Throughout the past few months of this class, many of us have raised the question as to why we are more conservative with the lives of soldiers in modern wars. After reading about the Trojan War, Civil War, and WWII, we have seen how many casualties some wars have had. Today, it seems that we, as a society, are extremely angry when less than 5,000 lives have been lost in the Iraq War. After Shanil and Ed’s presentation of the Vietnam War, I realized that our thoughts and ideals for present day wars is a product of the fight against this former communist country. In my post, I am going to focus on how the media and poor execution in the Vietnam War has molded the way we think about war.
Being the first war to be broadcasted on TV, citizens’ eyes were opened to the horrors of war. Compared to the way people originally glorified war, Americans saw the true and terrible nature behind war. In a way, our society started to value human lives more because of the dreadfulness the American troops were going through overseas. This ability to see the action firsthand rather than on a painting brought an aspect of realism to the war that changed our views forever.
Similar to the effect the media had on the war, the poor execution of the Vietnam War revealed another aspect of war. This new characteristic was the war’s trivial nature. Ultimately, the people started to see no reason for the war against communism, and having massive casualties and a draft forced people to look at the government in a negative light. When a society starts to distrust their leaders, it takes time, effort, and a good track record to establish the faith again.
While Vietnam was a terrible loss for the US that led to the death of many soldiers, it nevertheless changed our country. Whether you believe this is a good or bad change is up to you. Personally, I think seeing war in this light is a good thing. I think we should only risk our soldiers’ lives if we really have to, and while war should be an option, it should never be the first. I think people tend to not recognize the effects the Vietnam War had on the ideology of the American people. Ultimately, I think the values we have created as a product of the Vietnam War have been a positive influence for our nation
9 comments:
interesting take on the Vietnam War; i like it. Vietnam did leave our country with a lot of different ideas (in a good way!). We may not have learned every possible lesson from our mistakes, but we learned a lot about dying senselessly--and what a bad idea that was.
I think the biggest reason for change was that the American people no longer trusted their government. Prior to Vietnam (and I'm not sure if this is at all accurate but bear with me) the American public believed what their government told them and supported the majority of the decisions they made. However, after Vietnam's disaster the public began to believe that the government was lying to them and could no longer be trusted. Watergate only further ruined the government's image and as a result we have a more conscious society that monitors the government with a more watchful eye. Watergate also ruined the President's relationship with the media and because the media controls what the American people see and hear, the relationship between the people and the President was also subsequently was affected.
I agree due to the fact that many americans disagreed with the cause. Every time a soldier died the american people felt that he had died for a worthless cause. When reading this I thought about what Mr. Crotty told us about the death number that was always reported on the evening news and that everyone watched the news. As a result everybody knew the death count and this only angered american even more.
I think that it is important for the American people to be aware of what is happening overseas regarding our involvement in wars/conflicts. As Michael said, war should be an option, but we should at least try diplomatic options before we resort to war. Although there are some instances where I disagree with this point (Pearl Harbor, 9/11), I think that this policy is the best way to go about things.
Very well written, Michael. I think that you are completely right. It's easy to say that war is good when your sitting at home with all of your amenities in total ignorance of what's going on half a world away. Vietnam definitely opened people's eyes and evolved war for the better. But one aspect which I think you overlooked is technology. With modern advances in missiles and bombs, it's much easier to send a really small army and sit back with capabilities to annihilate a country with the push of a button. We can afford to send a small army, thus less casualties, and still get our message across.
I'm gonna agree with the second comment - is that that the Vietnam War was the pinnacle for the distrust of the US government. Since soldiers were dying for a "worthless cause," the citizens of the US were outraged. This is clearly mirrored in the first few years of the Iraq War/War on Terror/etc. The failure to reach a few goals made the soldier's lives more valuable, thus each one who died was greatly mourned over and disgust from the citizens toward the government arose. So the # of soldiers dying doesn't exactly matter, its the cause behind the death. Also, if the citizens were much more educated on wars and conflicts, I believe that there could be more or less outrage from the people
While I agree that Vietnam changed the way we look at things I have to disagree with how you link it to your conclusion. I think the reason people get angry about 3000-4000 soldiers dying in iraq is because of the war's lack of populairy. I think if WWII was on TV too, it would be just as supported as it was in 1940.
I agree with Nick. The American public really started to distrust their own government and I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the Vietnam war was broadcasted. It allowed them to see that war wasn't anything to be glorified and that all it did was destroy the lives of both the soldiers and the civilians there.
I think your comments about the Post-Vietnam war era are insightful Mikey. Im suprised you didnt bring it full circle by relating it to the situation America faces today. While the Iraq war was no where near the catastrophe that Vietnam was, and the idea that fighting terrorism is worthless is inconceivable, the same domestic principles apply.
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