Blog Post #5

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It is not a surprise that America loves to be involved in other countries' drama. America is seen as a beacon of hope which can help any and all other countries, but this is not always the case. 

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Protected under the 1st Amendment, citizens can voice their opposition to war, but sometimes these voices tend to be silenced. In the past, censorship was much easier as there was no social media, images, or pictures to share what was actually happening in the world and citizens were only truly seeing the pro-war propaganda to support the United States. Then the Pentagon Paper Scandal occurred when the New York Times published leaked papers from the Pentagon regarding the Vietnam War. Those who leaked the papers believed that citizens should know what was truly happening in Vietnam and that officials were lying to citizens about it to maintain war support. 

Ever since this scandal, the trust in America's government has gone down. Another example of suppression during wartime was during the Desert Storm (in the Middle East) where news organizations were allowed to send reporters overseas. These reporters filmed what various soldiers were doing and what was happening during the Desert Storm. Since these soldiers were ultimately protecting the lives of these reporters, the reporters provided positive, pro-war content back to America because why would you speak bad about someone protecting you (don't bite the finger that feeds you). This was all a strategic move.

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Today, it is harder to censor anti-war propaganda, but I have yet to hear about anti-war.com or about the American Conservatives. I believe that mainstream media chooses to not air these strong antiwar voices because they would be targeting a specific audience and ultimately lose viewers. The mainstream media is all about viewers and money. Also, they would be deemed as extreme and most likely canceled by some government officials and citizens as government officials today try to have the media as a support dog rather than a watchdog. 

War is such a political hot-button topic and when you say you do not support a war cause then people either think you are anti-American or inhumane because you are not thinking about how we can help others. Ultimately, Americans have their own issues to worry about other than foreign affairs that we are not directly involved in and anti-war voices should not be suppressed.