The Fear to Stand Up

In all honesty the War on Iraq has been a distant memory from my thought process. I think not only because I was about eight when America was attacked in 2001, but also because my thoughts on any war are not in favor. During 2001-2003 when chaos and terror spread throughout the U.S I was too busy being a kid, like I should have been. When I look back today, in my state of age, twenty-two, I still feel the same as I did back then. Obviously I have obtained more knowledge and understanding on the matter, but why does war exist? I most definitely support my country and I am so thankful for the people who are willing to risk everything they have to protect our country. Although this statement becomes elastic in my mind, when in relation to 9/11. I say this because I have always felt that war is not the answer and during this time there was not concrete proof to kill thousands of lives on both sides during this war. I feel ashamed to think that journalists, the U.S government, and many other leading roles attempted to support something that was not even fully visible. How can we support and encourage a situation if we are so strongly being unfairly persuaded? The creation of "probable cause" throughout the process was in order to stir up patriotic feels in attempt to get all Americans on the same page.

For a society that is feeling helpless, the only thing to do is to unite together. Creditable news sources were feeding this gullible society with hate, false information, and untalented journalism. The reason I say untalented journalism is not stating that these sources were uneducated, but because they were only writing what was selling at the time, true or not. Fear filled these sources, not with the fact that the United States was at war, but with the fact that these journalists feared being different and calling out so-called, "experts" on the War on Iraq.

With all this being said, journalism is a form of freedom of speech, but were the journalist involved with the War on Iraq really free?