Blog #10: The Anti-War Voices of America

    Looking back at the time of the Progressive Era to looking at today's society, not much has changed when it comes to censoring the political expressions of the American citizens. Our country has always treated free speech as a controversial idea, thus pushing many topics of political expression onto alternative, non-mainstream media sources. Those who express beliefs that differ from the government are often subjected to share their viewpoints on other platforms, such as social media apps, non-commercial websites, podcasts, blogs, etc. The government is trying to keep these powerful opinions and expressions tucked away from the eyes of the public to avoid any sort of retaliative actions or outbursts that might come from the American citizens. By censoring political expressions, including anti-war voices, the government is still able to gain control and only share certain pieces of information with the public. 

    Two examples of non-mainstream media platforms are ANTIWAR.com and The American Conservative. These websites are full anti-war voices who provide their authentic, expressive political viewpoints that offer representation for those minorities of similar interests and beliefs. Sources like this are very common in today's society, as this is freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. If these were to exist in the Progressive Era, those who loudly and proudly expressed their political viewpoints would be met head on with severe consequences. During this time period, if you were to publicly demonstrate any anti-war affiliations, then you could be persecuted and thrown into jail just for voicing your opinion. 

    The main goal of The American Conservative is to be the leader of the modern conservative movement to educate citizens and other political leaders on the idea of Main Street America. This idea effectively promotes the ideas of conservatism while healthily and respectfully combatting the influences of the opposition. This organization uses their website and books to promote the traditional values of American conservatism, including faith and family. Many platforms with a strong, right-winged affiliation have almost all been removed from mainstream media because Americans are going to continue to grow to become more and more liberal in their beliefs. Therefore, this platform exists as an alternative platform to be inclusive of the interests for conservative Americans. 

  

  The purpose of ANTIWAR.com is to provide honest, legitimate political opinions that mainly come from writers with libertarian and independent affiliations, but draws attention from both liberal and conservative viewers as well. The main goal of this platform is to inspire activism and dedication in regards to the implications of U.S. foreign policy. From the website, there was a quote from one of the last isolationists. In 1952, Garet Garrett said: "Between government in the republican meaning, that is, Constitutional, representative, limited government, on the one hand, and Empire on the other hand, there is mortal enmity. Either one must forbid the other or one will destroy the other." This is the reason that ANTIWAR.com is has a unique take on political expression is because it shares opinion while focusing on non-interventionism. 

    By just looking at these two examples, you can see how censored mainstream media content is when it comes to any sort of political opinion or anti-war expression. It is clearly evident that a majority of alternative, non-mainstream sources come from either a more independent and libertarian affiliation, and sometimes even a right-winged, conservative ideology. If it weren't for the First Amendment protecting our freedom of speech, we would still be stuck in the Progressive Era where we would be subject to cruel and unnecessary punishment for simply expressing our own beliefs.