War

As a boy growing up during WW 2, I was thrilled to see movies like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and God Is My Copilot. These were propaganda films produced by Hollywood to bolster the homeland. The news media was the same way showing only the Allies side of the war. It was what the country needed as the war dragged on. Korea was the same thing on a smaller scale. Vietnam started out the same way with the press rallying the people behind the war but it went on longer than Korea or WW2 and the people started to change their minds. This change was aided by the coverage of war correspondence. The news started out like all previous wars just reporting what the government sent out but in time and with the help of TV the news came more from other sources. The war lasted much longer and by the mid 1960's people were starting to question the government. In the early 1970's the Pentagon Papers were leaked to the press showing how the government had been lying for years about the war and this turned the tables. Protest erupted across the country and the pressure was on to reach a peace agreement which happened 1975. The war in Ukraine is in the early stages and the news is almost exclusively pro war. There are many instances where anti war sentiment is blocked on social media. If the war drags on it is only a matter of time before the people refuse to accept the government view as presented in the press and demand another course of action. The Vietnam War became a political issue in the 1964 election and Johnson declined to run for a second term. It took ten years for the public to rise up against the Vietnam War. Let us hope it doesn't take that long this time. Search for information and do not trust the government reports.