Recent polls on public support of the war in Afghanistan show that the majority of American citizens oppose the United States efforts in Afghanistan; in August of 2009 the Washington Post reported that 51% of Americans polled say the war is not worth fighting. Despite this lack of public support, our military efforts in the region have almost doubled as the U.S. is pulling out of Iraq and shifting focus on Afghanistan as the battleground for the war against Terror. Opponents of the war rally behind the United States inability to capture Osama Bin Laden as the main reason that we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan. But the war in Afghanistan is not an effort to capture Bin Laden, but to bring stability to the region through the removal of terrorist forces, Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
It is a sad day when our public will look upon the events of September 11th with disregard and turn their backs on the United States’ efforts to combat the mindsets and ideologies that caused these events. Perhaps the blame for this does not rest on the shoulders of the public themselves but on those responsible for educating our public, the public intellectual. As blogger and public intellectual himself, Stephen Mack, points out in his essay, “The ‘Decline’ of Public Intellectuals?” that, “the best argument for democracy, is not that the people are “naturally” equipped for self-government—but that they need to become so, and, moreover, experience is the only teacher.” There-in lies the duty of the public intellectual, to provide the experience and to teach the people.
One public intellectual bent on raising public awareness and explaining the United States’ efforts to combat terrorism in Afghanistan as well as within the entire Middle East is Douglas Farah. Farah, who works in intelligence in Washington, writes for the Counterterrorism Blog, a website devoted to reporting overnight and breaking news and discussing continuing trends in counterterrorism. As public support for the war against terror fades, perhaps the writings of Farah and other contributors to the counterterrorism blog will stir some fervor in the American people to not only support our efforts but also to take an active role in educating themselves on our mission to combat terrorism.
Public Square - Revolt & Revolution
14 years ago
Do you have any links to the polls you mentioned at the beginning of your post? Although technically a majority of U.S. citizens oppose the war in Afghanistan, it is only 51%, the smallest percentage to be called a majority. You called this a "lack of support," but I would argue that essentially 1 out of 2 people supporting the war is a decent amount. Given the fact that the poll(s) could have a margin of error, as well as the fact that most Americans are not fully educated on the war, that approval percentage is not too bad.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you in that a public intellectual should reach out to "average joes" who disapprove of the war and inform and explain to them the real danger. It takes more than a news reporter (not a public intellectual) or President Obama (a public intellectual, but spread very thin covering almost every American issue) for someone to listen and learn about the true meaning and purpose of the ongoing war effort. Perhaps Farah is the man to do it...we will have to see.
Even though 51% of the population disagrees with the War on Terror, I wouldn't consider that a bad thing, given the circumstances of course. Bush had the lowest approval ratings of any President at 22% when he left office. Although these aren't specifically ratings for the War on Terror while Bush was president, he did coin this "War on Terror," and left a very sour taste in the American public's mouth as Obama took it over. Also, It seems as though too many people have viewed this War on Terror (referring specifically to Afghanistan) purely as an attempt to find and capture/kill Bin laden. This, however, is not the case. You stated the logic behind the War on Terror perfectly, "to bring stability to the region through the removal of terrorist forces, Al Qaeda and the Taliban"...If more people were aware of the long term affects of achieving this (to give the country of Afghanistan the power and resources to curb these acts of terrorism so we don't have to worry about it), then more people might be on board with it.
ReplyDeleteGiven the Bush example and lack of education stated above, AND only 51% of the American Public disagrees with the War on Terror, I feel as if the Obama administration is handling this quite well.
To the Bathe Man: I pulled this poll from, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/19/AR2009081903066.html , these numbers obviously fluctuate from month to month and if you are interested you can view monthly updates at http://www.pollingreport.com/afghan.htm . Obviously the opinion of the populace is not a reflection of how successful the War on Terror is being carried out, but public opinion is often reflected in the decisions made by our government. I agree that the Obama administration is handling the war in Afghanistan well and approve of more troops being sent, but I do fear that if the votes of Congress begin to reflect the opinion of the public that the United States may end its War on Terror without, as Scott Tenorman said, giving "...the country of Afghanistan the power and resources to curb these acts of terrorism so we don't have to worry about."
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree that the American public's lack of support for our engagement in Afghanistan has been depressing, and it is incredibly important to battle the ideologies that support actions as destructive as 9/11.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an important question regarding the responsibility of the public intellectual to educate the public on the significance of our engagement. I believe that it is the role of the news media to educate the public about the subjects and events that should be important to the public, but I feel that in the last decade (with the rise of new media technologies such as blogs, satellite TV, and smart-phones) the news media has fallen short in its role. As a result, the public intellectual has become an even more relevant character in public discourse.
Hence, I disagree that it is the public intellectual's responsibility to educate the public - BUT I think the role of the public intellectual is changing, and it may become a shared responsibility of both public intellectuals and the news media.