As all of you (hopefully) know, the anniversary of 9/11 was this past Saturday. I had a show rehearsal that day so I couldn't exactly honor it the way I would've liked to. But I did get in a little prayer circle during a break in which 5 other students and I held hands and commemorated all whose lives were taken or affected by this catastrophic event that happened 9 years ago. Video clips of the Twin Towers going down aired on many news channels repeatedly throughout the day. Seeing this reminded me of something we discussed in class this week. Can we ever really trust the media?
In class, we talked about the fact that after 9/11 occurred, the United States immediately pinned Iraq with the blame. As soon as there were any suspicions about there being mass weapons of destruction, the war with Iraq began. Of course, now we know there were not any weapons of mass destruction, but who were we to question the authority back when it was all happening? Not only were there no weapons to be found, but Iraq wasn't even responsible for the terrorism of 9/11 in the first place. It was 19 hijackers, none of which were from Iraq. All we, as citizens, knew was that the government had reported that we were in danger unless we sent our troops into Iraq.
Only a few people really looked into this and dared to be skeptical. Mr. Bolos, one of these people, went to see a man who had gone to Iraq himself in search of these so-called weapons of mass destruction. He also learned that there were not any to be found. Although Mr. Bolos didn't mention this man's name, I can guess that it was Joseph Wilson. Wilson was the husband of Valeria Plame, a CIA agent who's career was ruined when she was outed by another reporter. Wilson reported that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and was thus shut down by the rest of the media, who claimed there was. Mr. Bolos told the class that only a minimal amount of people actually went to hear this man speak. Only a minimal amount of people actually wondered if maybe the newspapers and stations had it all wrong. This, to me, is sad. Why do people buy whatever they are fed just because the news seems like the most official way to know something is a fact? Only the people who went to the "scene of the crime" and discovered the truth for themselves can really know, and say.
This reminds me of the first week of school when we differentiated between primary sources and secondary sources. Do people realize that news reporters are oftentimes reporting the secondary truth? What is even more horrific, is that not one of the sources of news was skeptical about the weapons in Iraq. Not one made it sound ambiguous, when it really was. This is most likely because they were under the control of the government, who wanted the citizens of the US to be pitted against Iraq as much as the governmental figures were. Not only should we avoid having 100% faith in the media, but we should do the same for our own government. After all, they are all people. And aren't people naturally biased about things? So the next time you read an article or watch FOX news, I ask you to really ponder whether or not it is the whole truth.
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