IF YOU HAVEN'T seen any of Ken Burns' new documentary, The War, you should. It is fascinating.The storytelling is dramatic, the footage is amazing and the series (at 14 hours) is comprehensive.
It is also exceptionally pro-American.
But why not? The Americans who fought in World War II are the Greatest Generation (according to Tom Brokaw, at least). They sacrificed a lot for the sake of our country. They are heroes, right?
Funny how things have changed in 60 years. These days, half of the country thinks we should be pulling out of our current war and about 75 percent of the country disapproves of our current president.
What happened?
Is liberal journalism eroding our patriotic spirit as a reader suggested to the Yakima Herald? Shouldn't journalists unite behind our troops since they are fighting for us? Isn't it our duty as journalists to champion the cause of the American people? By covering the government critically, aren't we really helping the enemy?
Or was the Greatest Generation not really the Greatest Generation at all? Are they just a generation who bought into the government's ideals? Did the journalists of that era mollycoddle the government and help sell the government's agenda?
7 comments:
World war II was a totally different war, and considered the last "good war." I do believe there is a difference between a good and bad war, and that wars are necessary despite our attachment and preachings of world peace; this is not reality.
People cannot confuse patriotism and pro-Americanism with downright war crimes. Patriotism is used as an excuse to justify mistakes made by our country's leaders despite many experts' opposition of the start of the war. I stand by the troops and I will always support them, but I think it's terribly ironic that the initial reason we declared war was the attack on 9/11 where 3,000 Americans died, yet we've let over 3,000 die in Iraq. Our original reason was rooted in instilling fear in people; claiming weapons of mass destruction. Now that none are found, aren't we now "helping the enemy" by attempting to establish a democratic society for them? By giving them rights and advancement that they don't want at the cost of the American citizens?
I do not believe the war will get any better. By withdrawing troops immediately, we will be saving lives. (and money) If that makes me an unpatriotic lib, I reject their definition of patriotism.
I belive that what changed is that more and more americans are becoming better informed about the decisions and reprecautions of those decisions that our goverment makes. The people want to know why.
In Ken Burn's series (The War), you learn that journalists withheld information about the attack of Pearl Harbor. No numbers of casualties were officially reported at first and the names of specific ships destroyed remained a mystery for long after the war.
The government asked families of victims to not say what ships their loved ones served on.
And Americans complied in the name of the nation. Revealing such information would put the country at risk, the feeling was.
If your government now asked you to withhold information that might lower the country's morale, would you abide? For the safety of our country, would you retain information rather than reveal it ... just because your government asked you to?
- George (the teacher)
You are talking about two totally differant wars. We didn't enter WWII until after it was started it was a defensive war. If the U.S hadn't gotten involved Germany and Japan would have probably won. Where as in Iraq we went in without a plan if things went wrong, we went in with false information, and things are argueably worse there now.
Do you think that if journalism of the WWII era was as advanced and could show how bad the war then really was the people still would have supported it the way they did? We have such a greater capacity to physically, literally, and graphically see the suffering now it's hard to let it be okay with us. I think WWII was just a different time, especially with respects to extent of coverage and how advanced the technology was.
journalist were asleep with this war from the beginning. Half or more of the country (assuming) had no clue why we were really going to war. all we knew was we were attacked now lets go get the bastards (this incudes journalist). Bush played on this volunerability and used it to spark his own war in a country that did nothing to us (in terms of 9/11). it was the journalist job to make sure we new the truth and the facts. i guess they're just making up for lost time. they're reporting all the negatives now b/c they didnt do it initially.
however we should support our troops no matter what because those are our family members and friends out there dying in the name of our country.
as for the WW2 generation being the "greatest generation", every generation is great for different things. that group of youngins had issues too. plus they're war was a little more justified.
i guess i cant really be general and say everyone didnt know what was really going on. i was all for the war when it initially started b/c i thought we were going to get Osama. when i found out we were in a different country entirely i was kinda mad...kinda!
The second world war was was a noble war with the lines of "good versus bad" clearly drawn. Our country was united in defeating an enemy that we may never face again. The atrocities they commited and the stigma they carried created a united resentment among our allies. Today our troops are flung across the globe combating who knows what and our society is permitted to speak their mind. Because of this our morale dies, our enemies seize opportunites to go on a speaking tour at our colleges and the presidents approval rating plunges even more.
I have to admit I bought dinner and turned on PBS sunday at 8pm because i have no life and "The War" made me jealous. To have lived in a time of such unity and honorable actions is something i may never get to experience.
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