Skip to main content

Antiwar.com


I have never heard of Antiwar.com, and after briefly reading through the website and articles, I was very intrigued. This website pointed out viewpoints and ideas I have never really thought of before. For example, I did not know that the American Military has killed more foreign civilians than any other military force since dropping the two nuclear bombs in Japan in 1945.



The article I read first talked about how no one cared about Syrian civilian's deaths until now. in 2014, you would never hear about the deaths of these Syrians, but now it is on mainstream media. The mainstream media say that all these deaths are by the IS, Russian airstrikes or the Syrian Government forces, but remain silent when the US is responsible for casualties. According to the article, in 2017 the US was killing more civilians in Syria than IS, Russia and Syrian forces.

This is information I had no idea about. I think I am ignorant, and don't want to know about war and what goes on. It is horrible, and I am just now starting to open my eyes and want to know about what is going on overseas to our troops and civilians. I almost feel like the US has been at war for so long, I do not even know for what. All I know is there is a war on terrorism and that I have friends and family in the military. That is all I know. I know 9/11 sparked war and that our country is constantly under attack and that the world seems to hate us.

The article talks about human right organizations like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and how they publish daily the casualties. I have never even heard the the SOHR before. The number of deaths from US led offensive to liberate them is staggering. And just like the article said, media was not reporting this, and I had no idea. Most Americans have no idea.

Why? the article talks about the sentiment that America is the good guys. I always have thought this. I almost feel un-American to question military involvement.

Self censorship also plays a role here, according to the article. Journalists who ask too many tough questions do not do well.

I now have an interest in knowing what is going on with war. I just sort of sit back and accept what has been on the news and I will try to better inform and better educate myself. War is terrible and there is no gain from it, and there are terrible evils in this world. I am just not sure if war is inevitable with the world we live in.

Maddy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Transparency In the US Government

In an age of mistrust in the government, specifically in the United States of America, people are upset and feel like the government is hiding things from them. This can be as simple as where tax payer money is going, to things more extreme like Area 51, to ideas that turn into conspiracy theories like the government is part of the New World Order and the Illuminati and are lizard people. I am not kidding, this is a theory that exists. In a democracy, the people have a right to know what is happening in the government and have access to information. Especially when it comes to voting, so they can be informed and partake in politics. If the government started hiding things when it comes to Presidential elections, things could get whack real fast. Some think certain parties do hide information about their politicians, like when Trump was asked about his tax returns or Obama asked about his birth certificate. Transparency also is important for law making, so citizens know what is go...

Mass Media, Echo Chambers, Theories

People's trust has gone in mass media has gone down in the last decade, according to an in class presentation, only 4 percent of people see an increase in trust in their mass media outlets. Mass media like CNN or FoxNews have their own agenda and own bias, and people know this. CNN i have head be referred to as "Clinton News Network" and people associate FoxNews as a conservative news outlets. Echo Chamber was mentioned in class as well. Echo chambers make it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction, which is super prevalent today. With disinformation, the act of deliberately lying to sway opinion and establish a bias, it is really hard to distinguish  what is fact and what is not. Reliable sources are also a tricky subject. What is even reliable anymore? Are anonymous sources even reliable? Are there bias sources? In some articles, unnamed sources are uses...hmm...how reliable (said no one ever). Something i heard that made me actually nervous is the Illuso...

Bush and Degenres

Recently a photo has gone viral, a photo of former President George W. Bush and TV Host Ellen Degeneres enjoying a football game together. At first, people were very angry and upset that the two were together. They have very opposing views, how could they even stand to be in the same room? Ellen Degeneres and the former president have different political views, one being gay marriage. Ellen Degeneres is an openly gay women who is married, and Bush in 2004 supported the ban of gay marriage, but supports civic unions. Yet, Ellen claims that she is still friends with Bush, despite opposing views. I am sure that is not all that two disagree with. In a clip from the Ellen Show, Degeneres spoke about her friendship, stating, "just because I don't agree with someone on everything doesn't mean that I'm not going to be friends with them. When I say 'Be kind to one another,' I don't mean only the people that think the same way you do. I mean be kind to ...