Comment by kjkjadksj
2 years ago
When the US dropped napalm indecriminately over the vietnamese jungle or absolutely leveled dresden in one bombing run or unleashed nuclear hellfire over japan, they probably killed a lot of journalists and doctors and food workers as well. Interestingly, western media did not beat itself into a frenzy over it at the time. Its easy to get cynical about it all seeing how easily narratives are manufactured and controlled to serve political ends.
> Interestingly, western media did not beat itself into a frenzy over it at the time
Western mainstream media has been very passive when covering the current situation in gaza, especially when you contrast it with how they covered the war in ukraine just 2 yrs ago. Its just that social media has allowed people to break through the canned media narratives.
> Western mainstream media has been very passive when covering the current situation in gaza
Just FYI, all the examples I mentioned I read on our public broadcaster's website.
to summarize : the level of brutality is on par with vietnam, the media are shying away like in the vietnam era, but this time there is internet that broke the blockade and forced them to report
I believe the bombing of Dresden was controversial and elicited pushback in the media, though it's not surprising that reactions may have been muted given the apocalyptic nature of the war.
The use of napalm in Vietnam triggered widespread protests.
Media coverage of the Vietnam war was one of the decisive factors in the eventual US Withdrawal, and was a key part of the NVA's strategy.
WW2 was a considerably different war in scope, origin, and patterns of escalation.
> Interestingly, western media did not beat itself into a frenzy over it at the time
They did and the newspaper coverage is the main reason why the Vietnam war stopped.