While there have been many interesting and disturbing stories that have emerged out of the Iraq War, perhaps one of the most confusing and most interesting is the scandal involving Blackwater USA, a contracting company hired by the United States government for the sake of protection in the country. However, recently, Blackwater became involved in a scandal that centers around the shooting of innocent Iraqi civilians by members of the group. As detailed in the article, “Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings”, the government has made attempts to resist the information getting to the public and especially to the mainstream news media. However, what do such scandals say about the state of our nation? Are there further implications that can be realized from such information? And, perhaps most importantly, if information such as this was attempted to be hidden from the public, are there other stories and vital information that is also being hidden? Although the Blackwater scandal is very interesting in it’s own right, when we look at how this has affected the media, and the larger impact that it has created, we are opened up to a whole new world of possibilities and significance. Not the least of which arises from the implications of the changing face of news and media as a whole when it comes to reporting events of this nature and caliber.
Interestingly enough, the Blackwater scandal, and this New York Times article in particular makes a perfect case for several of the important idea which have been covered during class. However, perhaps the most prominent idea to look at here is the idea of powerful groups seeking to maintain the status quo. Indeed, it would be difficult to argue that there are not a set of beliefs and ideologies that justify the established order. These beliefs and ideologies seem designed to keep us from asking questions, and perhaps we can best realize the truth behind such statements by understanding what these beliefs actually mean. In general, those ideologies state that the present political system we live and operate in is rational, moral, and promises benefits for society as a whole. However, as can be guessed, information or news stories that may damage or undermine this status quo are appropriately suppressed. Herein lies the major tie-in with the Balckwater scandal.
Because Blackwater has the potential to be so damaging for the United States government, as well as many of the ideas and notions conceived regarding Iraq, it should come as no surprise that there were many attempts made to silence that information before it ever reached the mainstream media. Of course, the government does not act alone in preventing this information from getting out. Indeed, often times we actually work against ourselves when it comes to obtaining and hearing about such stories. The many distractions of life, and the distractions imposed by the media as well are all important aspects of what lead us away from the important truth of many stories.
The Blackwater story is very closely related to the idea discussed by Edelman when he speaks about rarely seen political changes. The information regarding Blackwater was kept from the public on any number of levels, and even those these events may very well have sparked a powerful change in both our government and the overall situation in Iraq, had the story not have broken, it is unlikely that any, outside of the government or those involved in the situation, would ever have heard of it.
Even though we may not have a way to actually combat the occurrences of horrible events such as the Blackwater shootings, we can work towards improving the information and the knowledge that is available to us as civilians. The battle for truth and knowledge is one that must be fought, as the very nature of our future likely depends on it.
