The Silence of Anti-War Voices

The Silence of Anti-War Voices

Throughout our lives, we have been exposed to propaganda. Some things may seem very small, like an advertisement. We have all seen the propaganda ads throughout our history classes when we were in middle and high school. All of these ads that we saw were convincing people to join the cause and fight for their respective nation. 

Yet why is it that we have never seen propaganda ads telling people to not participate in a war. There are many times in our nation's history where we as the people did not want to go to war. When the United States fought in the Vietnam war and used the draft, my grandfather, uncle, and thousands of others protested in Faneuil Hall in Boston. 

So many people oppose war, yet why is it that we never hear these voices?

War is something that everyone can agree on is a bad thing. I know for me at least I would rather not see people have to risk their lives trying to protest their nation they love. Yet if you have to look at war from a business standpoint, there can be some benefits. Besides the fact that we were victorious over the Axis Powers in the Second World War.

Millions of men and women joined the armed forces. High paying jobs were created for people back home to help build the supplies needed to fight in the war. Overall if it wasn’t for WWII we would have not gotten out of the depression for a while.

Not all wars have benefits. Countless lives are lost, funding that could be going into schools or roads are now being funded into making military vehicles. War is a short term economic boost, which can look very good for a politician. 

Politics has sadly made its way into almost every sector of our lives. If a news station knows that being in a war will bring short term economic relief for a country, then they are going to silence the voices that are opposing them. We live in a world where big media and big tech has a lot of power on what people think and hear.

For people who are my age, this is the first time in our lives where the United States has not been participating in a war. It has been etched into our brains to think that it is okay for the United States to be participating in a war at all times. This should not have to be the case. Big tech and big media are too powerful over what voices can and can’t be heard. They should not be the ones who decide what we get to see. 

Websites like ANTIWAR.COM and American Conservative are two media groups that specialize in anti-war voices. Sadly most of these people have their voices silenced and it makes it very hard for people to get their voices heard. As a society, we need to work on making sure that both sides are being heard. The United States people, the ones get drafted and fight, should be able to look at both sides and see whether or not they believe it is right to participate.

While doing research I stumbled upon an article that would tell you if you would have been drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Very scary to think about, but still very interesting.

Click here and enter your birthday to see if you would have been drafted.