Archive for month: September, 2015

    It’s always been made apparent to me in past history courses that there was massive unrest over American presence of American armed forces in Vietnam and Cambodia, but I always seem to forget the extent to which this unrest reached. The dedication of college students to not only attend, but plan and organize protests and demonstrations all over the country astounds me, largely because I have never experienced that in my life time, in spite of there being reason for there to be demonstrations. While there have been the “Occupy” movements and more recent demonstrations in places such as Ferguson, it makes me wonder why there were no massive movements for the war in Iraq. The reasoning behind this, as I was exposed to in a critical thinking class this semester, may be that this generation of Americans have become so used to sensationalism and violence in the media and on the news that we have become complacent to actual issues. It had, however, been unknown to me that the movements of young adults were not just occurring in the United States at the time- as pointed out in the documentary, college students of countries such as France and Italy were all fighting and speaking out against their governments. Their motivations were much the same as those held by the American public- peace and fairness.

The documents from the folder I was given were primarily arguing against the war, and I found most of them to driven out of anger and fear. The emotions were clear as day on the page, whether it be through swear words, messy handwriting, or aggressive language. The letter that I selected stood out to me because of its restraint. Considering that it was written by a married couple who were able to maintain a calm demeanor as they wrote, I can assume that this was likely an older couple, since the younger activists were all driven highly by emotions such as anger and resentment, as was made apparent in the documentary. It hadn’t occurred to me that the writers may be older until I had seen through online research, as well as the documentary, that America’s youth was running on pain and hostility. This couple instead expressed feelings of loss for their patriotism and belief in their country. Though they still refer to America as “great,” they sound defeated in that their respect for the United States has diminished.

    I understand that Congress was acting in part according to the desires of the American public, at the start of the war, to take action overseas. It is so easy to try to place the blame entirely on Congresses shortcomings; however, I feel that it would be narrow-minded to make such an accusation without thinking contextually. Prior to looking further into the national and international context of the sixties, I also would have placed blame entirely on the governments actions. What I have realized, though, is that the government was not just acting- it was reacting. They were trying, at least at first, to circumvent communism and to satisfy the fears of the American people. Though it is my personal belief that there came a point where the deaths and refusal to remove ourselves from the war would have to be considered the fault of the government, I don’t believe that they were acting entirely outside of their bounds as representatives of the general population of the United States.

    I would not say that m opinion has necessarily been changed, but I would say that it has expanded. In spite of having some knowledge on the military actions in Vietnam and Cambodia, it has been made apparent to me that this knowledge had actually been more limited than I would have expected. This small introduction into the process of research has been an experience unlike any that I have experienced before. Being able to interact directly with and physically hold pieces of history gives a new level of depth to my prior understanding of what happened during the sixties.

CSUCI ENG 330 Website

This is our class blog site for reports on writing research and professional practice. Please plan to read the reports before class and respond to them with a question or meaningful comment. You can also site these for your midterm and in other course materials.

Discomfort made me feel stupid. I couldn’t understand half of what was really going on when reading these documents on the Vietnam war. A part of me honestly was skeptical when opening up these documents. To my own awareness, I was still flustered and confused as to why humanity at that time period, did what they did. It made me question myself, and the things I thought to be good about society. But after I watched a documentary assigned by Professors Matt Cook and Sean Kelly, everything made sense. The Sixties: The Years that Shaped a Generation portrayed the 60’s as a time of discomfort that lead to the endless fight for peace and equality. That in itself struck me to the core and opened so many doors for me to see why the Vietnam War was meant to be.

Admitting the truth is at times extremely hard to do. I could only get a glimpse of what the respected activist Martin Luther King had to go through to voice his truth. And I found myself frustrated with how long this emotional roller coaster even lasted. But it did, and that’s one thing I now appreciate about history. That we can accept what happened then, in order to appreciate what is happening right now. The many activists in this video who spoke out about the true meaning of this time period, talked about how the 60’s was where “a generation rebelled and lost it’s innocence.” In between feeling angry and confused I came to realize that being lost is good; because in that there’s a chance to find my truth. I see now that that’s what this time period did to most people back then. It helped them find their truth and share it. Living in the sixties seemed like an uphill battle, but without the war what would we have to fight for? This was a time of hardships and despair. But those same hardships lead to the expression of the voice of the people and what each of us stood for. Whether it be homosexuality, racial equality, women’s rights, or equal pay in the workforce, this horrifying war drove us to fight for what we believed in and voice our own opinions.

The document that caught my eye was a form of expression written in poetry by Roseville High school students who were affected by the war and everything it stood for. One of the poems was called, “My Life or Yours” by a high school student named Rich Hall who expressed the deep concern for innocent lives being taken away by more men getting drafted to war and dying for a cause they didn’t choose to fight for. The letter itself was written by a woman named Judi Holmes who had a cousin in the war who was struggling to see value in human life anymore. My point is that the many men who sacrificed their lives for us did it so we could have the courage to face ourselves and stop cowardly hiding in the fear of losing our sense of pride. The truth is, our pride was diminished as soon as the war had even started. We belittled ourselves by following our sense of pride and shame. In doing this, Presidents Lyndon B Johnson, John F Kennedy, and Nixon created lies like the Pentagon Papers and untold secret bombings on Cambodia; which spiraled into more conflict and hate. That anger turned into anti-war movements and ultimately new ideals of the people’s own definitions of freedom. This created a whole new outlook on life, where people discovered drugs and neglected their responsibilities. For once we were truly expressing ourselves with no limitations or boundaries. Whether it was through music, poetry, or societies, we cultivated freedom. And to me, through these different forms of expression, we weren’t free from the war; we were free from what the war stood for. I see now, through my analysis that the war resembled fear of defeat and humiliation. When in reality, we were the one’s humiliating ourselves by going to war with Vietnam.

In all honesty, in writing this I was afraid of being wrong in my confusion and stupidity. Then I remembered what Dr. Rajimaira once said during our lesson on critical thinking, “Discomfort is good…Confusion is the best!” In that moment, it all clicked for me. I was no longer fearful of doing the assignment wrong because for once I felt connected with the past, and more accepting of right now.