roachboy

i find it interesting in the above posts that take the ridiculous accusations of treason seriously that "treason" seems to be reserved in rightwingland for those who opposed particular wars, and vietnam above all others. funny how that works, isnt it?

funnier still that this is associated with the reactionary claim that state sovereignty trumps international law, particularly when that law pertains to questions of war crimes.

put the two together and you get a glimpse into the conventional "wisdom" of the right: so long as the actor is a "real american" (read conservative) anything goes: step out of line and oppose what the conservatives decide to be the Best Interest of Real Americans like themselves and it is treason.

it seems to me that if there is a problem, it lay with the ridiculous viewpoint developed by the conservative apparatus on this. it is like they are practicing for a total clampdown on dissent from moderates and the left by obsessing about vietnam, about those who opposed it, by rewriting the past and casting those who exercized their freedom of speech in opposition to a an obviously foul colonial war in the role of enemies of the state.

it seems like the idea is simple: get the brownshirts used to this kind of thing by practicing on signifiers framed by revisionist understandings of vietnam: when the shoe drops in real time, these same people will cheerlead the "purification" of the "real america" by the "elmination" of "traitors"--who knows, maybe some of these "traitors" will get to visit the system of outsourced torture the americans have set up already. one thing for sure, if this type of logic is followed, you can be sure the right will say nothing critical about it, will not care.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite