develop weapons like puke rays and acoustic bazookas.



When it comes to replicating war, films like Saving Private Ryan or even the video game Call of Duty have nothing on a football game at Beaver Stadium. Underscoring George Carlin's famous rant describing the sport as a "20th century new-world-order paramilitary power struggle," fans at last spring's Blue-White Game were treated to more than just the typical combat metaphors of "blitz" and "aerial assault." At halftime, attendees were asked to applaud the choice to join the military during a mock swearing-in ceremony held at midfield for high school students who had recently enlisted.

This encroaching militarization of American culture conjured scant resistance. The lone voice of dissent to appear in the area newspapers came from a class of '83 alumnus who attended the game. His fellow letter-to-the-editor writers -- most of whom were students -- roundly dismissed his questioning of "whether participating in the military is still the right thing to do" when "our leaders ignore international law, national and world opinion."

There was a time, however, when college campuses were the epicenter of anti-war sentiment. In 1972 -- around the same time Carlin debuted his football bit, not coincidentally -- thousands of Penn State students protested the Vietnam War by sealing off the entire State College business district for a day and then surrounding the Applied Research Laboratory on campus -- a major Department of Defense contractor -- forcing it to shut down for three days.

The campus climate in 2008, on the other hand, is much less volatile. The major reason is, no doubt, the absence of a draft, but with more than five years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the prospect of another war in Iran and a slew of domestic issues directly affecting the nation's youth -- namely debt, inflation, access to health care and a faltering climate -- it's surprising that the weekly peace vigils at the Allen Street gates remain modest in number.

"Very few students have participated in the Iraq-era actions," said State College Borough Council member and Peace Center Treasurer Peter Morris. "Some show up at the big ones, like the fifth anniversary." .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/101020/college_campuses_now_a_hotbed_for_developing_frightening_new_weapons/