War! War! What is it good for? That was an old saying back in the 60s and 70s, aimed at the Vietnam War. Which everybody knows wasn’t a real war. Congress didn’t declare it, and we didn’t win it, so it couldn’t possibly be a war. Right?
Twenty years ago, when we went to war with Iraq, there was no real debate. Americans were 60% against going to war with Iraq, but the news coverage was at least two thirds in favor of it. And the one third against was carefully managed so it couldn’t win the argument. And it worked. A constant thrum of pro war propaganda on all news channels and the newspaper shifted public opinion enough that we supported war with Iraq.
I’ve seen the same thing in the news over the last week. Even the lefty mainstream news has been parroting many of the pro war points, even as they’ve been preaching their standard Trump Evil message to the believers. Fox News has been positively rabid in their support of bombing Iran. And honestly, who DOESN’T want to bomb Iran? Yes, yes, I know that bombing a country is an act of war. But Americans have been taught for literally generations in school and news that you can bomb someone without being at war with them. It’s crazy, but it’s a bloody matter of truth in our popular culture now.
But you know what? There’s been debate over that over the last week. Debate over war. Debate over bombing AS an act of war. Across the political divides, off the main news channels and newspapers, there’s been a HUGE and LOUD debate over this whole thing. And the people have been clear.
No forever wars.
And that is making a difference. It is being heard. It is changing the narrative. In a way it wasn’t allowed to make a difference twenty years ago, when the news could simply silence dissent by not airing it. Or five years ago, when the government “asked” social media to silence it. Today dissent is heard, it’s loud, and I find that to be amazing.
Healthy. Good.