Fiction can function as moral motivation for real-world military participation.

Evidence

The military officer acknowledges that Sleeper Cell is fictional, yet insists that it is realistic to the extent that it inspires him to continue participating in the War on Terror. Drawing on dominant discourses from the Bush administration, Sergeant Siebrasse articulates the benevolent role of the United States during the War on the Terror. According to him, “the Muslim” is either a terrorist or a victim in need of rescue by the United States. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 238

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Attention captured by advertising can be converted into military service — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 147; The security state formally recruited fiction writers to imagine threats; Warmaking elites sell wars by claiming weapons are precise and humane — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 1121 (+1 more)