Before taking COM1450, I can confidently say that I have never seen any antiwar writings in the news. I've never really thought about it, but the amount of antiwar coverage in the news is pretty much little to none. I find this exceedingly interesting, because I would venture to say that the majority of people are antiwar. I know that there are people writing antiwar articles, but where's the coverage for it? If antiwar writings, podcasts, etc. were covered more....would that make a positive impact on our society today?
The American Conservative is a website that I've never heard of before this assignment, but after skimming through it and reading some of the articles, I wish that I had known of it sooner. It's full of all kinds of information that I otherwise wouldn't have ever known -- and it shows a side of society that I've been otherwise blind to.
The first article I read was the War Is No Solution piece. It's rather short, but it's impactful in its simplicity. In this class, we've talked numerous times about why America is getting involved in the war between Ukraine and Russia when it's a regional issue (which the article also points to as well). Why are we as Americans feeling obligated to choose a side? This article stresses that picking a side (as well as being involved with the war in general) doesn't make a difference. I would venture to argue that the U.S. getting involved with the Ukrainian/Russian war is a risky (albeit stupid) attempt at somehow restoring this country. Will it help? Definitely not. Which is precisely why there's no coverage on an article such as this one....it points out the problem AND exposes this country's intentions.
The second article I read from this website, Telling Ourselves Stories, also gave interesting insight to the war in Ukraine....more specifically, how the U.S. tends to view the war. The article shares an idea that we've also talked about in class, which is the idea that we view the war as black and white. Most Americans see the war as clean cut, to the point, and as clear as could be. However, like most things in life, the was is far from black and white -- and has just as many gray areas as anything else. The article says that Americans tend to boil everything down to good vs. evil. It's a simple equation with a simple answer; Ukraine = good and Russia = bad. This isn't the case by any means, and the fact that so many Americans are blind to this is scary. Why do most Americans fail to see this war for what it really is? That answer is obvious. It's the media coverage of the war. I can say for certain that most of the media coverage that I've seen makes Ukraine out to be the victim, and Russia out to be the bully. The truth is that both countries have done their fair share of evil, and neither of them have a perfect track record. No country is perfect, no land is pure and holy -- yet the media has influenced so many people to have this notion of Ukraine.
The media doesn't want coverage of these kinds of stories, because they tell the story that the media doesn't want people to hear. If you want to find antiwar stories or any kind of news that actually shares the truth of both sides, then you have to go out of your way to find no-name websites that have no real popularity. The media tells the story that the government wants them to tell, and more often than not, it's a fabricated story.
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