Blog#6 Anti War Dissent

 WAR! HUH What is it good for?

Some things, but wars need to be clearly thought out and debated before we start them.  The United States, following its victory in the Cold War, became the sole world superpower.  The United States, since the end of the Cold War, has fought in a number of wars to contain its geopolitical enemies, acquire resources, and align different nations into its sphere of Influence. Both political parties have been responsible for this. The interventionist wars of the United States face minor opposition in both political parties, but there is not a unified anti-war movement.  Anti-war voices are often sidelined for being "conspiratorial" while the discourse of the nation has largely shifted towards the culture war. There are a variety of reasons for this. The first one is that the media makes a lot of money reporting off wars. Wars to put it simply are interesting,  people will watch the news more if the United States is involved in a war. The news can report on the progress of the war and how bad the enemy is. The media also does not report on the atrocities of the United States. If the media were to report on various war crimes committed by America, they would lose access to politicians and get accused of being unpatriotic. 

Another reason is that most Americans are not fixated on the consequences of American interventionism. Unlike Vietnam, our modern wars are not fought with conscripts. People will feel more strongly against a war if it disturbs their lives. The case against modern intervention is a lot more complicated than it was in the 1960s and 1970s. People are also distracted by trivial matters. Whether Colin Kaepernick stood for the national anthem received as much attention as the case against the war in Iraq. Whether or not Mr. Kaepernick stands for the flag is largely irrelevant to my life. The War in Iraq is relevant to my life because it uses my tax dollars to fund an offensive war and the permanent occupation of a country that didn't attack us. In addition to this, many Americans, unfortunately, are ignorant about the geopolitics of the Middle East. Saddam Hussien who lead a secular government was portrayed as a supporter of Islamic terror. The American people did not know about Iraq's politics and bought into the war. Politicians are not interested in having a nuanced debate about interventionism because they would lose the support of the various defense contractors that finance their campaigns. Instead, both political parties focus on the culture war circus, with Republicans saying how Democrats hate America and Democrats saying how Republicans hate minorities.

The media does not want you to know about the various wars that we engage in. We need to be able to have a nuanced conversation about the wars we engage so we can decide if they are legitimate or not.