The Lessons of Vietnam
Don't show body bags.
Do Not count the enemy dead.
Don't let media show protests. Of course, this is easier if the media is not independent. Very little is mentioned about the march on Washington, the AP report doesn't even estimate numbers, just says "thousands".
Do emphasize that soldiers are all good. Compare torture to fraternity hazing. Put murder and rape trials on page 16.
Do emphasize that Vietnam soldiers were spat on. According to several sources, this meme is overblown thanks to Sylvester Stallone's Rambo. Reports actually don't start showing up until the 80's. Re: Drooling on the Vietnam Vets, Unsolicited Opinion's "Salivating About Past, Ignoring Present", and The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam a 1998 book by Vietnam veteran Jerry Lembcke. Lembcke believes that the "myth" is involved in helping to promote the yellow ribbon campaign; it has led some to think that for one to support troops, one must therefore also support the war, because it ties together the ideas of anti-war sentiment and anti-troop sentiment.(Wikipedia)
At the march on Washington yesterday, the only spitting reported was pro-war's spitting on anti-wars.
Do Not count the enemy dead.
Don't let media show protests. Of course, this is easier if the media is not independent. Very little is mentioned about the march on Washington, the AP report doesn't even estimate numbers, just says "thousands".
Do emphasize that soldiers are all good. Compare torture to fraternity hazing. Put murder and rape trials on page 16.
Do emphasize that Vietnam soldiers were spat on. According to several sources, this meme is overblown thanks to Sylvester Stallone's Rambo. Reports actually don't start showing up until the 80's. Re: Drooling on the Vietnam Vets, Unsolicited Opinion's "Salivating About Past, Ignoring Present", and The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam a 1998 book by Vietnam veteran Jerry Lembcke. Lembcke believes that the "myth" is involved in helping to promote the yellow ribbon campaign; it has led some to think that for one to support troops, one must therefore also support the war, because it ties together the ideas of anti-war sentiment and anti-troop sentiment.(Wikipedia)
At the march on Washington yesterday, the only spitting reported was pro-war's spitting on anti-wars.
posted by Flimsy Sanity @ 6:16 AM
7 Comments:
At 6:56 AM,
Al DeVito said…
You have to hand it to this administration.
When you knew people who were drafted - it could be your son - you were more concerned about the insanity that was Vietnam. When you saw the body bags, you knew there was a war on. When the college kid next door fled to Canada, you knew there was a war on.
Now we fight wars in virtual secrecy. We on the home front are urged to do our part by shopping.
Where are our so-called leaders in all this?
At 7:20 AM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
I think the draft affected richer people - that was the only difference. It is why we make movies about the Titanic and not about the slave ships in which thousands died.
The draft did not affect our leaders who had daddies that kept them deferred or in the Guard.
At 4:32 PM,
Omnipotent Poobah said…
I guess the draft affected richer people, but only by inconveniencing them by paying tuition for a draft deferment.
Oddly, the only one of those military numb skulls who actually served honorably in the military was Rummy. Go figure that the biggest asshole would have done the right thing (but then, he was out by the time Vietnam rolled around, so maybe it was the luck of the draw).
At 5:55 AM,
United We Lay said…
They're doing a n excellent job of not repeating the public relations mistakes of Vietnam, but the military mistakes are being committed over and over. Our leaders don't care about us, but we knew that already. My question is: Where are the American people in all of this? How can they not stand up and say something, ANYTHING to stop the colossal waste of time, money, and manpower. No wonder we have so many domestioc problems. No one is actually focusing on what needs to be done in THIS country.
At 5:56 AM,
United We Lay said…
I think the only way to get people to come out in drove against the war is to institute a draft, which is exactly why it hasn't been done. We can't win this war with the troops we have, and this administration knows it.
At 11:04 AM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
The people ARE objecting to the war - the media just ignores them such as the undercounts at protests. The thing the draft did was enable young people to burn their draft cards and practice civil disobedience. Where are the young folks in this?
At 1:56 PM,
United We Lay said…
I don't think the people are coming out in the numbers they should be, especially the college students. My husband is back in college and finds that his classmates (18-24) are VERY conservative, believe that the government is doing wha's best for them, and think that the Iraq war is abot 9/11. As a teacher, I'm not allowed to talk about politics, but they're getting bad, and sometimes wrong information from their parents. College professors aren't saying anything. There's no one guiding these kids, and many of them are taught to have faith and not ask too many questions.
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