Blog Post #6

Why do we never hear anti-war perspectives?

Biased media in the United States is nothing new. Media in our country has always been about selling newspapers or getting the highest TV ratings, rather than simply reporting the facts. Even as far back as the late 19th century, "yellow journalism" was using sensationalism over facts. 

It was this "yellow journalism" that got us involved in the Spanish American War, a war which contributed to America becoming an Imperialist nation. This point is only to say that the mainstream media has long been involved in biased reporting. It’s no different today.

As you suspected, I have never heard of either of those two websites. I viewed them in-depth and wasn’t surprised that I found their name to be an apt description of their contents. On antiwar.com I was immediately drawn to sensational headlines such as "Chaos in the Red Sea" and others. These websites seem to hold a view that is unpopular among the highest echelons of American society, the view that wars are bad and our country shouldn't be getting involved in them.

However, the so-called "mainstream" media is also frequently accused of being biased. Many of them often make excuses for wars. It seems we have to read multiple articles from multiple sources in order to get the full picture on any subject, be it war, healthcare, or anything else. 

It’s important to remember that not only the media but individual people come with their own biases as well. I am the son and grandson of Marines who have fought in many wars. I have my own bias when it comes to this subject due to my family history and upbringing in a pro military family.

With my own biases in mind, I actually disagree with the statement that we "never" hear very strong anti-war sentiment in the mainstream media. It may not be frequent, and I may just be hyper aware of it due to my father being a Marine officer, however, I have witnessed a lot of anti-war sentiment in the mainstream media over the years. Some that has come in the form of news networks frequently having anti-war celebrities such as Michael Moore and Mike Farrell.

So while we may need to seek out more obscure websites to find very strong anti-war sentiment, I do believe it is seen in the mainstream media as well, perhaps just not as overt. 

Since the "War on Terror" and the more recent battles abroad, such as the war in Ukraine, have lingered for very long I think that what you see is a trend of strong support for involvement at the beginning of such military operations but then that support fades over time as more lives are lost and more money is spent.

Americans tend to rally around the flag, but that erodes into dissent as the months turn into years. I would say that Americans have a very short attention span.