Blog #5: Antiwar Voices

    America has a deep history of suppressing criticism of the government starting in 1798 with the first Sedition Act, making it a crime to have “false, scandalous, or malicious writing” against the government of the United States. It’s mind boggling to surf these websites and realize how much monumental information isn’t being broadcasted on major news outlets. Some top headlines on the website include, “Iraq Daily Roundup: Four Killed” and "Suspected Militants Kill Soldiers in Burkina Faso's Desert North". These articles mentioned, refer to an ISIS attack in Iraq and another event where Islamist extremists murdered four soldiers in West Africa. When it comes to internal situations occurring stateside, it’s easy for the media and public to be aware of any prevalent incidents that need attention, though when it comes to 3rd world countries and wartime events, the public’s knowledge is limited and easily manipulated as our main source of information is what the government chooses to tell us. The government has a lot of power regarding what the public sees, hears, and interprets. 

    Through many facets of control, the government has strong ties to surveillance and censorship. Not only are they able to enforce their own surveillance resources but they are also able to obtain intel through big tech companies. According to this article, between Facebook, Google, and Twitter they received 51,650 request from the government for information where about 85% of those requests were accepted. With that many request accepted, it begs the question of how many of those requests were genuine and how many were to monitor less favorited voices regarding government issues.

    Regarding censorship, there has been a recent lawsuit where, “Justin Hart has filed a federal lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, U.S. President Joe Biden, and the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy for violating his First Amendment right to free speech” according to this article. Justin Hart was sharing data and scientific research about COVID when his media accounts were restricted after he posted an infographic criticizing the lack of research behind young children wearing masks. The lawsuit supports that the government is, “colluding with social media companies to monitor, flag, suspend and delete social media posts it deems ‘misinformation”. 

    As seen through surveillance and censorship, the government has the key to control the narrative of any given story including antiwar voices. Almost to the point of naivety, the public is shielded from the gruesome acts performed outside of state lines. This illusion is upheld through the events known as the Baghuz Strike where about 80 lives were lost as a small town in Syria was bombed by U.S. soldiers as mentioned in my previous blog #3. The details regarding the massacre did not surface to the public’s eye until recently even though this occurred back in 2019. The suppression of antiwar voices is consistently backed by the government as their main motive is to have an agreeable and submissive public.