Blog Post #6: Anti-War

 

Anti-war has always been a topic of controversy in America, whether that is because the government is suppressing citizens' voices or because they are censoring what we are allowed to do and how we are allowed to act, it is typically very hard to find opinions that don't agree with the United States governments point of view.

Our country was supposedly built around the first amendment, but if that's the case, why, for example, have I never heard of the websites Antiwar.com or Theamericanconservative.com. Maybe because these articles share opposing ideas from those shared on mainstream news outlets. 

It is very apparent that if our government doesn't want us as citizens to know something, even though it is our right, it will somehow be disregarded; that is why many of us never hear about anti-war because our government does want us to. A prime example is, after exploring deeper into the websites Theamericanconservative.com and Antiwar.com, I learned about things such as a Rage Against the War Machine Rally in Washington DC that happened THIS MONTH, the same Rage Against War Machine Rally but in San Francisco, and I even learned about where our military aid comes from and how much it is costing us.

Topics like these are hidden from the eye of Americans because it can be very unsettling to hear that the U.S. government approved expenditures of $113 billion on aid to Ukraine. This means that, since there are about 131 million households in America, the average household just throws away $861 every year just for this to be possible; that's CRAZY!

Thanks to the First Amendment, the government cannot take down or prevent websites such as Antiwar.com and Theamericanconservative.com from publishing due to prior restraint; however, they have found many ways to suppress the information, so it is not a hot topic of discussion. Although we do not know precisely how the government keeps this information from us without stopping it from being published, we do know why. I believe that the government does this because groups or topics that oppose the government have the ability to not only weaken the government's power worldwide but it also has the ability to turn essential allies against them. The government wants to be the powerhouse worldwide, so it will avoid anything that could weaken its reputation, such as anti-war articles. Since they cannot stop us citizens from speaking our minds, they only have the ability to suppress the information from being heard. That is why if you are interested in learning about these topics, it is essential to do your own research and find your way to make yourself heard because although it may be difficult, it is possible.