The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch Frauds
Besides exposing new information and uncovering unanswered questions, the Lynch and Tillman fraud story demonstrated how irresponsibly the military in the USA sometimes handles the press. The dramatically planned rescue footage linked to the Lynch story vividly informed how the government have no regard for its people, significantly approving how their deceit and corruption have eradicated a functional and healthy political system (Greenwald, 2007). They continuously exploit the troops like cheap props to feed their sly civic endeavours; and much like the Lynch narrative, the hypocritically televised commemoration service for Tillman was engaged to work a way around a false theory in order to favour the administration. Tillman was finally revealed as an atheist and against the Iraq war after being intensely paraded in his death memorial like a symbol for warmongering. It is only thanks to Tillman’s family that this truth came to light, a job the media so overwhelmingly failed to do.
Glen stresses on the fact that the press never reports on government misconducts, elaborating on how they are immensely involved as government spokesmen instead. She explains how the media merely skimmed over details and avoided aggressively addressing the US government’s claims about Lynch’s supposed rescue tale. They did nothing to explore the false narrative in an attempt to discover the faces behind it. Their vaguity was so vivid, it resulted in growing concerns from the UK press about how they did not put the frightened US officials under pressure, giving the former room to get away with the unfair Lynch deceit story. The reporters were adversely manipulated by experienced schemers in the military and administration to disseminate government propaganda, failing on their part by senselessly and uncritically passing on information to the oblivious public without proper examination and questioning. Furthermore, they continue to shadow their sources even after the public was enlightened about the purposeful lies, perhaps with the hope that they will continue to be used (Greenwald, 2007).
The reality of a country at war can be quite detrimental, and the possibility of possessing complete democratic control, to mean a transparent government ready to face criticism by the people, is quite benign. Thus, the presence of fraudulent scenarios during war is not unusual; their existence merely a muddy eventuality of political and media associations (Greenwald, 2007). In these situations, the public is compelled to rely heavily on media propaganda, therefore deceitfully inciting the population in favour of the government imminently means denying the people the opportunity of free will. In that case, I deliberately reach the conclusion that the military blunder involving Jessica Lynch, and Pat Tillman played a great role in stressing on the importance of the media to gear for democracy and accountability thereby keeping the government on its toes. It is only fair for the public to enjoy liberty in its entirety, ensuring the administration rids itself of any secrecy and/or unjust compromises.
References
Greeenwald, G. (2007). The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch Frauds. Salon. Retrieved 15 May 2020, from https://www.salon.com/2007/04/25/tillman_lynch/.