The Contribution of the Media to the the Vietnam Conflict - Literature review Example

Critical Thinking about the Viet Nam Conflict; The contribution of the media Introduction The Vietnam War is one of the major conflicts that have taken place in the world. The Vietnam War took place between the year 1955 and 1975; taking a period of more than twenty five years. Although the real war began in 1955, the signs of the war could be seen as early as 1950. This was the time when US troops were sent to Vietnam. These minor conflicts in Vietnam later led to a serious war in 1955 that lasted for about 25 years. This war has caused many problems in the United States. During the war, many United States’ soldiers were sent to travel for long distances away to fight for reasons that were neither clear nor justifiable. In this war, both antagonist groups lost a significant number of fighters. A total of about two and a half million people were killed in this war (Leuhusen par 1). Vietnam is a French colony by which it was colonized for 80 years. In 1945, Vietnam was divided into two parts, that is, the northern and the southern part. Over view The Conflict in Vietnam can be attributed to many factors. In 1950s, the Northern Vietnamese attempted to take over the Southern Vietnam. Later in 1960s, president Viem was overthrown after which he was executed. These conflicts made a significant contribution in the proliferation of the Vietnam War. In 1964, a massive drive to conquer the Northern Vietnamese was started. Both Russia and China provided a significant support. The fact that Russia and China were involved raises critical questions in this case. The two are among the top economies that are involved in continued struggle. By involving themselves in the war, this posed a big possibility for other countries to join hence making the matter worse. For instance, this increased the tension in the United States. The main cause of the fear in United States was the fact that the communist would take control of the entire region hence undermining the United States’ position as the world’s most powerful country. Communist had already posed a major threat to the country and therefore any sign of further spread was too sensitive for the US to tolerate. Therefore, this made United States to put forward measures to counter the spread of communism in the region. Meanwhile, the cold war was in its peak. Therefore, the US leaders hesitated to take actions as this could trigger tension which may eventually lead to World War III (Leuhusen par 1). However, tension became irresistible later after which the battle ensued. William, who was a US commander, led the US army in the battle. A tough war started soon during which a large number of people lost their lives. Media in Vietnam War In the contemporary world, the role of media in influencing the people has significantly increased. The media can significantly influence the people’s thinking either positively or negatively. The media has also played a major role in improving communication across the world. During the Vietnam War, the media had a pivotal role that had a strong impact on the way people conducted themselves then. The main factor that causes war is the differences among various groups that emerge from differences in ideologies and opinions. In connection to this, the media has a significant role in influencing people’s views and opinions on various aspects. Therefore, media can be a very strong agent of war. In the case of Vietnam War, the media played a significant role in influencing people’s perception as well as courses of actions. The media can also play a significant role in fostering peace among the people by promoting consensus among antagonist groups. For instance, people are usually influenced by the available information while making important conclusions about the war. The information they get may trigger negative or positive mentality about the war. The media have a significant contribution in this case. Therefore, the role of the media in the Vietnam War was too important to ignore. As noted earlier, the major cause of the Vietnam War was the differences that emanate among various groups. The antagonist groups had repelling ideas, which brooded tension. This was signaled from as early as 1950s when US sent its troops in Vietnam. The United States was convinced that in case Viet Cong managed to take the rule in Vietnam, all the surrounding regions would be converted to communism (Hallin 198). Meanwhile, United States was strongly promoting capitalism in the region. United States was totally opposed to the communism system, which was exactly opposite to its own system of production. In an effort to protect their interests, the US secretary of State who was Dean Rusk was heard saying that Communist North Vietnam and China were supposed to leave their neighbors lest they face the war (Boylan par 1). The media played a significant role in passing such messages across the world. This was just an example of utterances that the media passed across the rivals. These messages played a major role in triggering the differences between the two sides. Capitalism and communism are two totally opposing modes of production. In communism, the means of production are collectively owned. In this mode of production, people work together after which they share the products equally amongst themselves. On the other hand, the capitalism mode of production is characterized by private ownership of the means of production. This is opposed to the socialism production where the property is owned collectively by the community. Therefore, the two were totally different from each other. Due to these differences, conflict was bound to emanate from the two sides. Both systems cannot exist in the same economy. In this case, communism poses a great threat to the American economy. As the world’s largest economy, the spread of communism could threaten the investment and other economic relations that America had with these regions. America’s economic interests were favored by capitalism rather than communism. In capitalism, America could easily realize its economic interests. In other words, these differences played a major role in promoting the war in Vietnam. From this perspective, United States believed that it had enough reasons for being in war with Vietnam. In real sense, it looked odd for the United States to go into war with a small country like Vietnam. Furthermore, Vietnam is located far away from the Asian countries. This posed many questions among the people. Many people believed that there were no enough reasons for the United States to take such kind of action. That is, going into war with a small country like Vietnam without justifiable reasons. In an effort to convince people about the logic for the action, propaganda machine was set into action (Hallin 28). In connection to this, atrocities were presented through photographs. The media played a significant role especially in the early years of the war. “A typical catalogue may be found in Vietcong Atrocities and Sabotage in South Vietnam (1966,) distributed by the South Vietnamese embassy.” (Boylan par 1). The leaders used the media to some extent in advocating for the war. It is noted that the relationship between the media and the government was destroyed from the day the way began. This is because the media and the government differed in some ideas. The leaders wanted the media to reflect the government’s stand on the war. During the Vietnam War, the media was used to bring the real image about the war to the people. The citizens could access the pictures which revealed Viet Cong kidnapping, murdering and mutilating a significant number of people from South Vietnam. When the opposing side saw the pictures of mutilated bodies and torture of the people from their side, they were provoked hence tempted to take revenge. This was one of the major ways through which media triggered the war in Vietnam. Seeing such pictures, commanders will be forced to deploy more force to their rivals, the fact that acted in intensifying the war rather than dissolving it. Meanwhile, the media also took a step to broadcast stories on war live to their listeners. These include stories about the war, killings, and torture. The release of these stories also had a significant impact on the people. Many soldiers testified that the stories they heard reduced their regret and therefore became eager to kill (Boylan par 3). By watching and listening to murder and torture stories of the members from their side, the soldiers’ mercy was eroded. This increased their eagerness to meet their rival for revenge. After watching these pictures, the soldiers were convinced that they were going to face a merciless creature, a creature that deserves death. That is, a real enemy whose main aim was to finish their people. In other words, the pictures presented by the media played a major role in shaping the way the soldiers handled various circumstances during the war. This convinced them that the people they were going to meet did not deserve any mercy. The media convinced to the soldiers that they were being involved in justified action and therefore importance of doing it without any doubt. In US, media played a significant role make its soldiers guiltless in their endeavors. Television also had a significant role as far as the Vietnam War was concerned. Television played a major role in revealing to the public the real picture about the Vietnam War. This was one of the wars which received one of the most significant television coverage in the history. Therefore, television was like a medium through which the viewers were involved in the Vietnam War. It acted as a link that joined the people in the war to their people. The images presented through television played a significant role in determining how the people viewed the war (Hallin 110). People heavily relied on the media in receiving the news about what was happening in the war. Therefore, the news presented through the media played a critical role in influencing the people during this period of war. During this period, the press and the reporters were significantly influenced by the officials. The press was forced by the officials to present the news in such a way that it met their interests. In this case, the freedom of the media was undermined to some extent. Any unofficial information was difficult to be proposed as worth for broadcasting. In other words, the leaders used the media to meet their interests in war. They used the media to portray the picture that they were justified to participate in war. They also wanted media to portray an encouraging picture to its soldiers so that they don’t regret their actions in participating in the war. Leaflets and picture books were also readily available for the American soldiers who went to the war. Again, these were meant to encourage the soldiers as they faced their enemies. The leaders feared that some of the soldiers could be overcome by a feeling of guilty hence minimizing their courage during the war. Leaflets and picture books were also meant for encouraging the families of the soldiers taking part in the war as well as the general citizens. In time, information about the war was passed from the soldiers who participated in war as well as the press. As this information continued to spread, people realized the reality of the matter. It dawned to them that the propaganda that was carried by people across the country was baseless and that it did not carry any truth in it. During the Vietnam War, the media coverage increased with the intensification of the war. Meanwhile, the level of technology had significantly advanced. As a result, people could now access more detailed information about the war. In addition, television was more accessible to many families in the United States by then. Therefore, many people could access the information released by the media. In 1950s, the American economy experienced a boom, the factor that enabled many families to access television then. This implies that the images that appeared in television screens were accessible to almost everyone in the country. Consequently, the government ended up being impotent in controlling all what the people could access about the war. The government’s effort to create its own picture about the war was now proved futile. Before the people could get such freedom, they used to receive manipulated and fake pictures about the war. However, manipulation of reality by the government was impossible at this point. Through televisions, people could easily access the theatre of war from their own homes. As people viewed the real picture of what was happening in the war field, they were very much disturbed when they viewed the casualties and images that revealed very little chances for reconciliation. Meanwhile, many people came up to criticize the war. For instance, Milius and Coppola wrote scripts in theatre that basically criticized the Vietnam War. In their effort to criticize the war, Milius and Coppola used various tactics in their scripts. For instance, their scripts reveal a group of men, where one of them is heard making a remark that he was eager to go to Vietnam, just to kill (Milius and Coppola par 20). Nevertheless, the men do not give any reasonable facts on the reasons for taking such actions. This reveals that theatre was used to indicate horror in Vietnam War. A good example of images that had a significant impact on the public eye was released in 1972. The image revealed a naked child who was tortured by being burnt. This affected the emotions of a significant number of people. The picture confirmed that the war had no any morality and therefore a need for termination. After getting continuously exposed to such scenes, people’s opinions about the war were changed tremendously. After viewing how inhumane the war was, people rose to push for the leaders to terminate the war. In connection to this, many Americans rose to demonstrate against the war. The media played a pivotal role in changing the views of the people in this case. It is through the media that people were able to access the reality after which they acted accordingly. Majority of the people who took place in these demonstrations were students. Students were worried that they may lose their peers in this war. Demonstrations were characterized by numerous rallies which strained to push the government to end the war. Therefore, the media helped the people to identify the reality behind the war. The reality was that the war was not justified and that it was leading to suffering of innocent individuals. Conclusion From this discussion, the role of media in Vietnam War has clearly been revealed. It has been revealed that the media had a significant implication in the war. It played a pivotal role in influencing peoples’ opinions about the war. Initially, people were not able to access the real picture of what was behind the war. Therefore, they were easily convinced that it was justified. Later, the media managed to bring real images at the eye of the public. This triggered people’s emotions after which they rose against the war. Works Cited Boylan, Trish. “The role of the media in the Vietnam War.” Helium, 2007. 9th Oct. 2011. Hallin, Daniel. The Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam. California: University of California, 1989. Print Leuhusen, Peter. “The Vietnam War.” Vietnampix, 1997. 9th Oct. 2011. Milius, John, and Coppola Francis. “Apocalypse Now.” Vietnamwar, 9th Oct. 2011. http://www.vietnamwar.net/apocalypsenowscript.htm Read More