American soldiers were trained to fight the Vietcong, not all "gooks". Not the farmers, the mothers, the children that were being victimized before, during, and after the war.
It goes back to at least WWII (maybe even further) with "Rosie the Riveter". I thought this was kinda funny:
But when someone can't tell the difference between VC or civilian, it's possible they start seeing them as a single group (which accounts for "free fire zones" during the war). Also, if you hated Communist North Vietnam during the war, and they won, you will probably hate a Communist Vietnam after the war. Again, not justifying it, just playing Devil's Advocate. I'm sure being a POW affected his judgement more than that of a vet that wasn't one.
Oh yeah, and I totally agree with you there. I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in any invisible monsters and I can't explain their nature to you, but I definitely see a lot of people living in fear of them. I agree with the sentiment but I don't think it's limited to Americans. I think of the sheepish stupid people that allowed Saddam Hussein to take power, or the sheepish stupid people in the video from that Russian office where the guy flipped out and nobody did anything, and I don't really see Americans as being unique in this regard, in large or small groups. But if you want me to come up with an answer to your question, I can guess that people are still scared shitless and will do pretty much anything in that state. With this presidential race, people are mostly making their decisions based on fear. Fear of what a half-black man in the White House will mean, fear of another Republican administration, fear of what Hillary might do if she ends up with the presidency, fear about global warming, immigration, gas prices, etc. It depends on what area of the country you live in. In and around New York, any time there's so much as a steam pipe bursting it's covered live on all of news channels and the first thing the newscasters are saying is "we don't have any information yet about whether or not this was terrorism related..."
All good points, but these are also excellent reasons why McCain should never be elected president. His military history is much more of a liability than an asset.
Yeah London is super tolerent- but as right wing as it may sound, this is slowley fucking us up. A society needs a firm belief of right and wrong and far too much hatred and violence mare allowed to go unchecked under the guise of 'Religion' or 'Culture.' People in the U.K are too scared to tell someone that what their doing is fucked up, 'Political correctness gone mad' or whatever you want to call it. I think true equality only works outside of religion- I mean how are you gonna to see someone as an equal if you believe that your imaginary friend is the all powerful and that their one doesnt exist? I hope that makes my point without me coming across as some Right wing nut- because really I am about as tolerent as you can get, but being tolerent only works if everyone else it also.
yes,,it is called civil partnership...pretty much the same all over europe... there is also something called unmarried partnerships (which applies to straight or gay couples) where the couple shares almost the same rights as a married or civil couple,,,just there is no ceremony,,,but the relationship is recognised just the same...
I do find his statement racist, because he's lumping all Vietnamese people to be the same. But I can understand why he would feel anger and resentment. Similarly, I find general statements made by family members of those who died in 9/11 against Muslims to be bigoted, because they're lumping all Muslim people to be the same. But again, I can understand why they would feel that way. Similarly, I find general statements against the Japanese by Pearl Harbor survivors to be bigoted, because they're lumping all Japanese to be the same, but I can understand why. I think this is a complex issue that for some people who have not been through some life altering experiences will never be able to truly understand the way the victims do. I'm not saying it makes the feelings right, but since I haven't been through what they have, I can't say how they should feel.
How about John insane McCain's comments about the importance of hatred and it was that that got him through the war. I think it was in a book we wrote about his experiences- he believe it is an important part of training to de-humanise the enemy as it makes easier for soldiers to kill indiscriminatly and not question what they are doing. This is the explination for his 'Gook' comments. The guy is fucking Crazy- and how about " Bomb, bomb, bomb- Bomb, bomb Iran" it would be funny if it washy so serious- and he is said to have called his own wife a "Cunt" in public.
This shouldn't be news to you. This is how every soldier has been programmed going back to the beginning of human civilization. And every day my government and yours recruits tens of thousands of men and women and continues to indoctrinate them with this philosophy.
Absolutely. The easiest way to get a "normal person" motivated to kill another, and one group to hate another, is to dehumanize the enemy. It's what allowed Turks to slaughter Armenians, Nazis to slaughter Jews, Hutus-Tutsis, Serbs-Bosniaks, etc. It's how we justified firebombings in WWII, "free fire zones" in Vietnam, and to a lesser degree, interning our own citizens because they happened to be of Japanese ancestry.
The point I was making was that while Bill Clinton, George Bush, Dick Cheney ect were all draft dodgers- this guy was in 'nam and I think he mentally still is. To have the top bannana of your country still being in this mindset is absolute suicide!
I'd say that every president has adopted this mindset to a degree whether they've been a soldier or not, because as commander-in-chief they preside over a military system that instills this mindset in people every day.
Yeah I agree, and think it is necessary to a point. I mean even if you have a high flying job in business where your decisions effect the jobs of hundreds of people, you cannot afford to think of the everyday effect on each member of your workforce- you have to distance yourself from it and look at it as numbers on paper. What is different however it while when Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq- he had no idea first hand of how horrific war is. When John McCain decides to nuke Iran he will understand the amount of bloodshed being done at his hand and do it anyway. Most Vetrans come back from warzones with the knowledge that War must be a last resort and inturn tend to make good leaders. However I dont think I have ever heard McCain talk about how bad war is- infact I think he loves it.
My point is that I can think of 20 reasons that come before his military background, to NOT vote the guy.
Y'know...I try and defend Americans, saying we're not all sheep. I'm done. If you believe that Barack Obama is muslim (not that there is anything even wrong with that if it were true) because of an anonymous email you received, or that he the fist pound is really a "terrorist fist jab" of because of what some old airhead on FoxNews says, fuck you. You are sheep. Oh, and McCain is the most uninteresting and uninspiring speaker I have EVER heard. What's with that green background, anyways?
what I love the most about American politics is how "Liberal" is some kind of dirty word. In the U.K even the right wing parties call themselves liberal.
Yeah! Have been thinking the same thing. Both political parties are based on very basic liberal principles. Rights of the individual, liberty, democracy etc. etc.
I'm not sure that's what Samba meant, but with his typing skills, you can never be too sure I also don't know if I would class "Rights of the individual, liberty, democracy" as specifically liberal. They are more kind of basic aims that most governments aim for. I think it's things like that that make "Liberal" a "dirty word," the assumption that it some how is innately hippyish. When in fact it's just been abused and redefined... from whatever it's original definition was.
liberal means a whole host of things, but the conservatives have turned it into a bad word that means big spender, high taxes, no morals, etc. it's kind of sad when you think about it. I mean, until the republicans lost congress, they were the big spenders. and morally, give me a break. the best liberals have done is try to re-brand themselves as "progressives."
You have to remember also, even today, there is a small group (mostly right wing diehards) that believe Sadahm was involved in the 9/11 attacks.......... wonder where they get these ideas? The current administration has said it never said that, and then the news clips of them saying this over and over and over again come out and it's like - SO? Did anybody head about the current report on the Iraq war that was just released by the Congress? Basically said the admin lied to get us into war. Do a search for it on the net. One of the major news agencies covered it (NBC) but stopped short of telling what was in the report in detail. Watch the Daily Show last night (Tuesday) for the story....... Sheep!
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage Same-sex marriage is allowed in Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. Civil unions are recognized in more countries.
