It is clear that Woodrow Wilson praised the idea of a "world safe for democracy", but the irony behind this idea is that it can only be achieved through propaganda and oppression of opposition towards war.
Is war really the only way to achieve peace?
The Committee of Public Information, also known as the CPI was an organization to boost American public morale towards the war effort. They achieved this through means of propaganda that resembled propaganda of a totalitarian regime. Much like Big Brother in the novel 1984 by George Orwell, George Creel, a muckraking journalist publicized war effort with help from business, art, and media worlds. The CPI incorporated psychological tactics into their propaganda to touch on people's patriotic sides.
The Four Minute Men created by George Creel was a group of volunteers that visited theaters and meetings to give pro-war speeches. This was to ensure that those who didn't read the newspapers, although few, would still receive the pro-war sentiment and rally. War propaganda flourished in the art world as well. Charles Dana Gibson recruited a group of artists to create war posters and art to gain public support. Illustrators such as James Montogomery Flagg and Joseph Pennell used their talent to boost public morale for the war effort.
Although war propaganda was a large part of rallying public support for the war, suppression of opposition towards the war effort was a large part of it as well. In a country where the idea of democracy flourished, it quickly diminished so that the war could live on. The Committee of Public Information passed the Espionage Act of 1917 to imprison and fine those who spoke up against the war. People who spoke up could receive a 20 year imprisonment and fines up to $10,000. Additionally, the Sedition Act of 1918 made it illegal to publish any information that criticized the government or America's decision to join the war. This act collided with America's principles of free speech in many free speech cases such as Debs v. U.S. and Abrams v. U.S.. In both cases, the Court upheld the convictions.
Living in a country where democracy is so highly praised, as citizens it is difficult to understand that the means to get to this state was exactly the opposite, war propaganda and oppression of freedom of speech. So the question still remains, can war and democracy coexist? Can democracy be upheld without the means of war and oppression? Can one exist without the other? In a world where contradicting ideas are constantly at war with each other, it seems as though there is no way that one can exist without the other.
Sources:
http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ww1.cpi.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/gallery/posters.html
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1344.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/capitalism/sources_document1.html
Our hindsight is 20/20 and as we saw again in World War II, the United States made decisions that seem horrendous to us today. The decision to arrest Debs, arrest dissent, intern the Japanese, execute communists, etc were all made in brand new times.
ReplyDeleteYet, surely, each age is different, so the wrongs that we commit we can justify by saying "it's a different time". And while this is true to an extent (and is seemingly unavoidable by human history), the only way for this to be right in any regard, is if we learn from it.
So yes, doing things because the times are different is blatantly wrong, but it keeps repeating. Yet we have learned that these are clearly wrong and have done our best to make the loses of our ancestors to not go in vain. We no longer execute political dissenters nor intern mass groups of minorities for fear. I believe that we can coexist both, but understand that we will make mistakes and additionally understand it is up to us to fix those for the future.
I think you bring up a good point, that there is an irony between the fight for the preservation of democracy and the freedoms of the people, and the resulting oppression of free expression due to a wartime mentality. I think that often, one extreme is needed to achieve the other; by engaging (and succeeding) in war, the US was able to build upon the strength of democracy. In this way, war is in some ways a necessity (depending on the circumstances) to peace. Furthermore, I think this constant contrast between war and peace is an inherent part of democratic societies.
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