Blog Post 5: #saytheirnamestosavetheirlives

The United States of America is supposedly rooted in freedom of speech and the press: so why is our government censoring our RIGHT to speak freely and censoring non-American news media?? The American Government loves to use the quote “threat to national security” to disregard, stop and take down Americans' speech and press rights. From the Progressive Era timeline, one of the key examples that connect to this relevant topic is the Espionage Act of 1917, “a way of throwing people in jail for things that they said or wrote… if they undermined the war effort” (3:20-3:30, Dean Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0he_OScdFec). The aggressiveness of the Espionage Act is coming to light again with the government limiting our freedom of speech during the war when we should be talking about world issues, not avoiding them. 

    In the eyes of government officials, Antiwar voices are probably a frightening threat to national security and their credibility. Our government is censoring anti-war voices because they are scared that we Americans may do something to help them, support them and stand with them in their fight. When there is bad publicity and press on the United States Government's actions, they find a way to destroy it to protect their image. Some of these journalists are putting their lives on the line to educate those being persecuted. Instead of supporting them and using our robust social media platform in America, our government is shutting it down. 

    Thankfully websites like Antiwar.com and TheAmericanConservative.com are telling us the truth. On Antiwar.com, you will immediately find articles surrounding world issues like: “HRW Calls for Probe Into US War Crime in Afghanistan,” “North Korea Fires Second ICBM This Month,” and “Stop Invading Haiti,” all topics that I’ve never heard of before. After reading some articles on antiwar.com, I will say there are some aggressive reporters out there that might be an alarming threat in the government's eye. However, someone needs to tell the truth, and they are getting the job done. I felt incredibly educated and now feel confident in what's happening worldwide. 

Recently I have seen a lot of content on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter about foreign issues that are trying to be discussed but are continually shot down by the American and these countries' governments. It shows that our free will on social media is the only thing keeping Americans informed about real-world issues. I recently came across a Tik Tok by the creator elica.lebon. She spent 2 minutes and 20 seconds telling the truth about the executions and missing persons’ of Iranian protestors. She opens the video with, “So since the news refuses to be the news, I have to be the news.” Elica tells the stories of “20 year old Amrita Abbasi”, “Hossein Ronaghi,” “22 year old Elmira Hosseini”, and “Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi.” These are innocent protestors handing out chocolates, women kidnapped and raped by the IRGC, journalists, and activists trying to speak for their people. ​https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRQqygHB/ 

    Our country is failing us. I should not hear the truth from social media: I should listen to the truth from our government leaders. When situations like this happen, I feel helpless, uneducated, and embarrassed that I’m unaware of the world crisis, but how am I supposed to know if no one is telling us!!! 

#Saytheirnamestosavetheirlives

References
Picture 1
Progressive Era Timeline video
Antiwar.com
TheAmericanConservative.com
Elicia.lebon TikTok