Abstract
Drones’ presence in our lives has become so ubiquitous that they are now a regular feature even on children’s Christmas lists. However, the use of drones has been anything but innocent, especially in warfare, because, as Kevin Howley reminds us in his book Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination, drones can also be ‘high-tech killing machines’ (p. xv). In his view, drones are ‘the latest in a series of sublime technologies to seize the public imagination’ (p. 17). He starts his book by arguing that while the stories told by former drone operators, survivors, witnesses and resistors are frequently ignored or underestimated, they are ‘essential if we are to fully comprehend the social, political and cultural implications of drones’ (p. xv). This is precisely the aim of his book – to explore the relationship between technology and culture by critically analysing ‘how news accounts and op-eds, marketing and advertising, as well as all manner of popular culture construct public knowledge of drones’ because ‘technology shapes and is shaped by the stories we tell about it’ (p. xv). Howley uses Fairclough’s tripartite analytical framework for critical discourse analysis, which explores the features of a text, discursive practice – ‘processes related to the production and reception of a text’ (p. xxii) – and social practice – ‘the broader context in which texts are produced and consumed’ (p. xxiii). 3. The book is divided into four parts organised around four ‘orders of discourse’ (p. xxv). Part I, Perpetual War, examines the order of discourse around weaponised drones – from the cultural, linguistic and technological origins of drones to the discursive strategies used by George W. Bush’s administration to the news coverage of Barack Obama’s use of drones in the rebranded version of the war on terror. Part II, Domesticating Drones, then focuses on the second-order ‘discourse of domestication’ revolving around the use of drones in domestic airspace for civilian and/or commercial purposes. Howley discusses ‘the difficulty drone enthusiasts and entrepreneurs face in overcoming the secrecy, if not the stigma, surrounding the drone assassination programme’ (p. xxvi). Some of the topics explored are as follows: drones for fun and profit, electronic surveillance, drone journalism, the news coverage of drone wars and drones in entertainment and popular culture. Howley is very critical of the US media’s reporting of drone strikes and what he perceives to be US violations of international law. He claims that the media tend to rely on official reports and selective leaks and ignore the perspective of the people whose lives have been negatively affected by drone warfare. He sums up the reporting with the proverb: ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ (p. 129). Part III, Witnessing, explores a third order of discourse – that of witnessing by focusing on the perspectives of ‘survivors’ (p. 135) of drone attacks and drone operators. Howley reminds us of the thousands of civilian casualties of the US drone programme and how important it is to hear the perspectives of some of the survivors or the relatives of the deceased. Thus, Chapter 8 analyses the testimony before a US Senate subcommittee of a Yemeni activist and journalist who describes the impact of drone warfare on his country. These chapters are very revealing because they offer powerful first-hand accounts of the negative impact of drones. Howley further questions the role of news media and asks whether audiences should play a more active role. Part IV, Resistance, further delves into the issue by turning to the work of campaigners, activists, graphic artists, cartoonists and comedians who oppose the use of drones mainly through art. Howley uses a range of interesting examples in these chapters such as a meme depicting a meeting between Martin Luther King with his ‘I have a dream’ (‘I had a dream’ in the meme) speech and Obama with the words ‘I have a drone’ (p. 228). Finally, in the conclusion, he analyses the use of drone warfare by applying Harold Innis’ theoretical framework on empire and communication. His main argument is that ‘weaponized drones embody a long-standing paradox of American culture: the impulse to collapse the geographical distance between the United States and other parts of the globe, while simultaneously magnifying the cultural differences between Americans and other peoples and societies’ (p. 257). His book is an excellent reminder of the extent to which killing by drones has been normalised to the point where it is referred to as ‘mowing the lawn’ (p. 265). Howley argues that this not only demonstrates the trivialisation of this practice, but it also ideologically promotes ‘a state of perpetual war’ (p. 265). While not everyone would agree with this interpretation and the analytical framework used to analyse the stories told about drones, Howley’s book offers a rich and challenging contribution to the field.