Ignorance is Bliss

War seems to be a topic that is very touchy to many American citizens, especially since we are now in a war where a majority of Americans hold negative connotations. Now for many reasons all this conservation about war is great, citizens are attempting to become more and more knowledgeable of events involving our soldiers overseas. It’s great that so many people hold so much compassion for the men and women risking their lives in the name of us. So many of us want them to come home, want them to be safe, and stop the countless deaths that seem to be piling up next to our feet. However, there is a problem that evident in our dialogue. This compassion may be entirely real but many Americans do not actually hold independent opinions. So many are influenced by the media or simply believe what someone else believes. The truth is we are ignorant.

As a nation, we must become aware of all the factors in war. At first when America entered this war we were driven by revenge and fear of Saddam Hussein. Now, after five years, America wants out and we are driven by numbers of deaths and lack of hope to solve any problems within Iraq. I feel as a nation, we base our opinions on too little of data, and we fail to truly understand the consequences of our opinions. As Mark Twain once said, “Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." We make truth in our minds on very little data and just because now we feel we have realized our ignorance in the past does not mean we have realized our ignorance in the present.