When I was little (2000s) the consensus seemed to be that Vietnam was a shitshow. It was sort of not talked about because it was considered an embarrassment for the west.
Lately on Boomer TV I’ve been seeing a lot of stories about gusano Vietnamese that “escaped” the “eeeevil communist north Vietnam”.
Shits weird. It’s one thing to paint a country like North Korea as evil because it’s easy to make shit up about an isolated country. But people can watch like a billion travel shows that show communist Vietnam is a normal ass country. The idea that people fled from that becomes less harrowing when you see that it’s a beautiful place that’s just as free as any other country.
I don’t know how it is for you down under, but here in burgerland the North Vietnamese “Vietcong” have, for as long as I’ve been alive to remember, been portrayed as sadistic beasts who would capture our God fearing corn fed warfighters, torture them, and keep them in captivity for decades after the war ended. It’s very common to see MIA/POW flags here.
At most, it’s considered a war that was pointless and wasted thousands of American lives; next to no one cares about the many more Vietnamese lives that were lost (to say nothing about those who were bombed in surrounding countries).
and EVERYBODY believes this shit, even well educated libs who should know better. They all think Rambo 2 was based on a true story.
I saw some myself earlier this week. Very normal, thinking The Deer Hunter was a documentary and not a gross inverse of what actually happened.
The flags being flown long after the end lean more on the MIA part. I had never heard about POWs being held into the 1990s; WWII had a lot of those stories though.
If you think EVERYBODY believes that shit you may need to surround yourself with other people.
MIA was borne from Nixon propaganda. It’s wordplay to hide dead bodies and keep the fingers pointed at the enemy.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/enduring-cult-vietnam-missing-action/
First of all I learned a lot reading that article. It’s a great read that slings me toward more like it. But today the term MIA represents to those I know representing it that they have ones that never returned for whatever reason. The flags are still flown not because they think they’re still held captive, not because they have any opinion on the politics, not because they care about the history of the term, but because they don’t want to stop remembering those lost. It sucks it may cause people to think they’re sheep for believe the propaganda behind the term. They’re just trying to cope with losing a loved one for a reason no one can comprehend.
If you find all that interesting, you should give the Blowback podcast a listen. Start from season 1. None of this is incomprehensible, but someone sold us all on the idea we and the people around us are expendable. And that’s some bullshit, my friend. Our lives have value and the answers to comprehension are out there when you’re willing to look.
https://open.spotify.com/show/2pibBnPuHqKr07hxEMZE41
lol, sorry comrade
What are you quoting in your comment?