Antiwar

You always hear about how the US is funding a war or the basis of the war, but you never hear the voices of antiwar activists in the mainstream as a whole. Coming across the two websites, https://www.antiwar.com/ and https://www.theamericanconservative.com/, has completely shifted my thoughts on the military and governments streaming on the wars. I believe we can all agree that the United States is a very patriotic country where we take pride in our military and how each soldier and veteran fight selfishly for our country's freedom and rights. This leads to the silence of Anti-war voices. Antiwar isn't anti-military. Every day, I am thankful for the courage, sacrifice, and honor each soldier has for our country, but antiwar activists show us the side of the war that the government wants to hide.

The war with Israel and Gaza is one of the biggest political debates right now. As we know, the United States has aided Israel during this time of war. But why is it that we never hear the big news platforms talk badly about the war? Why is no one speaking out to end this war? Well, there are people speaking out/protesting, but you won’t hear these voices unless you do more research and look at the smaller voices that have more courage to speak out, such as Antiwar.com. 

 To go along with that, journalists and big news platforms are scared to speak out on these topics because they don't. Right now, we are in election season, both the Democrats and the Republic side have supported/aided/ and engaged in a war before. This makes it the hardest for people to stand up because no matter what or who is elected, the people speak how the government is seen. “Twelve former Biden administration officials who resigned over policy on Israel and the Gaza war say the government’s actions have endangered US national security.”  These 12 United States citizens had to leave the government because they realized their voices were being controlled. Antiwar websites give you the voices of the actions the government doesn't want us to know. The United States has “free speech,” yet there are so many people being controlled on what to say, and those people have the job to tell us the truth but are scared to tell us.

These perspectives are important for society to hear, for the people to know, and for the world to understand. I didn’t know these websites existed until a couple of days ago, which is sad because, as citizens, we should be told the truth even if it might go against the “norm” of what the government/military wants to tell us. It is our job as the new generation to change things; we need to dig deeper and spread awareness on these types of websites. Antiwar shouldn’t be a hidden website instead it needs to be a tabloid. 

Illusory Truth Effect

As we know, social media is how everybody gets their information, making it the most powerful source of knowledge, which always has many pros and cons. A con with this is that there are so many people on the internet, which leads to there being so much information. Social media is a news overload. You hear so many sides, opinions, and sources, and it is hard to comprehend what is real or not. For a lot of people with information overload, they rely on using “shortcuts.” What I mean by shortcuts is wanting to find out the facts and wanting to do it fast. This leads to the Illusory Truth Effect. 

The Illusory Truth Effect is “When we hear the same false information repeated again and again, we often come to believe it is true.” Social media being so reliable to everyone and the ability to post so many opinions can lead to many misconceptions and misinformation. People will share false news on the Internet, leading to many viewers, and after hearing it repeatedly, the followers come to believe it and continue spreading it under the idea of “awareness.”

You can see how the misinformation that goes viral on social media can be fuelled by ulterior motives and cause conflict and harm. For example, in the story on Pizzagate, back in 2016, there was a rumor on social media that accused the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria of being the home of a child sex abuse ring involving Hillary Clinton. Edgar Maddison Welch spent three days researching, reading, and watching videos about this “news.” Edgar took it so seriously that he decided to take action into his own hands and showed up at Comet Ping Pong pizzeria with an AR-15 rifle. He raided the pizza place, scaring all employees and customers, and when he got to the backdoor where the children had been “claimed to be,” there were kids playing ping-pong terrified. Edgar was then sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison due to the fake information he heard on the internet. Not that Edgar did the right thing, even if it was true, but fake news can turn people bad. Edgar had said at court that he went into this thinking he was “saving people.” It is truly important to really do research before making accusations and not just believing and only listening to one side of the story.

Fake news rarely benefits the audience; instead, it often serves those who share it. While it may provide advantages for politicians or marketers, the consequences of being caught can be severe. For instance, a marketer might exaggerate claims about a product to boost sales and recognition. Although this strategy can yield short-term results, it raises serious ethical concerns. Many skincare and makeup brands promise outcomes that often don’t hold. This is particularly evident in TikTok, where brands frequently ask influencers to promote their products with misleading claims. Madi Lewis posted a video online saying that if the price is right, she is willing to lie about the product. This makes it extremely hard to know what brands are real or fake because if we see so many influencers reviewing them and saying all these amazing things, we often believe it's true, resulting in purchasing that product or item. It is extremely important to do your own research on a brand to see if their advertisement is genuine or a stunt. 

The Illusory Truth Effects harms everyone, your educational level or knowledge doesn't make you unaffected by it. The Illusory Truth Effect is very tricky to avoid, especially because it is. our unconscious and automatic processing system, we usually don’t realize when we’ve fallen prey to it."  It is extremely important to use critical thinking when researching or hearing new information from the internet. It sounds very obvious, but you would be surprised how people just fall for the first thing they hear. If you have a slight hesitation about it, do a quick fact-check. It's better to take those two minutes to find the truth rather than digging yourself a hole into a whole bunch of lies.