KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG

posted by James Reel

First there was Joshua’s horn at the walls of Jericho, then Mozart employed to scare teenage loiterers away from convenience stores and subway stations. Now American interrogators are using a wide array of music to break their prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Of particular interest to PBS viewers is this nugget from an article in the Guardian:

Ultimately, the most overused torture song is “I Love You” by Barney the Purple Dinosaur. On the face of it, the lyrics may seem deeply inappropriate: "I love you, you love me — we're a happy family. / With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, / Won't you say you love me too?" — but anyone whose child watches the television programme will know how grating it is. In the torture trade, this is called "futility music," designed to convince the prisoner of the futility of maintaining his position.

So Barney is an instrument of torture. Well, parents of preschoolers have known that for years.