Anti-War

Anti-War opinions are ones that are held by many, but voiced by but a few.  Why is this?  The answer lies in the history of our nation.  In the progressive era, the U.S.A. silenced Anti-War opinions because they believed it promoted nationalism.  The more people who would speak out against the actions of the country that were in jail, the less there were out and about who would inspire others to act against the country.  Fast forward to modern day, and there isn’t the same issue of being jailed for voicing an opinion.  However, the voices that we hear in the media are dominated by those who choose not to speak out on the issue of war.

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Part of this is because there is a belief that war benefits the economy.  Outlined in detail by Macartan Humphreys here, this belief stems from the assumption that technological advancements made for the military in wartime will boost economic growth on the home front.  This is automatically a flawed argument, because the assumption that the technology will be applicable to non-military purposes is not a safe one.

Besides this, there is still a lack of strong anti-war opinions being voiced in the media.  This is because most anti-war voices are those that speak on their own volition.  They do not necessarily align to a certain narrative, which goes against the grain of American media in 2021.  It is clearly stated by antiwar.com that their goal is to “challenge the traditional politics of "Left" and "Right.".”  The absence of narrative makes the anti-war sentiment one that is difficult to be found in national media.