Dissent Against War-It Pervades

 Blog #6

Dissent Against War-It Pervades

American Dissent

As discussed in my Blog Post "American Freedoms, But do we Use Them", protecting the
ability of the American people to engage in dissent it essential to our governmental system. Throughout many different phases of our country's history, we have seen our people speak out against any governmental action they disagree with in masses. War is not an exception to this. 

Americans Against War

The anti-war movement truly pervades the entirety of American history, dating back to even the Revolutionary War. History.com speaks to the fact that there is dissent by the English loyalists at this point in U.S. history, next war dissent is seen for the War of 1812 by the Federalist Party, New-Englanders continued to be anti-war when it came to the Mexican-American War as well, the focus of their dissent for this war, however, was more based on morality over economics like the War of 1812. Next, the "copperheads" opposed the Civil War, while there were extremely decisive issues that separated the North and the South, many Americans for moral and economic reasons did not want to go to war against their fellow Americans. 

The need to keep the Gold-Standard, the Gold-Standard, businessman stood against the Spanish-American War so soon after economic bounce-back. 

In 1914, women still couldn't vote, but this didn't mean they were not ready to have their voices heard, they were the main Americans to dissent against World War I, in World War II (due to World War I) American isolationists, an idea used by George Washington, wished for America to bring back this policy. 

In the Korean War we see that the main dissent stemmed from Truman's lack of a formal declaration of war. Next, we saw the most widespread anti-war movement in America-the Vietnam War, which happened to be the only war our country has lost, so the people must have been onto something. Now, the United States has been at war practically since starting the Gulf Wars in 1991, there have been mild protests against various war efforts throughout, but nothing has ever compared to the Vietnam anti-war effort.

Silence the Anti-War Effort

American journalists have major influence upon the opinions of the people. While media today is not what it once was, honest, nonpartisan, and made of straight facts, the American people still often take reports on face value. Especially those that only get their news from one source, will act on whatever information is repeatedly given to them. 

Not only can modern media give skewed views that will influence the political party they side with, but they also can bring vivid imagery of war and anti-war efforts into the American living rooms (Hadyniak, 2015). This great level of influence is the last thing the government wants used against them. This means the government tries to burry anti-war efforts to the best of their ability. This is why obscure websites like antiwar.com and theamericanconservative.com are so essential for Americans to know of/about. When the people are unable to understand that there are others out there that agree with them and are, too, anti-war, they do not end up speaking out. It is essential for the American people to be able to have access to media outlets that do not exist in the pocket of the party they align with and the government. 

Media's True Responsibility 

The media has a responsibility to the people, the mainstream media does not follow through
on this responsibility, especially not during wartime. The American people should not have to go digging on websites that are strange and do not even have an easily navigable layout to be able to get the truth out of the media. 

We often talk about needing to use reliable resources in order to support our arguments, and generally the mainstream media can be included in this "reliable sources" idea, but truly they are not. They push the agenda of the government and the party the align with much more than they push true journalism in today's world. This is why the media does not speak up about anti-war opinions.