Silencing Anti-War Voices by Olivia Moran

     After watching all the videos and taking in our discussions during class I had a lot to think about when it comes from the government trying to silence anti-war voices. Back in 1917 after
World War One breaks out in Europe our U.S. government came up with the Espionage Act

which would silence anti-war voices in employees under the United States government. After hearing that it was perplexing to hear that the government would silence its citizens using its power to throw them in jail. I can only imagine people being scared to speak about the war along with the threat of being thrown in jail for simply speaking their mind. Then in 1918 and the Sedation Act everyone was at risk of being thrown in jail no longer just government employees. Then in 1919 brought “the Quartet” which included Shienck, Debs, & Fohwerk who spoke out about the war and expressed their disdain for it, in order for the government to get them in jail they used incitement against them which means Speech that causes violence or lawless action (your words are going to provoke something to happen) also known as a clear and present danger against the well being of the public. 

When thinking in terms of the present and after looking over the antiwar website I was stricken with many thoughts. As asked why does the media not cover these stories for the public to see? I believe that the end goal is to only get what the government wants you to see. Using the example of “ISIS Attacks Iraqi Kurdish Village, 13 Killed10 Peshmerga slain, along with three civilians” by Jason Ditz that ISIS took no credit for that attack which is unusual along with a great tragedy that ensued. I looked up the title online with a quick Google search and found no mainstream media like FOX News or CNN had covered the issue. 

    I think that online you have to search for an anti-war voice outside of the mainstream media because the government has so much control over the news as a whole. You will find what you are looking for and with great websites such as Antiwar.com a collection of stories are out in the world the government just does not want you to know about it before they have a chance to either ignore it or respond to the situation.