Government Decision Making

In respects to the effect media has on people, Postman and Weingartner suggest "while there has been a tremendous increase in media, there has been, at the same time, a decrease in available and viable 'democratic' channels of communication because the mass media are entirely one way communication." (p. 9) The authors make the comment that during the Vietman war, the American people were basically told they have to blindly accept the war and never question the people in charge because that would undermind what our soldiers are doing. This is not true. While government makes the decisions with regards to whether we go to war, on the ground decisions are made by soldiers. The thought that people were only given the opinion of the Pentagon is also false. You do not have to look very far to see anti-war sentiments in the United States. While the mainstream media is often one-sided, we do have access to other people who express beliefs different from those of the mainstream media. People can now gain audience through the internet, and the use of talk radio is once again being used as an effective way of communicating one's ideas.