{"id":54767,"date":"2017-04-16T20:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-16T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=54767"},"modified":"2017-04-16T20:00:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-16T20:00:21","slug":"tommy-the-russkie-tank-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=54767","title":{"rendered":"Tommy the Russkie Tank-tank"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ by Charles Cameron<\/strong> — A Russian tanker-toy saga ]
\n.<\/p>\n

Another contribution to the maxcro \/ micro, war \/ games displays in my mental cabinet of wonders<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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I’m sorry, this was about the only screen-grab I could manage that showed both the toy tank and its war-fighting seniors. In the children’s story, the toy tank gets left at the tank museum overnight, and is shocked and awed by the realities of which it is but a simulacrum — the OT 76, T 72, and most particularly the T-14 Armata super-tank<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The equation war : war games :: T-14 : toy tank<\/strong> eiher understates the significnce of the T-14 or exaggerates that of the toy — but equations between simulacrum and reality lie at the heart of such philosophical excursions as Baudrillard<\/strong>‘s Simulacra and Simulations<\/a>, with its phony epigraph, a simulacrum of a quote from Ecclesiastes:<\/p>\n

The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth\u2014it is the truth which conceals that there is none.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the case of this children’s book, we can postulate another equation: Russia : propaganda :: factory : advertis<\/strong>ing.<\/p>\n

But see for yourself, some of the details are hilarious:<\/p>\n

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"Countries where there are wars buy tanks from our factory". A Russian tank factory has published this book for children. A video review. pic.twitter.com\/JtkLC7HZJP<\/a><\/p>\n

— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) April 16, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n