Hanoi Jane Memorial
Apparently some very forgiving Vietnam Veterans have erected a memorial to Hanoi Jane Fonda. Please take the time to stop by and make an appropriate contribution on her behalf.
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10 comments:
Which is ironic, because if you ever watch the documentary "Sir, no sir!" on the anti-war movement in the military during Vietnam, there is footage of Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda doing absolutely biting comedy at the expense of the military, and thousands of soldiers are...eating..it...up.
Ah well, I guess some history looks better through the lens of memory than the lens of a camera.
Some Viet Nam war vets continue to feel very angry at and betrayed by Jane Fonda for her actions during the Viet Nam War. At least their anger is based on a factual event that, you know, actually happened.
Too bad conservatives don't base almost any of their incendiary rhetoric and angry temper tantrums these days on real facts. Maybe today's conservatives could learn a few lessons from Viet Nam War vets and remain rooted in reality, rather than fiction, for their responses and reactions to events.
I suppose you are right, ferschitz, about the vet's anger. But its been 35 or 40 years! Is this biggest thing that they remember from Viet Nam? That kinda explains how we bumbled into similar messes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At least their anger is based on a factual event that, you know, actually happened.
Except that its also been embellished over the years. There are fictional stories about Fonda actually turning over notes given to her by POWs to the prison guards, which then resulted in those POWs getting beaten and tortured. I mean, what she did was bad, but lets not make up things.
That kinda explains how we bumbled into similar messes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sadly, there's truth to that. Vietnam was recast by many as a war lost not by poor strategy, but by "domestic traitors" like Fonda and peaceniks who didn't care about the POWs. It was a hell of a lot easier to blame the people with long hair than it was to acknowledge the major military blunders we made.
Good points re Fonda's actions during Viet Nam: the embellishments, lies, length of time since the war, etc. I know that many Vets are pretty clear about what really happened, and they are still not happy about it.
I cannot totally blame them, even though I agree that it's easier for some in this country to blame the hippies protesting the war, rather than the Military Industrial Complex/CIA who made money off of the war.
Just saying that for someone who actually served in 'Nam, I can *agree* that they are at least upset by something that really did happen, not some made up fictional fairy tale, which is what happens these days.
The other side of the story is that conservatives will not miss one opportunity to continue stoking Vets' rage against Fonda (aka the left) at any opportunity, such as this one. What's this anyway? Slow news day in terms of punch-the-hippie??
Nearly 40 years later, still gnashing teeth.
So the forward talks of forgiving.
Suppose you actually try it?
So, um, can I just say as an under-40:
I know Jane Fonda only as Barbarella. I have no idea what she did to make conservatives mad at her.
Holy crap. It's 2010 and we're still making 'Hanoi Jane' jokes?
What, did Grandpa just figure out how to use the internets?
Marc with a C
It was mostly conscripts and enlisted that she entertained, as a rule those most opposed to her have always been ultra-right veterans and officers. Partially reflective of the class issues that the war entailed. For more on this I recommend Jerry Lembcke's Hanoi Jane
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