Thursday, October 21, 2004
This is Going to be Rough
There is a new documentary (or political ad, depending on your point of view) similar to Fahrenheit 9/11, coming just before the presidential election. Of course, the Democrats are desperately fighting to block its release. What a thing to have to say. The Democrats are actually fighting to block the release of a movie, and as of this writing, appear to have succeeded. Gives one the shudders doesn't it? I thought Nixon was bad with his zero tolerance for dissenting views. Kerry's Democrats have done everything in their power to silence all opposition, including Ralph Nader's right to be a candidate, Vietnam Vets who differ on their recollections of the swift boat campaigns, and now, this movie that will expose the possible damage John Kerry did as a Vietnam Vet Against the War.
My heart aches.
"Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal" is a testimony of real vets and real prisoners of war that suffered horribly in the hands of the Viet Cong. They claim that John Kerry's 1971 testimony to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee was the direct cause of additional brutalities imposed against them. These vets say they endured retaliations for the atrocities Americans committed and that Kerry reported publicly to that committee. Just because after the My Lai massacre, soldiers were prohibited from taking cameras into action and therefore photos are rare, doesn't mean the atrocities stopped.
Nor does Kerry's testimony mean war crimes started with Vietnam. And I don't mean only the Nazis against the Jews, or the Japanese against the Chinese, or some Indian tribe against another, or an African tribe against another, or an Asian tribe against another, or whites against blacks, or Europeans against Native Americans, or GI Joe against German soldiers, or any preindustrialized clan against any other preindustrialized clan. Read the Bible. Or read about the Crusades. We haven't even started talking about victors taking slaves and raising villages. Do you really think the rapes and murders of the Czar's little girls by the Bolsheviks were the only such rapes and murders of children? War is Hell. Did you get that?
War IS Hell.
I can sit here all day gazing into my Dell monitor and telling myself that I am still 20 and look'n good. Nevertheless, sometime or other, I am going to have to walk past a mirror. I am not 20. I am not look'n good. So I take water aerobic classes three times a week and at least I can feel good.
We Americans strive so hard to think of ourselves as near perfect that we have no energy left to put in the work it requires to become near perfect. Fooling ourselves is not the same as being what we expect ourselves to be. The first step to becoming the Americans we think we are is to look into the mirror. Deep into the mirror. And then we need to start demanding a higher level of behavior.
Take it apart. What the creators of "Stolen Honor" are saying is that by reporting the truth about war, the anti-war movement made war even more atrocious. To me, that is like saying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was responsible for the beatings, rapes, and lynchings during the Civil Rights movement. Or, like publicizing truths and lies about nicotine causes lung cancer. Or, like saying by exposing corporate greed's lack of concern for customer safety, Ralph Nader caused the death and maiming of auto accident victims.
Hate-mongers and sadists and the avaricious will always take advantage of situations. It's what they do. Social change is always a struggle. It's why you should pick your battles carefully. Be sure you are right. Many people will be hurt in a war. Personally, I always admired the Vietnam Vets Against the War. I always felt they were fine young men that believed in a Better America then what they found, and then actually worked hard to try to make the Better America a reality. I am sorry John Kerry is not proud of his stance against savagery.
There is a new documentary (or political ad, depending on your point of view) similar to Fahrenheit 9/11, coming just before the presidential election. Of course, the Democrats are desperately fighting to block its release. What a thing to have to say. The Democrats are actually fighting to block the release of a movie, and as of this writing, appear to have succeeded. Gives one the shudders doesn't it? I thought Nixon was bad with his zero tolerance for dissenting views. Kerry's Democrats have done everything in their power to silence all opposition, including Ralph Nader's right to be a candidate, Vietnam Vets who differ on their recollections of the swift boat campaigns, and now, this movie that will expose the possible damage John Kerry did as a Vietnam Vet Against the War.
My heart aches.
"Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal" is a testimony of real vets and real prisoners of war that suffered horribly in the hands of the Viet Cong. They claim that John Kerry's 1971 testimony to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee was the direct cause of additional brutalities imposed against them. These vets say they endured retaliations for the atrocities Americans committed and that Kerry reported publicly to that committee. Just because after the My Lai massacre, soldiers were prohibited from taking cameras into action and therefore photos are rare, doesn't mean the atrocities stopped.
Nor does Kerry's testimony mean war crimes started with Vietnam. And I don't mean only the Nazis against the Jews, or the Japanese against the Chinese, or some Indian tribe against another, or an African tribe against another, or an Asian tribe against another, or whites against blacks, or Europeans against Native Americans, or GI Joe against German soldiers, or any preindustrialized clan against any other preindustrialized clan. Read the Bible. Or read about the Crusades. We haven't even started talking about victors taking slaves and raising villages. Do you really think the rapes and murders of the Czar's little girls by the Bolsheviks were the only such rapes and murders of children? War is Hell. Did you get that?
War IS Hell.
I can sit here all day gazing into my Dell monitor and telling myself that I am still 20 and look'n good. Nevertheless, sometime or other, I am going to have to walk past a mirror. I am not 20. I am not look'n good. So I take water aerobic classes three times a week and at least I can feel good.
We Americans strive so hard to think of ourselves as near perfect that we have no energy left to put in the work it requires to become near perfect. Fooling ourselves is not the same as being what we expect ourselves to be. The first step to becoming the Americans we think we are is to look into the mirror. Deep into the mirror. And then we need to start demanding a higher level of behavior.
Take it apart. What the creators of "Stolen Honor" are saying is that by reporting the truth about war, the anti-war movement made war even more atrocious. To me, that is like saying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was responsible for the beatings, rapes, and lynchings during the Civil Rights movement. Or, like publicizing truths and lies about nicotine causes lung cancer. Or, like saying by exposing corporate greed's lack of concern for customer safety, Ralph Nader caused the death and maiming of auto accident victims.
Hate-mongers and sadists and the avaricious will always take advantage of situations. It's what they do. Social change is always a struggle. It's why you should pick your battles carefully. Be sure you are right. Many people will be hurt in a war. Personally, I always admired the Vietnam Vets Against the War. I always felt they were fine young men that believed in a Better America then what they found, and then actually worked hard to try to make the Better America a reality. I am sorry John Kerry is not proud of his stance against savagery.
