Where are the Anti-War Voices?

 

Many anti-war voices have been prominent since the early 1960s. 

In times like today, when there are wars going on, politicians that fall on the extremist end of either side, and an uneasy feeling amongst the population about which sources to lean on, it is more important than ever to have a strong sense of media literacy and to formulate your ideas and opinions yourself. 

Many major news outlets will attempt to get you to believe whatever they are putting on the air, but when you take the time to stop and think about your personal beliefs, you might find yourself in a stronger alignment with other niche news sources, such as Antiwar.com or The American Conservative. 

In the 60s, America and most of the world went through the Hippie movement, a peaceful era, filled with anti-war voices and cries for peaceful relations. But where did these voices go? How have these same people who proclaimed peace years ago now want to continue war efforts? 

When asking these questions, it becomes imperative to look at all different news sites, continuously looking for anti-war voices to inundate popular media and ensure that you have both sides of the argument. 

Anti-Vietnam War Protest 

This is why I like to look at sources like the websites above, popular writers who are not afraid to speak out against the common ideas we hear on the news, and are sure to offer an alternative- one that is just as reasonable as the other options, but provides a different perspective for how we should interact with the world. 

When we look back to the Hippie movement, we can see that because the anti-war voices prevailed, there was a strong national sense of peace and a more collected population. 

But how did these voices win? They started by being talked about. 

When we don't even consider other sources and we let ourselves be ignorant to possible options, that is when the anti-war voices begin to lose to mainstream media. 

Websites like The American Conservative have information about everything, from governmental affairs to policies on AI, it provides readers with another option to consider. Additionally, antiwar.com offers information about a variety of countries, so that readers can be notified of how to support readers in other countries, increasing our globalization. 

While I am not trying to convince you to be anti-war or not, I am trying to convince you to be informed. Mainstream media does not account for every opinion, alternative, or idea out there, and to be a truly educated citizen, we must read a variety of media so that we can understand the bigger picture.