I wrote this essay in 2017 and I feel it still stands up. I maintain that readers could still get use out of it.
The subject of the Vietnam war gets mangled in this country. The treatment in Hollywood has been a source of disinformation. “We lost 58,000 soldiers in that war!” Yes, and the Vietnamese lost some 2-3 million people. And we occupied their country, they did not attack the United States. We showed up there. We rained death and destruction on Vietnam, not the other way around.
Listening to men (again, it’s usually men) my age and older talk about this war gives me a splitting headache. Just about everything they say is wrong. And they’re so proud and discuss US military power with such reverence, it’s embarrassing.
In the essay, I wanted to sum up why exactly the United States got involved in that conflict. And what started as a short blog piece became a months-long project.
• We did not go there as referees
• We did not get “sucked in”
• We did not go there with good intentions
• We were not defending ourselves
• The issue was not North Vietnam
• We were not fighting communism
• The Viet Cong were not the bad guys
• Jane Fonda is an idiot, not a “traitor”
• The movies are, by subtraction, not correct
Yes, films like “Platoon” offer a realistic depiction of the GI experience. That is probably what it looked like to be fighting in the jungle at that time. But, do any of these films explain what we were doing there? No. Into the rice paddies we go. Fire up the joints and the Jimi Hendrix and the choppers. No context. No explanation.
And now Americans possess the Hollywoodized version of history. And men stand around congratulating themselves on their pitiful lack of knowledge. And then in 2003 Americans were like “Yeah, we should go to Baghdad!” No, I’m not comparing those two conflicts, but I am comparing the ignorance. And then when the body bags began arriving and veterans started coming home with missing limbs and PTSD, Americans were like, “Yeah, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Well, it was too late. Down came the imbecilic yellow-ribbon car magnets. “Support the Troops!” The real message was “Support the War Effort!” Which meant “To Hell with the Troops!” Funny, that was lost on a lot of folks. Not me.
So, it’s still important we get these things right. And we do not get these things right. “How did the Bears do?” “I need to post vacation pics on Facebook.” Indeed.
https://www.gregoryharms.com/essays-20171002
