PLN 20

I read “Obama awards Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta Medal of Honor; first living honoree since Vietnam War” what this man did was impressive but what I saw and bugged me the most was how the reporter stated it that he was the first survivor since Vietnam. He never stated that few Medal of Honor recipients ever do live. Without this background knowledge you could come to the conclusion that very few brave soldiers survive and that this is a bad war. The point is that the full story needs to be communicated with all relevant background so that they reader or listener has the facts to make a complete correct conclusion.  The History Channel showed me that after Vietnam the United States military investigated the news reports about the war and found the many were false, there was even a report on a made up battle that the U.S. lost. This was clearly the media’s attempt to influence people’s opinions about the war. I also read a book Lone Survivor and the military reported that the survivor was missing in action. Well the media thought they could get a better story if they said that he was dead, and believe it or not when he got home one news station tried to blame the military for the false report. I think this does impact education as we all hear the media and make conclusions that influence us- students, teachers and principals.  If we are making the wrong conclusions this could lead us to make additional incorrect conclusions as we draw upon our knowledge when reading an article. As George Bush can attest, getting the correct facts on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction may have lead us, as a nation, on a different course of action.