Would the opposition to wars before vietnam, iraq have been the same if they were also televised?

Question

If WW1 had been able to be shown in every ones home, would the opposition to it have been like Iraq and Vietnam, because personally i think that although warfare hasn't changed much, the fact that it is broadcast around the world has changed the way people see it

Answer 1

Quite possibly.



War is hell. I think I heard that somewhere. And I don't personally believe it should be on television. At least to the degree that it currently is.



I have no issue with the publics right to know. But there are ways to report the news without sensationalizing it. And that unfortunately is what war reporting has become. Sensationalism.



And despite the fact that good things happen even in the worst of places, good news doesn't sell. But the negative does (and I'll leave the discussion about the morality of that for another time) according to the media powers that be.



So by extension the reporting of wars presents only the negative. Which creates opposition. Which creates dissension.



TV has dramatically changed the way that we view the world. Had it been as pervasive during previous conflicts as it is now, it undoubtedly would have had the same affect.

Answer 2

The problem with TV coverage is it added a lot of close-up visibility, but you lose sight of the overall picture. Don't see the forest for the trees, think of it that way.



There always had been opposition to war, but modern media simply amplified their noise. With the Internet, anybody can be a broadcaster (blog, podcast, etc.) One reason why authoritarian countries first crack down on the media. Iran jammed Twitter and other social media during the election unrests, and China have always censored the Internet with what was jokingly called "Great Firewall of China".



Media works both ways... for and against. Opposition would be the same. They are just more readily heard nowadays.



---

Kasey C, PC guru since Apple II days

There's too much blood in my caffeine system.

Answer 3

There were other military interventions that were supported and on TV. Did not hear to much when Pres. Clinton sent folks into harms way.



Not now and not way back when did everyone support war. Even those of us that do know how horrible it is. Sometimes horrible is required to rid a worse horrible.



In 1941 my Dad was working as a railroad track gang member, laying new and replacement track. Within 4 months he had been to Basic, Anti Aircraft MG'r school and arrived @ Dutch Harbor. His first battle was June 1942. By Sep 1944 he and others had been pulled back to the US, retrained and arrived in France to join the 80th ID in the 3rd US Army. He was involved in liberating Buchenwald and Ebensee in Apr and May 1945. Until he saw those camps he did not have the true picture of what he was fighting for.



Helen did not like the guy her Dad wanted her to marry so she bugged out to her older sister in Saigon in 1969. She grew up in war. She did not have a full understanding of communism until 2 communist men were moved into her apt in Apr 1975. I will let you guess what they did to her....25 years old, very good looking...getting a clue? She bugged out on a ship that went dead in the water and drfited untiol it hit a reef off a Maylaysian Island. She held her son over her head and swam to shore. lots of the older ones drowned, this was 1978. Her Brother in law escaped prison and hid out 3 years then lead his wife and 2 sons from Tra Vihn in the Delta.



I met a Russian in a 7th Army School that had walked over 600 miles to escape the Soviet Union, he was 16. In 1988 I met a young guy that made his way from the south of Yugoslavia into Italy on foot and bus rides.



If the real reasons for many wars was broadcast the anti war folks might join up.



Kim Phuq had her face all over the world as a victim of US Air Forces dropping napalm in Viet Nam. Problem is it was not US Forces that did it...it was Vietnamse Air Force and Army...so even when they do the phuq it up!



Problem with TV is they have twisted the reality into something else.



TV in WWI, WWII, Korea would have probably increased support as news was reported as news..not played with, edited to a point of view. They did go soft on the piles of bodies in WWII. They did not want to get to graphic.



That is the long version of "Who Knows"



Edit: Casey try some Vietnamse imports. It's stronger and holds up in a thermos. I even use 4 teabags per cup to keep the blood low!

Answer 4

there was lots of opposition to wars throughout American history. guess your class skipped over that.