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Failed States
Failed States is an exploration of coincidence and poetics amid the barriers and bureaucracy of governmental power. While on a trip to research the history of snipers in Austin, Texas, artist Jill Magid witnesses a mysterious shooting on the steps of the State Capitol. Twenty-four year old Fausto Cardenas fires several rounds in the air before being arrested. The event becomes the background against which Magid, under the guidance of CT —editor at the Texas Observer and former embedded war correspondent for AP — starts her training to become an embedded journalist with the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Magid's non-fiction novel Failed States approaches the themes of transparency, secrecy and publicity through her personal desire to engage the war on terror and its media representation through becoming an eyewitness.
Magid's non-fiction novel Failed States approaches the themes of transparency, secrecy and publicity through her personal desire to engage the war on terror and its media representation through becoming an eyewitness.
132 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 24, 2015
Jill Magid writes:
We return to background checks, which I am concerned about. The CIA will Google me and I’ll show up.
Yeah, he says, but not as a terrorist. Your background isn’t any more dangerous in their eyes than mine or any other journalist.
This both calms and belittles me, but he doesn’t realize the latter. As much as I worry that I will not be able to continue my work, I also fear that I will remain insignificant to the powers I explore. At the same time, it’s always bothered me that the CIA never contacted me on its own behalf.
You don’t fit the profile for the CIA, CT says, Jonny said the same. They want people who draw the box and color inside of it. It’s all hypocrisy: helmet laws, the pill, abortion. The Tea Party, he says, is not a spontaneous movement as it is described, but orchestrated by the government.
I wonder if anything’s real.
I tell him about Wikileaks and the article I read in The New Yorker during my flight here, and ask if he’s heard of it.
He nods. Wikileaks is legitimate. They are legitimate, but B level; the only two leaks in their whole history are the two mentioned in that article. All leaks today are planned, orchestrated.
How am I supposed to believe there is no master plan after hearing a claim like that?
Most leaks, he continues, are not discovered in the traditional sense; they are simply handed out or e-mailed, usually by a disgruntled employee. My favorite spy in the Dutch intelligence service told me the same. It’s an informer trying to prove something, or he or she has a genuine reason, maybe even a good reason. But leaks are usually orchestrated by the administration. It’s a way of disseminating information that the government wants the public to know but cannot simply announce.
He compares this to media scandals associated with sex tapes, like those of Kendra and Paris Hilton. Those sex tapes were never leaked; they were released for publicity.
We return to background checks, which I am concerned about. The CIA will Google me and I’ll show up.
Yeah, he says, but not as a terrorist. Your background isn’t any more dangerous in their eyes than mine or any other journalist.
This both calms and belittles me, but he doesn’t realize the latter. As much as I worry that I will not be able to continue my work, I also fear that I will remain insignificant to the powers I explore. At the same time, it’s always bothered me that the CIA never contacted me on its own behalf.
You don’t fit the profile for the CIA, CT says, Jonny said the same. They want people who draw the box and color inside of it. It’s all hypocrisy: helmet laws, the pill, abortion. The Tea Party, he says, is not a spontaneous movement as it is described, but orchestrated by the government.
I wonder if anything’s real.
I tell him about Wikileaks and the article I read in The New Yorker during my flight here, and ask if he’s heard of it.
He nods. Wikileaks is legitimate. They are legitimate, but B level; the only two leaks in their whole history are the two mentioned in that article. All leaks today are planned, orchestrated.
How am I supposed to believe there is no master plan after hearing a claim like that?
Most leaks, he continues, are not discovered in the traditional sense; they are simply handed out or e-mailed, usually by a disgruntled employee. My favorite spy in the Dutch intelligence service told me the same. It’s an informer trying to prove something, or he or she has a genuine reason, maybe even a good reason. But leaks are usually orchestrated by the administration. It’s a way of disseminating information that the government wants the public to know but cannot simply announce.
He compares this to media scandals associated with sex tapes, like those of Kendra and Paris Hilton. Those sex tapes were never leaked; they were released for publicity.
October 4, 2022
The first chapter was so well crafted and intriguing that it built up an expectation that couldn't be fulfilled. I just had no real interest in the subject matter, and the page layout was extremely difficult to read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews