There’s no doubt a key driver behind opposition to the Gaza massacre, especially among normie types, has been the footage from smartphones showing the mass destruction and casualties.
Hypothetically, if the War in Iraq occurred with 2023 smartphone technology, how would this have impacted public opinion?
Would Bush have been re-elected in 2004?
Also, for historians of the war, is there a particular atrocity during the war that has been documented by activists or watchdogs but has limited photographic evidence, that had it been recorded by smartphone, could have single-handedly turned the tide of public opinion?
I think definitely. I know a few people who in the first days of the genocide were very “well it’s complicated and the history and it’s just too much for me to understand” that now are 100% pro Palestine, and when I ask them why, every single one of them says “I am tired of seeing dead Palestinian children on TikTok it’s such a shame what’s happening to them.” We never saw dead Iraqi children on TikTok because we didn’t have TikTok. The propaganda machine can’t really excuse the live footage that folks are taking out of Gaza, there’s only so much talking past the conflict that you can do when there is easily available video evidence every single day of the genocide.
Yes, Israel and the US is trying to keep a lid on information, but it is extremely hard. In the Iraq war days, the only information came from US-vetted sources, there were basically no journalists with any kind of media access on the Iraqi side and even if they were, they had no means to get the videos out to the general population. That is also why the US can claim very low direct casualties of the early invasion, there is just no way to tell.
Probably, but it should be noted that the Gaza genocide is way, way more brutal than any of the US’s direct wars of the 21st century. More kids have been killed in Gaza in a few months than in the whole of the Iraq War.
The 3100 figure for Iraqi children only counts from 2008 - 2022, skipping the bloodiest years
Over two-thirds of Americans think the US should actively support Israel. A lot of people just have more “nuanced” aka incoherent opinions, like supporting both ceasefires and Israeli military strikes. To most yanks, this is just a complicated war between foreign countries, where Israel are “the good guys who sometimes go too far” (America, however, can only go too far 10+ years in the past)
And consider the context of 9/11. Pro-Palestinian voices tend to have a stronger presence from being shamed less than anti-war voices in Iraq. If Hamas did October 6th with thousands of deaths in the US, I’d bet half the country would be calling to wipe Palestinian blood off the face of earth. Even now, a solid majority of Americans support Israeli warcrimes. When I see polls like this, I have zero faith in the basic morality of your average American:
Not sure. They literally showed fucking bombs falling on the middle east on live TV during the War in Iraq and the right wing was still like Hoo-Ra about it and being extremely fucking racist and calling for more. It was even policy to have journalists embedded in combat groups. Obviously they were choosy about what they showed, but it’s not like we had a huge lack of footage about what was going on over there at the time. I remember seeing videos of tanks shooting and there were graphic violent videos of execution of Iraqis and shit like that.
On the other hand, they only showed those live bombs like once so, maybe.
IDK, maybe i’m doomerpilled but i think most amerikkkans are too racist to really care. Especially when the Propaganda Machine was turned up to 11 and everyone was happy to kill any brown arab looking person just for the crime of looking middle eastern.
no. iraqis are not white, and therefore would have been hated by americans. it all just boils down to
Death to America
