The men who stare at goats

I liked the film, but not as much as the documentary series by Jon Ronson. Mostly because of the oppressive acting. Maybe I shouldn't have watched it after the documentary, now the wacky hijinks of the US military seem a lot less fun and a lot more crazy. The one thing the film doesn't address and the documentary barely touches is the fact that the reason these things work so well in the military context. Any army is prone to these kinds of hysteric flights of fancy, it's in their nature. They spend so much time brainwashing people to become soldiers, what does it matter if you tack on a load of other ideas that don't really make any sense in that context? The unquestioning obedience of orders and other great ideas in service of a single goal make it an easy prey for profoundly stupid ideas. It's remarkably similar to religion that way.