I remember first hearing about this when someone I knew a few years ago starting telling me in somewhat drunk detail, about a book they were currently reading titled “The Men Who Stare At Goats”. It was written by Jon Ronson and told about these crazy accounts of military men trying to tap into their pysches in order to make goats drop dead through merely staring. It sounded pretty crazy but fascinating at the time.
So it’s interesting to me that I am now hearing about it again in the form of a major motion picture starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges among others. The combination sounds like it’ll be plenty amusing and I plan on seeing it. However, it turns out in Jon Ronson had put together his own documentary series based on the book that is intensely amusing but equally disturbing due to the fact that this is not a work of fiction. It was a 3 part series called “Crazy Rulers of the world” which aired in 2004.
The first part focused on material from his book “The Men Who Stared at Goats” and can be found on youtube but I am posting it here in one place. You really have to watch to believe (even though it’s still hard to believe the military was involved in this type of activity). I’m also wondering if it’s a product of editing, that these military men seem to be so “touched”, but I think it might not be….
A Bit of Stardust 