Antiwar

 Antiwar

    War has always been a controversial topic for Americans. America has a reputation for inserting itself into international affairs that they do not belong in. Many headlines on Antiwar.com will show where our taxes go when we insert ourselves in international affairs that we originally were not a part of. On the contrary, we also have been called un-American for not supporting wars and other global affairs we were expected to support due to our values and foundation of democracy. Every war we enter has different reasons for why we are engaging in war, but one of the biggest reasons is the profit made. War has always been profitable for the United States and is almost always a factor in the decision to go to war. Money makes the world go round, and that rings true in America, for better or worse.

The Silence and Censorship

     The decision to go to war is not taken lightly by American citizens. This decision affects them all, and they let that be known. Or do they? Many websites, such as  Antiwar.com and TheAmeicanConservative.com, are forums for citizens to speak out on their opinions and thoughts on the government when the government tries to silence them on other social platforms. Antiwar is not the only topic that has been silenced by the government. They try to silence any voices and opinions that do not align with their decisions, and you can see that prominently on these websites. The government has been known to silence users from speaking out against government decisions. For instance, many Twitter users were silenced when they spoke out against or questioned the COVID-19 vaccines and procedures. The government was found to be working with this large platform to silence these users, and it is not the first time they have done this. 

   The government will silence whistleblowers, who are workers from inside the government who expose and reveal the true intentions or actions behind their decisions. This makes you question how much of a voice we actually have in our democracy and government. The opinions on antiwar are not unpopular but very quiet opinions that you do not see much. 

The chilling effect and the spiral of silence make it extremely difficult for peoples' voices to be heard. The chilling effect is when the government can't directly silence you but can threaten and scare you into censoring yourself. The spiral of silence goes hand in hand when the government intimidates you into silence by making you uncomfortable in your stance. These two theories and techniques are often used by the government, and it is our duty as citizens to stay true to our values and opinions. We need to recognize this and not allow the government to take away our freedoms of thought and speech. 

Overall, we need to take a step back and reevaluate if our society is truly a marketplace of ideas as it is meant to be. We cannot let the government continue to push its own agenda at the expense of our freedoms and rights. We must make our voices heard in order to keep these rights before we completely lose the grasp of democracy.