The Men Who Stare At Goats Essay

Quite often Hollywood exaggerates any given movie. It needs to be something interesting, dramatized, and “based” on a true story. Although in the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats, they say in the beginning, “More of this is true than you believe” (Amazon). Watching the movie, the viewer could blow it off as just a bunch of conspiracy theories blown up by Hollywood. Especially since The Men Who Stare at Goats is about a government project to make super soldiers, or as they call it in the movie, “Jedi Warriors.” However, looking into past government projects there is little doubt in my mind that this is not an exaggeration. I believe that the government is not too far off from the movie because DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) replicates the three levels of a Jedi warrior …show more content…
The U.S government is infamous for DARPA, or the mad scientist sector of government. An associate editor for Engadget says in better words, "Think of DARPA as a huge octopus, with too many tentacles to count – You can't really tell what it's doing unless you focus on it" (Moon). Their goal is to be ahead of emerging technology through government-funded projects. By doing so, they quite often are the source and eruption of ethical dilemmas. Quite similarly, the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats draws connections to DARPA’s projects with their own sector, The New Earth Army. The New Earth Army is focused on training soldiers in alternative ways starting with the first level, Observation. Lyn Cassady, one of the most highly trained Jedi Warrior, says, “He would know where all the lights were. He could walk through a room and tell you how many power outlets there were. People are walking around with their eyes closed. At Level One we were trained to instantly absorb all details” (Amazon). Although realistically, a regular soldier might not be able to achieve those skills.