Antiwar Voices

    U.S. history has been riddled with wars and conflicts from the very beginning and in each case there are some people who support the war and some people who do not. However, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of media coverage that either supports the government's actions or glosses over its faults. Meanwhile the sentiments of the opposition are often much harder to find. Why is this? Why doesn't the mainstream media cover stories of antiwar voices more often? I think this is likely because it doesn't fit their practice of writing highly polticized stories that target individual leaders or political parties, rather than the government as a whole. Additionally, by sticking to the narrative and avoiding the broader consequences of governmental actions, they can avoid backlash from criticizing leaders they may be in the habit of praising. 

    Two websites that do publish stories of antiwar voices and dissent are  The American Conservative and ANTIWAR.COM. 

When exploring The American Conservative website, I found many examples of antiwar voices including these two stories: "Biden Commits US to War for Taiwan" and "Leave Crimea Alone". The first article cites four times that President Biden has declared that U.S. has made a commitment to come to the aid of Taiwan in event of an invasion from China, despite the fact that such an act could lead to a world war. The author criticizes Biden's seemingly unilateral decision to make a commitment to defending Taiwan because of its potentially catstrophic consequences. In a similar vein, the latter article criticizes the sentiments of Ukraine's president to take back Crimea from Russia because it would "[escalate] the war for uncertain gains" and it "would force the U.S and Europe to either up their support... or abandon Ukraine." 

Additionally, two stories I found on ANTIWAR.COM were "'Leading from Behind': Is Washington at War With Moscow?" and "Biden's Afghan Shell Game Prompts Media Shrugs and Stenography". The former is about American involvement in the war in Ukraine with the provision of American weapons and the use of American satellites to monitor Russian movements, and the latter is about U.S. appropriation of $7 billion dollars of Afghanistan's central bank reserves that has caused an economic crisis in the country. 

EOTO #1: The Telegraph

History of the Electric Telegraph

    The electric telegraph was invented by Samual Morse in the 19th century, specifically being developed in the 1830s and 40s. However, before the electric telegraph another type of telegraph existed: the optical telegraph. The optical telegraph was invented by Claude Chappe in 1792 and it was composed of a system of towers with two attached arms that would be adjusted into specific positions to relay messages from one tower to the next. The messages would be received using a telescope and the process would continue until the message reached its intended recipient. While this system was the first mechanical form of long-distance communication, it was soon replaced by the electric telegraph, which was far more efficient and did not have the geographic limitations that the optical telegraph possessed.

    

The idea for the electric telegraph began aboard a ship in 1832, when Morse participated in a conversation about electromagnets that prompted him to wonder about the possibility of sending a coded message over a wire. At the time; however, Morse only had a very basic understanding of electricity and electromagnetism, so he enlisted the help of Leonard D. Gale, a chemistry professor at the University of the City of New York, to develop the electric telegraph. Morse also received help from a technician named Alfred Vail, who helped him develop Morse code in 1835. Morse code is a set of sounds that correspond to letters of the alphabet and numbers and it acted as the means of communication used for the telegraph system. 

    Morse first demonstrated his telegraph in 1838 in Washington D.C. and New York, and received financial backing from Congress in 1843, which allowed him to build the first telegraph line between Washington D.C. and Baltimore. On May 24, 1844, Morse sent the first message across the newly constructed line saying, "What hath God wrought?" From here, use of the electric telegraph began to spread, leading to the transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858 and the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861. 

 The Impact

The electric telegraph had a monumental impact on the world of communication by making it possible to communicate across countries and oceans within minutes. Prior to this invention, it would take hours, days, or even weeks to receive information. In particular, the telegraph had major effects in trade, politics, and journalism.

   In trade, up-to-date information on market trends was a highly valued resource that became easily accessible with the use of the telegraph. Merchants could now keep up with price changes and product availability from suppliers. Political information was also incredibly important, especially in time of economic or political uncertainty.

     Finally, the invention of the telegraph created journalism as we know it today by enabling newspapers to receive information about events immediately. One example of this phenomenon was when the telegraph line between Washington D.C. and New York was completed in 1846. In June 1846, The New York Herald published a story about "The First Flash of the Lightning Line," in which they received news about events of the Mexican-American War eighteen hours earlier than they would have through the mail. Before the telegraph "new" news simply did not exist, but this device erased the information retreival delays of the past. However, there were some criticisms of the new journalism that was born from the telegraph, with some people believing that journalists became too focused on reporting the sensational rather than the facts.

    

 

Values of Free Expression

Stable Change

    When considering the eight values of free expression, the one that resonates most with me is the value of stable change that stresses the importance of enabling citizens to speak their mind. Specifically, it is based on the idea that if people are allowed to vent then they are less likely to resort to violence. This resonates with me because of its significance in US history with the way its restriction can lead to revolutions.

    Revolutions occur when the political system of a country does not respond to changes in society. The Revolutionary War is an example. The American Revolution took place in response to the despotic actions of the English monarchy towards the American colonies. As the Declaration of Independence states, "when a long train of abuses and usurpations... evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government." By restricting the colonists freedoms through the imposition of taxes without their consent, the impediment of their right to self-government, the removal of existing colonial legislatures, and other greivances, King George III repressed the colonists rather than allowing them to vent and be heard, inclining them towards the more violent response of revolution. 

Check on Government Power

This value seems to me to be the most important because it emphasizes the importance of the individual and the press speaking out against government infringment of our Constitutional rights. Government overreach is a serious issue that should always be addressed and confronted when it is discovered. One of the main ways this occurs both now and in the past is through whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsburg, Perry Fellwock, and Thomas Drake.

  

 Daniel Ellsburg was a military analyst who distributed The Pentagon Papers, to newspapers in 1971. The Pentagon Papers contained a study of US government involvement in the Vietnam War, and Ellsburg released them under the belief that the U.S government's decisions over Vietnam should be available to the public.

Perry Fellwock was an NSA analyst who revealed the existence of the NSA itself and its global surveillance network, which enabled it to play a role in the events of the Cold War without any public knowledge.

Thomas Drake was another employee of the NSA (a former senior executive), who revealed the use of the Trailblazer Project to collect intelligence over the internet. He believed that this program violated the privacy of the American consumer.

Individual Self- Fulfillment

    The value of individual self-fulfillment feels most personal to me because it relates to how freedom of speech allows for free expression and the creation of personal identity. I think this value has reverberating effects throughout society because free expression gives a person the ability to, first, discover who they are, and then to influence others through mediums like discussion, art, writing, music, fashion, etc. Without the freedom to hear alternative viewpoints and learn other people's values and beliefs, we would have no way to establish our own because we wouldn't be aware of any knowledge beyond what we had conformed to accept.  

Promoting Tolerance

Finally, the value that can often be seen in society today is that of promoting tolerance. The first amendment promotes tolerance by protecting hate speech and speech that is deemed personally offensive, which allows society to condemn wrongful behavior through the court of public opinion. An example of the first amendment protecting offensive forms of speech is the Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson which ruled that flag burning was a form of expression, and as such, was speech that could not be prohibited, regardless of it being offensive to those who witnessed it.

    Another more modern day example of this value is the phenomenon of cancel culture, where individuals in the public or digital sphere are "canceled" for conduct or speech that is viewed as unacceptable in the eyes of the public. This would lead to public ridicule and the destruction of the individual's reputation. Cancel culture is the embodiment of this value's ability to establish social norms. 

The U.S. Supreme Court

    

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court, operating most often as a court of appeals for lower court cases that bring forth constitutional questions. From this video, I learned that, in the early years of the country, the Supreme Court did not have the level of esteem and respect that it is awarded today. In fact, the Court's authority was not established until John Marshall became Chief Justice in 1801. Also, I learned that in its general operations, the Court receives thousands of petitions for a writ of certiorari each year, but only chooses about 100 of those to review. Furthermore, after they review a case and hear the oral argument, the decision of the Court can be written out from anywhere to a few pages from a unanimous decision to more than 80 pages when the Justices have conflicting opinions. 

     The most important point to understand about the Supreme Court is that the Court's authority hinges on their power of judicial review, which was established through the case of Marbury v. Madison. Through judicial review, the Court has the power to review all actions of government and declare them as constitutional or not. They do this through interpreting the words of the 200 year old Constitution and applying it to present day situations.

   

In fact, the most surprising thing I learned was that there are a  multitude of methods that Supreme Court Justices use to interpret the Constitution. With further research, I found that some of the ways the Justices interpret the Constitution are textualism, original meaning, judicial precedent, and pragmatism. Textualism interprets the document by focusing on the wording of the text as it would be understood at the time it was ratified; original meaning focuses on the meaning of the Constitution as it would be understood when it was written; judicial precedent involves using prior Supreme Court decisions to answer contitutional questions; and pragmatism considers the current societal context and the potential consequences of one Constitutional interpretation versus another.

    Finally, the video changed the way I thought of the Supreme Court by providing context on how the Court operates. The Court has specific methods of operation that result in decisions that are explained to the public in the form of the judicial opinions. As Justice Breyer said in the video, "there is no inside story [about how the Court works], it's people simply thinking [there is]."

    

Top Five Sources of News and Information

    There is such a variety of news sources available that, sometimes, it can be difficult to determine which to read. Some are focused on national, global, or local news. Some are oriented towards entertainment, spectacle, or viewership. Some are reputable and some are unreliable. However, each fulfill a purpose and draw a specific audience.

    Personally, I tend to gravitate towards national, global, or political news. Consequently, my top five sources of information are The New York Times, the Associated Press, AllSides, The Economist, and Reuters.

 The New York Times is usually one of the first sources I browse for informative and news-related articles because of their reputation for detailed and factual reporting. In my experience, I have found many thorough and engaging articles on this site with quotes from reputable individuals, further descriptions of unfamiliar topics, and examples that give appropriate background to the subject matter. That being said, The NY Times does tend to have left leaning bias in some of its reporting that caters to a more liberal audience; however, this issue can be solved through comparison with other news sources that lean towards the opposite end of the political spectrum, or those that are more moderate in nature.

AllSides is a site that endeavors to provide balanced news to the public by categorizing news articles of specific topics as being written from a right-leaning, left-leaning, or central perspective. This gives readers the opportunity to compare different political perspectives and establish the true facts behind the issue. I find the ratings on this site helpful when I am trying to better understand the context of a news story and parse out the different opinions and beliefs involved. 

The Associated Press is a global news organization that is one of the most trusted sources for unbiased news. As such, I find it to be a reliable source of information on US news and helpful for general updates in world news. Also, the Associated Press reports on a variety of other topics including politics, sports, entertainment, business, and technology to appeal to different interests. 

The Economist is a source I look at for economic and business related news in the US and global markets. My use of this site began when I was writing papers for a high school economics class, but I found their articles comprehensive, informative, and detailed in regards to economic patterns, predictions, and possibilities. They report on both large scale and small scale occurences in the economy. Additionally, with the Economist being a British newspaper, I appreciate their neutral descriptions and predictions of the potential effects of US economic policy that are not impacted by political leanings, since they have little to no stake in US politics.

Reuters is another neutral news source that I use for trustworthy stories in international news. It helps keep me up-to-date on world news and provides a comparison site for alternative news outlets. Additionally, I read Reuters to find stories from different areas of the world that my not be covered by other sources.