Essay about The Secret War in Laos Why Was It a Secret

Imagery and politics are two closely related concepts. â€Å"Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be† (McLuhan, 1971). The image has the power to make or break the politician. The impact of imagery also applies to the Government as a whole. The image created by the government influences the support of the population; because of this correlation, information regarding government affairs goes through filters; information that could negatively impact the image of the government may not be provided to the public depending on how important it may be for the general population to know. In the beginning†¦show more content†¦What Americans were unaware of was the additional violence happening in Laos. Music has always been an effective way for one to release their anger and frustration and many Americans were angry and frustrated with the government for allowing their men to die in Vietnam. One of their methods of portraying their irritation to the government were through musical protests. The largest musical anti-war movement was in 1969, 4 years before the end of the Secret War and 6 years before the end of the Vietnam War at Woodstock (Candaele, n.d.). The audience consisted of approximately 500 000 Americans and 33 performers. Among the performers were worldwide renowned artists like Jimi Hendrix and The Who (Harrison, 2009). The use of the performers would have stirred up support from their other fans; similar to celebrity endorsement advertising techniques. Moreover, wars are expensive to fund and â€Å"in recent years, Republicans have been characterized by two principal positions: They like starting wars and don’t like paying for them† (Bartlett, 2009). In 1968, Republican president Nixon imposed a 10% surtax to pay for the Vietnam War. The tax was largely paid by the poor and middle c lass. The Vietnam War cost â€Å"$25 billion per year and disillusionment was beginning to reach greater section of the taxpaying public†¦adding fuel to the fire of the anti-war movement† (History, n.d.). On top of that there was an extra â€Å"$1.5 billion per annum† (McCoy, 1996) goingShow MoreRelatedThe Secret War And How It Affected The Hmong People1230 Words   |  5 PagesTOPIC: The Secret War and how it affected the Hmong people. SPECIFIC PURPOSE: At the end of my speech, my audience will get a better sense of what the Secret War was and how it affected the Hmong people. INTRODUCTION: Just by the name itself, it can already be implied to what the â€Å"Secret War† was. It was a war that was kept as a secret from the public, and by public, I mean the American public. 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