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You may remember or have recollected Neville Chamberlain. You may have remembered FDR's slow response to going to war in Europe and what it took to involve ourselves in the Pacific. What would a 33rd U.S. President Obama have done giving a 2013 media and a 2013 society.
Would we have won the war? What say you?
Hard to say. Propaganda is very powerful. When you see movie reels of ww2, it is mostly propaganda designed to rally the nation. Contrast that to ABC news shooting the images of ONE downed cargo plane at Khe Sahn (sp)from mulitple views saying that they were witnessing a "graveyard" of downed planes! Look at the coverage of the Tet Offensive. When my uncle (only a few years older than me) returned from Vietnam, having been in military hospitals for nearly a year, he was SHOCKED to see that the public thought we had suffered a defeat in the Tet Offensive! It was a slaughter for the NVA and Viet Cong. A decisive military victory was changed into a "defeat" by the media. I wonder how they would have covered the beach landings in the Pacific?
The government and the media had to constantly prime the public with propaganda tours and imaging to keep spirits up. Today, we would have the opposite.
Have you wondered why the media is not allowed to cover Afghanistan (and previously Iraq) to the same extent as the Vietnam War? I think that the military learned thier lesson.
You may remember or have recollected Neville Chamberlain. You may have remembered FDR's slow response to going to war in Europe and what it took to involve ourselves in the Pacific. What would a 33rd U.S. President Obama have done giving a 2013 media and a 2013 society.
Would we have won the war? What say you?
You would probably get much more informed responses on the History Forum.
You don't think the media, specifically the conservative media, went bat$hit over Stevens' death (not to mention the other 3 fatalities). Hell, they were celebrating the attacks (for making Obama look bad) mroe than the Libyans.
And you're right about the media/public being silent about casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that's more to do with burnout than liberal bias.
surprised that "burnout" coincided with Obama taking office !
Would the Allies have won World War II if President Obama and today's media were present in the 1940s?
Quote:
Originally Posted by WinterStar
You may remember or have recollected Neville Chamberlain. You may have remembered FDR's slow response to going to war in Europe and what it took to involve ourselves in the Pacific. What would a 33rd U.S. President Obama have done giving a 2013 media and a 2013 society.
Would we have won the war? What say you?
If the US never entered the war, the combined resources of the British Empire and the Soviet Union would have forced Germany into defeat, eventually. America's entry into WWII shortened the war considerably and resulted in unconditional surrender. If we'd stayed out, the war would have ended several years later and it would probably have been a negotiated settlement, similar to the way WWI ended. But the allies would still have won.
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
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The Allied victory (as far as the USA goes, at least) would have been in very serious doubt. Our media would have undermined the war effort and discouraged everyone with it's pity stories of a soldier's death and how even one death is too much. Although this may be true - dwelling on that during a time of war is counter-productive to the morale needed to fight. We no longer have the balls to fight a single battle that would total more lives than we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined - the media has made sure of this.
The Allied victory (as far as the USA goes, at least) would have been in very serious doubt. Our media would have undermined the war effort and discouraged everyone with it's pity stories of a soldier's death and how even one death is too much. Although this may be true - dwelling on that during a time of war is counter-productive to the morale needed to fight. We no longer have the balls to fight a single battle that would total more lives than we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined - the media has made sure of this.
America didn't really have any options in WWII. It was a war of national survival. We were forced into it and we had to win - or else we'd have been split up between the fascist states in Axis (Japan, Italy, Germany, etc) if they won and there'd be no USA today. The public was intensely involved and the media was our national cheerleader.
Since the end of WWII, we've engaged in wars of choice: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. None of these put our national survival at stake. The consequences involved aren't anywhere in the ballpark with WWII. The public's involvement and the media's coverage in these conflicts is on a much smaller scale, as is our national interest in the oputcome. Casualties in these conflicts are just as horrible, but not as consequential.
America didn't really have any options in WWII. It was a war of national survival. We were forced into it and we had to win - or else we'd have been split up between the fascist states in Axis (Japan, Italy, Germany, etc) if they won and there'd be no USA today. The public was intensely involved and the media was our national cheerleader.
Since the end of WWII, we've engaged in wars of choice: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. None of these put our national survival at stake. The consequences involved aren't anywhere in the ballpark with WWII. The public's involvement and the media's coverage in these conflicts is on a much smaller scale, as is our national interest in the oputcome. Casualties in these conflicts are just as horrible, but not as consequential.
So, comparisons aren't really vaild.
Comparing the istant media of today with the slow media of WWII isn't valid either.
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Would the Allies have won World War II if President Obama and today's media were present in the 1940s?
