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smooth · 10-07-2008, 02:40 PM

I only know of three groups of people who even think about Vietnam:

1) people who think "if not for..." we would have won the war
I've never actually met someone who believed this, only seen them post on anonymous forums and imply it on TV; I assume it's fairly small population

2) people who think it was a sad chapter from our collective history that is best moved past
these people seem to be willing to give a pass to draft dodgers, civilian protesters, and even the extreme protests like Ayers, and to some extent even the government as long as we can move past it; talking to them gives me the sense that a general amnesty is the best approach

3) people who either participated in opposition to the war or wish they were born in time to do so
these people tend to believe that the war was fundamentally wrong and the only way it ended was due to radical protest and domestic uprising against the government

So from a practical perspective, it just seems like a dumb move to scratch at the scar that Vietnam is to nearly everyone in our country.
I don't personally know anyone under 30 who would argue that Ayers is a morally deficient person. Even among the ones who don't agree with the bombings of the Underground, they seem to think of it all as a big confusing period. Nearly everyone over 30 that I personally know dislikes talking about the Vietnam era in general.

I don't see anyone being swayed by these ads and I'm not even sure of who the target audience is.

10-07-2008, 02:40 PM	#33 (permalink)
smooth Junkie Location: Right here	I only know of three groups of people who even think about Vietnam: 1) people who think "if not for..." we would have won the war I've never actually met someone who believed this, only seen them post on anonymous forums and imply it on TV; I assume it's fairly small population 2) people who think it was a sad chapter from our collective history that is best moved past these people seem to be willing to give a pass to draft dodgers, civilian protesters, and even the extreme protests like Ayers, and to some extent even the government as long as we can move past it; talking to them gives me the sense that a general amnesty is the best approach 3) people who either participated in opposition to the war or wish they were born in time to do so these people tend to believe that the war was fundamentally wrong and the only way it ended was due to radical protest and domestic uprising against the government So from a practical perspective, it just seems like a dumb move to scratch at the scar that Vietnam is to nearly everyone in our country. I don't personally know anyone under 30 who would argue that Ayers is a morally deficient person. Even among the ones who don't agree with the bombings of the Underground, they seem to think of it all as a big confusing period. Nearly everyone over 30 that I personally know dislikes talking about the Vietnam era in general. I don't see anyone being swayed by these ads and I'm not even sure of who the target audience is. __________________ "The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann "You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman