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Um...there's a war going on, you know
By AprillBrandon in Pop Goes the Culture
April 7, 2008

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Can you name roughly how many American military personnel have died in the Iraq war so far?

If you can, well, you are in a small minority, my friend. According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, only 28 percent of people polled got the correct answer(approx. 4,000 deaths).

Regardless of how you feel about the war and our government's intentions over in the Middle East, I find it shocking that most people from either spectrum simply aren't following the war. Media coverage of the war is down and only 6 percent of people polled said it was the news story they were following most closely.

It seems we, collectively as a society, have kind of forgotten we're at war.

But one veteran is trying to change all that and trying to do it through music. According to a New York Times column by Rob Walker, young war veteran Sean Gilfillan started To The Fallen Records in an effort to get Americans to remember that there's kind of a big deal going on overseas.

Using songs created by soldiers and veterans, the independent label is hoping to narrow the gap between civilians and soldiers and give them a front line view of the war. Gilfillan said his motivation behind starting the label was his shock at discovering the war, now in its fifth year, has not aroused the country's support, debate or protest.

 "Most people seemed more likely to have to have a strong opinion about Britney Spears than about Iraq," the article states.

Personally, I think this is a great idea. Will it work? Sadly, probably no. If people aren't really invested in the war, then they are even less likely to invest in music about the war. But I'm hoping that just people hearing about what this vet is doing will arouse some strong feelings, either one way or the other.

And hopefully America will rouse itself out of its complacent stupor to at least remember we are at war, whether we like it or not. And even more hopefully, maybe once we remember, we will feel compelled to let our feelings and opinions be voiced and voiced loudly.