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Originally Posted by Herkdriver
I was a Reservist. I wasn't a "full-time" Airman. I get deployed, return home and go back to being "Joe civilian".
Speaking from personal experience, what I noticed most about returning from various deployments: Our Nation is not at war. War is only for those part of it. I noticed a lot of complaceny. The media ignores the ordinary Soldier/Marine doing their job and doing it well.
The media has a bias towards the war in Iraq and refuses to acknowledge the efforts, instead presenting those serving in as poor a light as possible..
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But it's the same way the media treat everything. Unless a celebrity is involved, how often do the media report on teachers doing a good job, small businesses holding on, a government department doing something right?
Media are biased toward scandal and bad stuff... Urgency makes ratings. When life goes well, we take that for granted.
I take it that it's the media outlets' job almost to point out what's going wrong. People just need to take it with a grain of salt... And the feelings toward the war based on negative coverage are nothing compared to the assumptions of people about the crime rate and the effectiveness of the justice system.
But we only hear protest when it's the war!
And let's face it... when it comes to contextual questions... whether soldiers do good or not is largely irrelevant. The critique is limited only to the episodic things such as disasters vs. school buildings... and that critique should be across the board- not just when war is involved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Herkdriver
This is my opinon. The ordinary citizen gets their opinions from the media and their attitudes are reflected through this.
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It strikes me that most people have their opinions before the media are involved. The media reports tend to just affirm them. It's either "This backs up what I think" or "That (*)(*)(*)(*) biased media!"
I don't think soldiers are any different in this regard, other than the type of bias they are likely to have pre-media.