The attitude towards the current war vs. past wars?

Question

I often think about how past wars would have been fought and what their outcomes would have been if people were as angry back then and wanted to get out when the troop death level reached then what it has now.

How has instant media (internet, 24-hour cable news) affected our perceptions of wars?

I'd like some thoughts on this.

Answer 1

We might have very easily have lost all the major wars in the past we have fought if we had the attitude we have today. Has anyone looked at some of the death tolls in just a single battle of some of our past wars? It is almost incomprehensible to someone of my generation that has never truly faced a war. Even this war is being fought thousands of miles away with no real affect on my life at the present time. I dont know what its like to really have to face war. I think because our generations now have had their freedom handed to them on a silver platter without having to ever sacrifice anything for it, they dont have a clue what a blessing it is to have or how hard its been fought for. It absolutely amazes me when people make statements like less people died under Hussein or innocent people are dying for nothing. What is your freedom worth? Do these people not understand that there are really places on this planet where there is no freedom?

I am truly scared of what will happen if we ever had to fight a ww2 type war again in the future. With so many peoples cut and run attitude we should be darn glad that we have Canada and Mexico at our borders.

Answer 2

This is the only war in our history where we have attacked another soverign nation unprovoked and uninvited by another nation asking for help. Vietnam and Korea were police actions of the UN. We were part of a UN force which contained many nations. Other wars we fought because we had been attacked and we fought back aganst those who ACTUALLY attacked us. The soverign nation of Iraq did not attack us on 9/11 a bunch of radicals mostly from Saudi Arabia did.

As for the media I am sick of hearing it every day. More and more people dying for what? Iraq. George W. Bush's revenge?

People were angry in the past about every war. No war is ever 100% supported by citizens.

Answer 3

There have always been dissenters in all wars even the cold war were their wasn't a shot fired. The revolutionary war, Civil war, ww1 and ww2 and so on. Its been the same song and dance. You are right the media has triggered a change in public reaction that started with the Vietnam war. This fact was exploited by the NVA as told by ex General Bui Tin of the NVA.

http://www.viet-myths.net/BuiTin.htm

Here's one quote from his interview!
"America lost because of its democracy; through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win."

So, we need to realize how the media can negatively affect our judgments or suffer the consequences of capitulation to our enemys.

Fast forward to today and the war in Iraq. I their any question that Bin Laden is using our media against us?

Read some of his quotes:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/new-obl-tape-ir.html

Its propaganda to let it sway us from the right course! Obviously you can see who the bobble heads, those who would agree with our enemy by way of the media, by their answers here!

Answer 4

You raise a very interesting point. Take World War II for example. 2,400 solders were killed the first day of the war during the attack at Pearl Harbor. Just think how the liberal news media of today would have handled that story. The 400,000 Americans killed in World War II by it self would've given the current left-wing news media more than enough material to stop the war. Don’t you think they would have celebrated each American death back then as they do today?

And what a mistake that would have been. We now know that Hitler had long-range plans to develop jet planes, intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

http://file5.com/search/pearl-harbor-death-toll/1-1.html
http://file5.com/search/World-War-II-death-toll/1-1.html
.

Answer 5

I believe it has more to do with the level of commitment by the entire country now versus then. We had total war in both world wars - everyone new someone that worked in factories that supported the war effort or had their sons fighting in the war. People were forced to ration meat, steel, rubber, etc. Everyone felt the pain of war in some form or another. It's much different now. That's what I believe the difference is - for what it's worth.

Answer 6

i don't think that it's media that has created the environment of distrust and anger in the usa.

it's the fact that the need for the iraq conflict, just like vietnam, is largely theoretical and has very little to do with any real or perceived threat.

the govt assumed that 9/11 would be enough to keep americans in support of the iraq conflict and were wrong.

everyone knows, because the govt has said so, that iraq had nothing whatever to do with 9/11, just as everyone knows full well that it was mostly saudis who took part in the attack and that bin laden is also a saudi.

saudi money has been killing our guys in iraq and continues to support terrorism worldwide.

it's the bush relationship to the saudis that has created the atmosphere that you think the media has created.

Answer 7

well back in WWII they would have been happy with losses this low. in one 72 hour battle for the Tarawa atoll the marines lost 1001 killed and 2296 wounded by comparison a very small number that the marines alone have lost in Iraq in how many years?
part of the problem with the media today is that they have no scruples and are willing to give out info to the detriment of our troops so they can boost their ratings,and boost the polls numbers of the antiwar left.

Answer 8

people understood winning. loosing wasn't an option,. we won. fuckcollateral damage fuckcasualties . we lost more MEN on Iwo Jima or the Bulge or (God curse Lincoln) Gettysburg than we have on this whole "war" which is a huge hardship on the volunteers because we don't have the national will (ie balls) to use the draft.even in VN our will didn't crack until the deaths topped 50000. the US is nothing in comparison to our forebears EDIT cajin- if you're Barry I aplogize for the NO bullshit disneygirl, I love you

Answer 9

Disagree. It isn't the number of deaths that has people upset about Iraq. It is knowing how unnecessary their deaths were and how many lies placed them there that angers the populace.

If America were in imminent danger and/or attacked, then everyone would rally behind this war. Another problem is this lie-based war has made matters far worse, not better for US security.

Answer 10

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331

''ZEITGEIST'' EXPLAINS ALL OF THE WARS... they were engineered by ruthless men..also check out Restore the Republics ''America:from freedom to fascism''...