August 9th, 2018 was the day I had to do something. On that day, the US-Saudi coalition dropped a bomb on a school bus in North Yemen, killing 40 children.
And nobody cared.
This horrific war crime received more media coverage than most atrocities in Yemen do, and plenty of Yemenis and antiwar activists certainly cared. What I mean is – nobody in my life cared. None of my friends, family, or coworkers even knew about the war in Yemen. And who could blame them?
The lack of mainstream media coverage is staggering. A study from the media watchdog group FAIR showed that between July 2017 and July 2018 MSNBC did not devote a single segment to the war in Yemen.
For that reason, I decided to get involved with independent media, since that’s how I learned about the war in Yemen and other atrocities. But where to start? No experience, no journalism school, just a lot of passion and anger towards the war machine. Around the same time, I met my wife. On our first date, we bonded over our shared opposition to US wars and imperialism – not something you would expect on a first date in New York (so naturally, I had to marry her).
I used to fancy myself a leftist because of my anti-imperialist views, but my wife introduced me to the antiwar libertarians, and perhaps the most important antiwar voice of our time, Scott Horton. Listening to Scott’s show brought me back to Antiwar.com, a website I read in my high school days.
Reading Antiwar.com and combing through Justin Raimondo’s endless masterpieces inspired me to submit a story of my own to the site. I sent a short piece about a brutal execution of Shia protesters inside Saudi Arabia, and Antiwar.com published it.
Getting that first article published was the motivation I needed. Soon, I was sending in a piece or two every week. One day, Eric Garris called and asked if I would like to be more involved and contribute to the news sections that Jason Ditz has been tirelessly working in since 2003. I was thrilled to get the offer, and I dove in headfirst.
It is an absolute honor to be a part of Antiwar.com’s staff as the assistant news editor. I’ve never felt so passionate about something in my life, and it still feels surreal that I found such a great website to work for. I certainly owe a lot to Eric for taking a chance on me and to Scott Horton, who took the time to help me edit my first articles, with all of their grammatical errors.
That’s what you get with Antiwar.com. A small group of people who care so much about one thing – ending war. We might not all be perfectly polished journalists, but we are dedicated, and we will work tirelessly to expose the War Party and provide our readers with the truth.
But no matter how much dedication and passion we have, we need our readers for support. Some major donors pledged up to $34,000 for our current fundraiser, but in order to secure these funds, we need our smaller donors to match that amount.
Please help me continue my journey with Antiwar.com!
Jason Ditz is the unsung patron saint of this site. He’s been the primary source of many of my pieces on CounterPunch. Dave has been a great addition too. Sadly, Mr. Horton doesn’t approve of my muckraking Sylvia Plath meets Gore Vidal writing style. I’ve been trying to get published here for years. I’m just too damn weird. It hurts because I love the site. Many of the people who run it have become like family. But much like Lynyrd Skynyrd, lord knows I can’t change. If I had a dime to my name I’d give it. What else can I do?