The rapidly developing technologies of the 21st century have shown us that even the most brutal wars on earth can become entertainment. In the process that began with the Gulf War and continued, after the September 11 attacks, with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, advanced technologies struck predetermined targets. At midnight, from the comfort of our homes, we watched civilians being bombed on television as though we were watching fireworks or a video game.
There had been great wars, occupations and losses in the past, but none of them had been carried out so spectacularly and simultaneously. The most important feature that differentiated this technological war from others was that entertainment and war were intertwined. War news transferred to the commercial platform was presented by the media in an entertaining and attractive appearance. The events that took place were broadcast live 24 hours a day - in a way that is comparable to reality shows - all over the world. At this point, something very strange happened; the concepts of warrior and reporter, which had existed from past to present, suddenly changed places. The majority of the broadcast images reached the public through cameras placed on soldiers' vests and armored vehicles, rather than reporters. Thus, for the first time in world history, the audience encountered the image before the war.
In her book "Looking at the Pain of Others", Susan Sontag said, "Since the invention of the camera in 1839, photography has become friends with death." Today, photography has become friends with capital. Nowadays, more technology-savvy reporters are sent to the battlefield than experienced reporters. The reason for this is that what is important for the media is numbers rather than news. (Losses suffered during the war, cities destroyed to the ground are covered in the media with a certain numerical value. It is almost like the killing of civilians, burning and destroying civilians. It is as if the destroyed places have turned into a numerical/digital code. The only evidence we have left from the war is numbers. The number of civilian deaths has increased, the strategic values of the captured areas have changed. In the media, the areas captured by the opposition forces are explained with graphs showing the success of the parties in the election areas/campaigns.)
This magnificent game, which covers the whole world, has only been possible to be marketed through an entertainment culture transformed into numbers. Because it is not the reality of war that sells, but its attractive appearance.
When viewed by the audience, it is as if these technological wars of the 21st century had never happened. The images of war on television created a numbing effect on the audience and it was perceived as if the war would end when the television was turned off. Because real wars have always continued in the shadow of a virtual war. The real name of this war, which continues behind the scenes of the wars of countries, is "Capital Wars". In other words, the real war has turned into a front. In this context, we can say that real wars (virtual wars) are no longer fought with cannons and rifles.
Virillio states that the reason why the US administration postponed the attack on Iraq on February 10, 1998 was the Winter Olympics being held in Japan. The reason for this is undoubtedly that the war continues uninterruptedly with capital through the media. Virillo makes the following determination:
“…so that television viewers would not be so confused by the contrasting spectacle of the excitement of the winter games and the disturbing images of a new Gulf War, they would not need to zapping between channels, thus preserving the interests of both the war and the sponsors of the winter games.”
Indeed, that is what happened. The war images broadcast on television suddenly created their own flow and appeal. And within the broadcast flow that this media could describe as entertaining, it took on a daily, ordinary appearance. It was as if war was no different from other consumer products. Wars turned the audience into a virtual player with its game aesthetic structure.
To fully define the concept of virtual war, it is a war that constantly creates and renews itself. Because old traditional war terms are no longer valid. The priority of wars is more than military, it is carried out with command and control communication systems (cyber war), psychological operations (information flow in the media) and information flow in cultural and social areas (internet and multimedia).
That terrible face of the war has now turned into a spectacle war in the 21st century. It is as if a techno-show continues in a sterile area isolated from physical pain and purified from the senses. Television channels and internet broadcasts have broadcast the guns fired and bombs thrown at night with images resembling a fireworks display or a Christmas tree, and have attributed a magical beauty to the weapons. (De Lappe, in response to these war images, says, "This play exists as a metaphor; we take the massacre home from us." "He does not want us to see the departing coffins. It has been sterilized for us.")
Another aspect of virtual wars is about consuming pleasure. The cinema and gaming industry has made this coding of what war looks like in a surreal way. When these created virtual images come together with real war images, they literally push reality beyond the screen. Thus, there is no difference between the pilot who is fixated on the target and the audience who is fixated on the screen. Virtual Wars seem to have become a new way for the individual to reach military fantasies in the 21st century.
Casseirer says: "Humans do not live in a purely physical universe, but in a symbolic universe. Language, myth, art and religion are various ties that form the symbolic texture."
Today, these ties that constitute the social, artistic, religious and political structure of people have been moved to a virtual universe. Because there are no more metaphorical meanings of words and symbolic equivalents of images. None of the digital indicators any longer represent or reflect a reality outside themselves.
The same change is valid for the images of real war. With the developing technology, it has been transformed into an imagination system that is not a source of war, and war symbols have been replaced by codes and image forms.
The enemy is no longer the other. Within the electronic platform, war has turned into a hybrid environment in which the individual is complicit with civil and military information, and good and bad guys have become common dark spots on this digitally bright surface. War and freedom no longer have an independent validity. The purpose of virtual wars is no longer to occupy the place-land, but to appear as an uncanny figure.
Throughout history, wherever there is war, there has always been an attack. Where there is an attack, there must be defense. Nowadays, this does not seem possible. Because from the past to the present, the war with the visible has turned into a war with the invisible.
Throughout history, every war has created its own audience, and therefore, the virtual human's war has begun to take place in the virtual environment today. The war that can be seen in the virtual human's war endlessly renews itself, just like a magical movie, and replaces the real one. The numbness and fatigue that come with hyper-realistic images turn into the most permanent war wounds of this war on individuals...
Ali Alışır
2012