So this class actually was quite interesting for me, one because I do hold a big interest for war partly because my grandfather fought for Canada during World War II, and secondly it discussed some issues relevant for my thesis topic.
I am currently doing my research on the war in Israel and gathering any kind of information I can find on the way both sides, that is the Israelis and the Palestinians, use the media to inform the people and shape the public's interest for their support.
As I continue to do my research, it is clear that Israel has been losing the PR battle, and as we have seen from the very theatrical video shown in class, this can create extremely bad repercussions for a country, or a people. It is very difficult to win the PR war, and the pictures emerging from Gaza do not exactly paint a very good picture of Israel. However, Israel does not show Palestinian pain, clearly one of their tactical communication strategies. The problem for Israel is the fatality figures, something that over the years during this horrible war, cannot be ignored. Both sides have used PR to strengthen their message, but in the end the truth will come out, and the bottom line is war is horrible.
It is so unfortunate that war and all its horrors and sadness and inhuman realities can actually become a game for the governments of this world. They use the casualties as points and hatred as ammunition for their devastating game of wining the war. They lie to the public, censor the journalists and always seek to control the public.
In answer to the famous idiom "all is fair in love and war", I believe it is not, but who's asking and who's listening? In the end a war must be won, and the opposing sides will do what it takes to beat the enemy.
From Emile de Antonio's 1969 anti-war film 'In the Year of the Pig'
