The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam

Subject: Re: The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam

Sylvie and those seasoned(old) enough to recall the

Viet Nam Police Action(war). 

 

My memories of those dark days when Freedom Loving USA took over the job of bullying Viet Nam, from the French, are certainly different than the fables being passed off as History these days. 

I recall standing in the Quad at the University of Washington, passing out pamphlets against the war.  Most students and faculty merely looked at those of us holding out our leaflets and passed us by.  A few stopped ant thanked us.  A few took them and walked a few steps and then tore them and tossed them on the ground, giving us that,"Up Yours" look.  But from time to time a grizzled Viet Nam veteran of 25 or 30 would stop and begin calling us Faggots and Queers and Sissies.  Then they would really get down to it, shouting that while they were putting their life on the line, we were supporting Commies all over the World.  We should take our propaganda and shove...well, you know the rest of that statement.  But none of them ever spit on me, nor I on them.  If they paused to suck in a fresh supply of air, I would try to explain that I did support the men in the rank and file service.  But they would not hear any of my excuses.  I was scum on the shoe of life. 

Once in a while someone would stop to tell us we were doing good work.  Then they would say, "I was there and it's not anything to be proud of." 

You know, I can't ever see myself spitting on another human being for believing what they have been programmed to believe.  I've had my own struggles with Belief in God and the propaganda called the Bible. 

My own travels through Life have brought me to the place where the most important thing I can do is to be true to myself. 

Carl Jarvis

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: S. Kashdan

To: Miriam Vieni ; 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'

Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 4:11 AM

Subject: Re: The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam

As a participant in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and as an anti-draft
counselor and participant in the GI and veterans support network, I met many
GIs and veterans who were opposed to the war and glad for the opposition
here in the U.S. And, many of them joined the movement too. Some of those
folks are still around in the veterans for peace organizations.
Also, even though I was actively involved and heard a lot of stories of all
sorts, I never heard about the spitting stories until long after the war
ended.

It was well-known during the Vietnam War that the troops were often pushed
beyond their psychological and physical limits, that military psychologists
and psychiatrists were told to downplay symptoms of extreme stress and
medicate, medicate, medicate, rather than classify troops as unfit for
combat... Unfortunately, it is not all that different now... There were
several books and many articles written by former
psychologists/psychiatrists about their experiences during the Vietnam war
which included this information. And, it was talked about openly in the GI
coffee houses near the U.S. bases where anti-war GIs and veterans came
together.

Sylvie