If there is any topic these days that is more polarizing than the War in Iraq, I would be very surprised. People are torn between sticking around and getting the job done, or bringing back out troops. A lot of people even consider whether or not entering the war in the first place was a good idea. Regardless, the troops keep fighting, and the topic is still one of the most important in America. Beyond Iraq, America's public has also become interested in Iran. This country poses a threat as well. With these two interesting topics, I thought I'd take a look at the opinions that are most prevalent on Facebook.
Stay in Iraq until the Job Is Done (Found by searching "Iraq")
This is one of the biggest global groups when it comes to any activism involving Iraq, and quite plainly, the prevailing idea is to remain in Iraq until the job is done. I am unsure as to whether this is also the prevailing idea in the American public, away from the Facebook network. Let's look into the Description of the group:
Whether you thought the Iraq war was right in the beginning or not, it is America's responsibility to see it through to the end. The people in this group think America is honor-bound to keep its troops in Iraq until the job is done.
The "job" being referred to is making sure the Iraqi government is able to stand on its own and maintain its own security and sovereignty.
It is unclear as to who wrote this Description, as there is not a "creator" of this group. There are four administrators and two officers, however.The administrators are made up of Astrid Ashborn, San Diego, CA, Zachary Thomas Spadt, Casper, WY, Lauren Perella, Wake Forest, and Matt Helder, Whitsworth. It looks like its a pretty diversely regional crowd, so the group members may also be from all around the country.
The group also makes some allusions to some other groups that the administrators refer to as, "Highly Recommended." Here is their list:
It is quite disgusting to me to see that one group on Facebook was called, "F--- The Troops." I am glad that there is a petition on Facebook to remove it from the social network.
There are 1109 photos in this group, over 3,000 discussion topics, and some posted items. They include a YouTube video about a sniper attack survivor, and a Military.com piece that is entitled, "Iraqi Killed Saving U.S. Troops." Amidst all of this, there are 149,427 Wall Posts. This is one of the largest groups about policy in Iraq, and 57,243 people agree that we ought to "Stay in Iraq until the Job Is Done."
Against war in Iran (Found by searching "Iran")
Similar to the Iraq group, this is a group that depicts the prevailing ideas from global Facebook Groups as far as membership is concerned. It seems that most people on Facebook are "Against war in Iran," and who can blame them after the fumbled job of Iraq. The Description, written by Brian Britt, Roanoke, VA network, states:
We owe it to ourselves and to the people of Iran to do what we can to prevent such a needless war that will cost countless lives, weaken the US, and cause us to further lose our once-high standing overseas. Please join if you plan on doing something—attend protests and anti-war rallies, post flyers, educate people so they know that this upcoming war will only harm the US.
I don't want to get into my personal views on the matter, and want to try and report this group as objectively as possible, but Iran definitely has posed more of a tangible threat than Iraq ever did. Regardless, I am not a member of this group, it does not apply to me.
There are three other administrators of the group. Todd Allen Williams, Roanoke, Peter Lubbs, Roanoke, and Katie Johnson Britt, Roanoke. There are several things that occur to me after reading about the administrators of this groups. They are all within the same network, which makes me think that this may be a centralized ideology, and there are two Britt's, which leads me to believe they are related. The people in this group may be from similar social circles, and perhaps just joined the group out of support for their friends.
There are two interesting Related Groups that I would like to highlight. The first is, "Persian Pride." This gives me an indication of the demographics of this group. Persian people would not want a war in Iran because they may have family over there, or it may be home to them. The next group is, "Iranian Women's Campaign - 1 million Signatures." Related Groups become related if there is a high frequency of members within the two groups. It makes a whole lot of sense that these two groups are related then, and tells a truer story of who is actually "Against war in Iran."
There are 20 photos, 24 discussion topics, and one posted item of a YouTube video displaying Fox News in an unfavorable light. There are 306 wall posts, the most recent being from Chris Esterlein, "Stephen Colbert is running for president! i think he has a serious chance of winning." I'm not sure how this is related to the group, but thats pretty interesting news. Thanks for sharing Chris. All in all, there are 1,060 members of this group.
What I tried to do today was take a look at the group titles on Facebook, and provide two groups that I felt adequately portrayed a majority of most of the groups relating to Iran and Iraq. The Iraq group to continue our stay in Iraq until the job is done is one of the largest, and thus I feel sends a strong message. The Iran group, "Against war in Iran," is smaller, but portrays the overall message of a number of groups on Facebook relating to Iran. Do you agree with this? Is this how the majority of people think? Whatever you do, do something. Be smart. Be aware. Be the solution.
This post was originally written by The College Answers University of Michigan · Organizational Studies · 16 Oct 2007
