where have all the war protestors gone?

billc

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It seems that since the war protestors, who are still protesting the war, are protesting a democrat, and a demi-god no less, then the MSM just won't cover them. Don't they know that protesting only counts against republican presidents?

http://bigjournalism.com/smcnally/2011/07/28/something-is-missing-in-msm-coverage-of-war-opposition/

from the article:

Their John Hanrahan reports that, although the anti-war movement is alive and well in the United States, indeed even reinvigorated by America’s involvement in Libya, they just can’t get any respect from the MSM. Mr. Hanranhan lists in painstaking detail numerous recent protests, ranging from the pathetic – an 84-year-old nun, an 82-year-old Jesuit priest and three other activists over the age of 60 breaking into a U.S. Naval Base near Seattle to “symbolically disarm” Trident II missiles by “putting up banners and scattering blood and sunflower seeds, and hammering symbolically on a road and fences” – to the fairly dramatic – a December 2010 protest against the war in Afghanistan which saw 131 demonstrators arrested outside the White House. But none of these protests merited any serious media coverage much beyond local newspapers, far-left blogs and mischief-making foreign cable news outfits such as Al-Jazeera and Russia Today.

Flailing around for an explanation for why the media are no longer highlighting anti-war protests, Hanrahan’s analysis is almost self-parodying in its failure to even consider, let alone conclude, that political bias might be involved (I’ve previously blogged at Big Journalism on how the MSM’s coverage of the Obama administration’s wars is strikingly different in tone from how previous conflicts were covered). The report acknowledges that these days the protests are smaller and less violent than during the Bush presidency (left unstated is the obvious conclusion that most of those demonstrating were primarily motivated less by opposition to war than by hatred of the Republican administration). But if size and intensity were the main criteria for judging the newsworthiness of protests, how to explain the MSM’s wall-to wall coverage of Cindy Sheehan’s lone crusade against President Bush’s Iraq policy?
 

Sukerkin

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I wondered about that too viz where had the war protestors gone. I had a assumed it to be a tailing off of enthusiasm by groups not being listened to and the usual short-termism of the news media who, it appears, cannot report anything for more than a day or two before they get bored of it but will, by golly, drench all avenues with it in that time.

Given that a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that sixty percent of Americans believe the Afghan war is not worth fighting I am a bit surprised there are not at least some opinion pieces on it - then again, if they did make something of it, they'd probably get savaged for being Anti-American or some-such empty verbage. So the media can't really win (not that they get much sympathy from me).
 

Twin Fist

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i havnt seen a single report of an anti war protest since the the obamanation took office.........
 

crushing

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The Women in Black in my hometown still gather on the main corner every Friday to protest. I never actually counted them, but their numbers seem to be fewer despite the significant increase in war and/or warlike actions by the US against various nations in North Africa and Southwest Asia.

Maybe they think the euphemism "kinetic military action" is a new bootcamp style exercise regimen that is sweeping the world?
 

Carol

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i havnt seen a single report of an anti war protest since the the obamanation took office.........

"Those are our planes now..."
 

Carol

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Mr. Silver's quote from the Clinton inauguration got the most traction because of Rush, IMO, but I think the idea still fits. Its not necessarily the war that's at issue if the person in the office has the proper letter next to his name.

Perhaps he saw that himself given that he switched affiliations to the the GOP before he passed away.
 
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billc

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That seems to be the way it shapes up. I wonder how far you could push it. Would the MSM still ignore the protests if he attacks more countries?
 

Carol

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Interesting question. It would seem logical that a new theatre would bring about new protests. Granted, we're all fatigued by war to one degree or another, so the protests would be falling on ears that are more tired than they were in the mid 2000s.

Even so, the cynic in me suspects they would be largely ignored.
 

MaxiMe

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Interesting question. It would seem logical that a new theatre would bring about new protests. Granted, we're all fatigued by war to one degree or another, so the protests would be falling on ears that are more tired than they were in the mid 2000s.

Even so, the cynic in me suspects they would be largely ignored.

Yup it would be nice for my nephue to be home with his kids some time. I think that's happened maybe 4 times since Bosnia.
 

Carol

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Yup it would be nice for my nephue to be home with his kids some time. I think that's happened maybe 4 times since Bosnia.

I hear that! My niece is an MP. She recently got married after a 6 week engagement...main reason why their engagement was so short is because she wants to spend some time with her husband before she deploys. She's a tough girl, but...takes a tough family too.
 

MaxiMe

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I hear that! My niece is an MP. She recently got married after a 6 week engagement...main reason why their engagement was so short is because she wants to spend some time with her husband before she deploys. She's a tough girl, but...takes a tough family too.
Hope they all stay safe. No telling what's gonna happen next.
 

granfire

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Interesting question. It would seem logical that a new theatre would bring about new protests. Granted, we're all fatigued by war to one degree or another, so the protests would be falling on ears that are more tired than they were in the mid 2000s.

Even so, the cynic in me suspects they would be largely ignored.

well, might be they have more pressing things on their minds, like getting enough money together to keep what little they have left...
 
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