Archive for year: 2015
Week 5 Food for Thought
After this week we will be 1/3 of the way through the semester! Do you have what it takes to go the distance?
Read this piece, “10 Things Smart Students Do When Writing,” to get started on the middle leg of our race.
Dr. A
Social Issues
This week my fellow students and I were told to find a topic and get information about said topic. I chose health care, or more particularly women’s health care. We were also told to use crap detection, which is basically making sure that our sources are valid using three outside sources to validate said source.
My first source I thought U should help my group by finding something about general health care. I Googled health care. What I found was a source saying that the United States had the least quality of health care compared to Western industrialized countries, but we so happen to spend the most. Some of the reasons the U.S is last in care is because there is not much access to primary care, more so to those with low income, and who don’t get needed care.
The rest of my sources I found on women’s health. What I found a lot of was the debate going on about Planned Parenthood. Mostly what I found was that the Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood. Their claim is that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted fetuses. Based on what one is looking for one will find articles that are really right wing or left wing. What I found in Planned Parenthood’s defense was that abortions only count for 3% of the practices that go on in the facility and that part of the practice is not government funded. The Republicans also have video which they use as evidence to prove that Planned Parenthood is selling fetuses. From the other reports that I searched it was said that the video is slandered, parts are mixed and matched to make it look how the Republicans want it to look. If they don’t get what they want they are threatening a walk out. The Democrats and others are saying that if the government defunds Planned Parenthood it would make easy contraception and other availability such as pelvic exams, cervical/ breast cancer testing, pregnancy testing, STD/HIV testinging, etc; for young women very hard to come by.
#UNVI349DC
Root, Madison: Archive Dive Essay
Madison Root
Dr. Andersen
ENGL 330
September 8th 2015
The War That Was More
War means many things to many people, not always the same. For some, it means going to fight, politics or mass casualties. For me, the deepest connection comes from the feelings in which arise from the war. The anger, hatred, fear, sadness, strength, happiness, and uncertainty are the most palpable, as these emotions are experienced by everyone. I intend to humanize some of the sentiments of the past through different people’s perspectives so that their voices may be heard as opposed to adding their passing to a death total of the war.
Many American citizens were either pro war, or anti war. Over time, a lot of individuals turned against the war, but there were some of the few who didn’t know exactly where they stood. One of them being Mr. Robin C. Harris, a man who lived eight and a half hours from Camarillo in a town called French Gulch, about twenty minutes outside of Redding. His letter moved me in the fact that he hears both sides of the war, but doesn’t know which side is right. He doesn’t blame anyone except for the citizens who voted for the President, as it was their choice. The letter was written in 1970, yet it is still extremely well written and logical. He examines it as a whole, and rationalizes it out, which is such forward thinking that was grown out of confusion from not knowing what to do with everything going on around him. Some faced the trauma and perils of war, but Mr. Harris is faced with the trauma of not knowing where he fits in. Being so isolated and alone yet there were surely others who felt just as he did. The war left a lot of individuals dead, but also some who were dead on the inside.
Travel three hours inland almost to the border of Nevada and you will find the city of Phyllis Arnold, a 38 year old woman who lives one hour out of Reno in California. Her support for the war was whole-hearted, yet as time progressed, she grew to dislike it because it didn’t make sense to her. More than that, she couldn’t see a purpose for war because her son will soon be drafted into a war he doesn’t understand or believe in. Another sense of confusion flows through this mother who is struggling with her support towards the war, but can’t see her son fighting in something she can’t make sense of anymore. I think she speaks for most of the mothers that had sons who were soon to be drafted, as most of them were not interested in letting their sons go off to war. Concern and sadness for those who have to blindly lay down their lives for a fruitless effort was in the hearts of many, but when it comes to being family, it is even worse.
Across the waters in Vietnam was one Captain of the Army named Larry Schwab, serving time only because he felt he was medically obliged to do so for those who were wounded in battle since he was a medical intern, and he personally was not for the war. In a letter sent to a woman named Laura Palmer in 1988, he recalls his time in Vietnam in the year of 1968, and the horror that he endured. In his letter, he talks of bunkers nearby his being blown down, but his wasn’t. He knew he would die soon, but wondered why he didn’t. He says that he is living on borrowed time, rather the people who were killed are the ones he borrowed it from. “People unscarred by combat – but scarred by the war -write eloquently, too. They left their messages at The Wall. But you are the one who blended their stories of broken lives, of unfulfilled dreams, of children loving fathers they never knew, and of fractured homes and broken families still bleeding and grieving. You have captured the essence of the enduring American-Vietnam tragedy.” (Schwab) The war not only back home in American soil but first handedly took a tool on many. Not just those who fought, but the families they came from, the cities they left, the children they had to wave goodbye to as they were walking away from their homes. He fought for the lives that were being lost, not for the continual death of them.
“I like to daydream that somewhere its floral essence might still float on a summer breeze, past the nostrils of a man now in his forties, who will pause, search the pathways of his memory and say, ‘I remember a girl……..’” (Tolbert) This excerpt from Anna Kathryn Tolbert’s memoir Imprevu is her recollection of the way and all it left impacted on her. She was a Nurse from the Army Corps who ended up helping out Americans who suffered from injuries. She was told in nursing school not to wear perfume because it would cause the patient to get nauseous, yet she did anyways. The men loved for her to walk by because it was such a great smell, and she even put it on a cotton ball which she attached to their pillows at times for the more wounded, because it reminded them of a feminine presence in a male-dominated environment. More so, it reminded them of home. A scent that made them feel safe, secure, and numb, not from anesthesia but from the sweet floral smell that reminded them of a place that wasn’t war, wasn’t combat, and wasn’t pain. Through all the explosions, casualties, and lives lost, there was still an essence of what it was to be alive. She finds her own personal comfort while working on these men and looking back on it that she provided a connection for them to feel what it was like to be back at home. It gave them a chance to remember one last time before fading into those flowers or before entering into battle that home was near and still real. It was a comforting feeling that they so longed for without knowing, and shows that although they are soldiers, they are in fact human and miss home, their loved ones, and a soft, nurturing touch. These nurses, especially Tolbert, gave them something wonderful they could cling on to, and she hopes that they would remember it always.
Works Cited
Arnold, Phyllis. Letter to Congressman Harold T. Johnson. 1 June 1970. Broome Library Harold T. Johnson Collection. Camarillo, CA. 25 August 2015. TS.
Phyllis, Arnold. Letter to Congressman Harold T. Johnson. Personal photograph by author. 25 August 2015.
Harris, Robin C. Letter to Congressman Harold T. Johnson. 16 May 1970. Broome Library Harold T. Johnson Collection. Camarillo, CA. 25 August 2015. TS.
Harris, Robin C. Letter to Congressman Harold T. Johnson. Personal photograph by author. 25 August 2015.
Schwab, Larry. “Letter to Laura Palmer [January 1, 1988]” 1988. TS. Lib. of Cong., Washington, D.C. Lib. of Cong. Web. 15 Sep. 2015. <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.23979/letter?ID=tx0001>.
Tolbert, Anna Kathryn. “Imprevu by Anna Kathryn Tolbert February 14 1992” 1992. TS. Lib. of Cong., Washington, D.C. Lib. of Cong. Web. 15 Sep. 2015. <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.15961/pageturner?ID=pm0012001>.
Archive Dive Final Draft
Nathan Porter
September 22, 2015
Professor Stacey Anderson
English 330
The War Lost at Home
The Vietnam War is the only time that the US has gone into an extended conflict without a declaration of war. What started as a promise to keep Communism at bay in South Vietnam resulted in a nearly 20-year war which cost America over 58,000 young men’s lives. Not only had America decided to remain in an undeclared war, but with an increase of modern technology, especially that of television, it was the first time the people were exposed to many of the unseen horrors of the war. The final straw was when the draft began to be instituted and an unwilling country sent unwilling soldiers to a foreign land, and often to their death. All of this resulted in one of the most defining times of political and social unrest, not bound by any age gap. Although many factors contributed to the unrest, the defining factor was the draft, and it may have been the greatest factor in causing the US to lose the war at home before it lost it overseas.
In 1969 when the national draft lottery was established it brought in a whole new characteristic to public opinion on the Vietnam War. Previously there had already been huge increases in draft calls from 100,000 in 1964 up to 400,000 in 1979, drastically increasing the number of US troops in Vietnam. When the draft lottery was established, all men born within drafting ages were assigned numbers based on their birthday. Then the numbers were drawn randomly, effectively calling all men with the same birthday to serve at once. Although only 25% of the men serving in the armed forces were draftees, most of that number was over-represented in “the army’s fighting forces and thus had the highest casualty rates” (Vietnam Experiences). It is estimated that approximately 47% of the army overseas were draftees. Again, as the draftees were often those in combat, it resulted in draftees composing nearly 28% of the battle deaths in 1965. However, this number dramatically increased to nearly 57% in 1967. Ultimately, by 1968 draftees were approximately 88% of the army’s riflemen in Vietnam.
Not only was the draft present in the hearts and minds of America, but the lottery itself was put on live television for all of the country to watch. The film industry may have been one of the greatest contributing factors to the loss of the Vietnam war, with everything from live footage of combat, to exposing the country to a lengthy exposition of the young men being selected to enter combat unwillingly. For those not alive during this time, it may be difficult to understand the full experience of the draft calls. However the movie Animal House does an excellent job of recreating the moments. The movie allows us to get a glimpse into the time and experience with those who were the most affected by the draft. These draft calls may have been the beginnig of the end for the Vietnam war.
One area that the draft had a massive effect was on those young men available for the draft, especially for those who number had been assigned. As stated by the article Caught in the Draft, the draft number that a man received not only “affected their degree of support of the war,” but often dramatically affected “their basic partisan and ideological values” as well (American Political Science Review). The students with low draft numbers were facing a nearly imminent threat of getting sent overseas into combat and often caused a dramatic shift in perspective. What is even more compelling is that those with higher numbers often remained complacent in their situation. For those graduating high school students with low draft numbers, college suddenly became a much more enticing option and those who were graduating college underwent waves of fear at the possibility of their future forever changing. The film Animal House captures this sentiment perfectly as it delves into the reactions of college students as they receive their draft numbers. Not only that but brings into light when the dean of the school threatens students nearing college dropout that upon returning home that the draft was again a possibility. The kind of widespread fear and panic caused in our young men by the draft is something that definitely altered our country’s opinion on the war.
A strong element of the objection to the draft were those known as “draft dodgers.” As shown in the image below many young men would rally against the war and often burn their draft cards in protest. This again alludes to those put in the place of possibility in being sent overseas. Many men also sought to escape to Canada to avoid being drafted. This attributes to the idea that the war itself was lost at home before it was even lost overseas. The draft, as well as the war altogether, was beginning to pull the country apart.
Another impactful source for opinion on the Vietnam are those parents that lived in fear of their sons being drafted into the armed forces. As stated by a Mr. and Mrs. Elliot in a letter to President Johnson in 1967 “we believe that we are fast approaching the point of no return where all of our hopes and dreams will die.” The Elliots had 2 draft age sons currently in University and one that would soon be graduating high school. The possibility of these young men being drafted upon completion of school was tremendous, the result terrifying. Another similar letter is from a man named Ford Taplin who had two draft age sons wrote another letter to Del Clauson in the House of Representatives. Taplin’s frustration was not necessarily with the war itself but the manner in which it appeared to be fought. His questions revolve around the fact that we had not won the war and it still did not seem to be coming any closer to ending. Ford agreed with much of the public opinion that perhaps the war was more political, or that the government itself was gaining from the fighting. If Taplin was going to send his sons to die, he wanted to know why.
The opinions expressed in these letters is little more than a glimpse into the mind of America by the time it was nearing its end. Already so many had been sent overseas and little result could be seen, the success stories were few and the horror stories continued to grow. Also, as more and more young men reached draft age, the fear of the country at the prospect of losing even more of its young increased as well. However, what highlights the elements of the draft is the fact that most remained indifferent to the draft until it directly impacted their life. Whether it was draft age college students or parents who wanted to protect their children, these were the ones fighting the war at home.
Overall, the Vietnam War was a very trying time in US history. When so many young men died valiantly but yet, in the end, did die seemingly in vain. As the draft called more and more young men to fight, the country’s moral continued to plummet.. The public no longer saw the war as brave soldiers taking up arms to fight for freedom around the world, rather a government forcing its citizens to die for those that were a few too many steps removed from the heart of America. In the end, as a result of the draft, the Vietnam War truly was a war lost at home.
Works Cited
“Caught in the Draft: The Effects of Vietnam Draft Lottery Status on Political Attitudes.” American Political Science Review May 2011: pag. Print.
Elliot, Mr. and Mrs. Letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson. 3 Mar. 1967. MS.
“James M. Beck Collection.” : Veterans History Project (American Folklife Center, Library of Congress).Web. 15 Sept. 2015.
Man Burning Draft Card at Vietnam War Protest. 1967. AP Images, New York City.
Taplin, Ford. Letter to Del Clauson. 20 Feb. 1967. MS.
“When The Vietnam War Came To ‘Animal House’.” Here Now RSS. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Cooper-Church Amendment to the Rescue!
The Vietnam War was a very controversial and difficult time in American history for all Americans. This proved to be true to me after perusing through several letters from that era of many civilians that felt it was such an impactful event they felt the need to write letters to their congressman Harold T. “Bizz” Johnson asking him to please end it and return all the troops home. The opposition to the war seemed to be at its highest during the 1970s, which was the year most of the letters I reviewed were from. The letters came from a big variety of people ranging from students, parents, business owners, teachers, and even veterans. There was a persistent theme within these letters, a huge population of people mentioned they were in favor of the passing of the Cooper-Church Amendment. It would presumably help aid in the ending of the war and bring back the peoples’ beloved troops by limiting US involvement in Southeast Asia and creating new regulations as to how the President handled our troops during times of war.
While exploring various letters from that era I came across a certain letter from a man, a father of three, named R James Rasmussen who wrote very passionately about his feelings about the war in Southeast Asia. I found it very intriguing because the points that he made in his letter seemed to have more truth and facts to them than most of the other letters I read because of the statement Mr. Rasmussen made saying he was “active in local political groups in support of our representative form of government. That’s the way I’ve felt for the past 37 years. I am no longer so sure of that position.” This was a very powerful statement as it shows that he has long been a supporter of the way the government was run and was very well educated as to how the government was functioning at that time but due to the results of the war his mindset changed! I would imagine it would take something really powerful and controversial to change the mind of somebody who had supported the government for over 30 years; in this case it was the Vietnam war. Mr. Rasmussen’s point of view against the war become even more valid as he reveals later in his letter that he feared for his sons’ lives saying “I am interested in saving the real limbs and bodies of my children not their symbolic faces.” Again this is very powerful as he is showing his fatherly side and concern for the well being of his children. He knows about the thousands that were drafted and the thousands that were killed and he 
does not want the same fate for his children. You can see in the picture of the letter here that while reading it you can sense his anger and disappointment while he writes, he even underlines some of his most important points to make sure the reader understands his message. To end his letter he finishes with one simple statement; “I support the Cooper-Church Amendment.” This letter truly depicted the overall feelings and emotions people underwent during that era.
There came a light of hope for Americans when two Senators by the names of John Sherman Cooper and Frank Church created the Cooper-Church Amendment as an attachment to the Foreign Military Sales Act of 1971. In a nutshell this amendment created “limitations on the United States involvement in Cambodia… to avoid the involvement of the United States in Cambodia after July 1, 1970, and to expedite the withdrawal of American forces” (Limited US Involvement in the Indochina War). It limited things such as the deployment of troops, aerial combat, and most importantly the return of troops from Cambodia which is what the people really wanted in an attempt to end this, as some called it, “pointless” war. This amendment was debated for months and was finally approved by the Senate in a vote of 58 to 37 in favor of it. However, it was denied later by the House of Representatives in an opposing vote of 237 to 153. The main problem with this amendment was that the Nixon Administration argued that it basically “denied the constitutional power of the President” (Cooper Church Amendment). “The President, calling the Senate-passed amendment not “particularly precise” (Averill) would go on to say that this amendment was far from perfect and would veto the entire bill unless certain provisions were made to maintain his Constitutional power as Commander in Chief so that he has the power to protect the soldiers but also be able to send them when he feels it is necessary to defend our country or aid other countries. Thankfully it didn’t stop there. Several adjustments later and after more debating a new revised version was able to pass both houses of Congress in December of 1970 and came into action as of January 5, 1971. It became more acceptable when a section was added to the end stating:
“Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to impugn the constitutional power of the President as Commander in Chief including the exercise of that constitutional power which may be necessary to protect the lives of United States armed forces whenever deployed.” (Cooper Church Amendment)
An article in the Los Angeles Times by Joseph Alsop states “[the amendment’s] passage, by a narrow majority, was fulsomely saluted as a decisive triumph.” By then of course many US forces had been officially withdrawn from Cambodia and many people were at ease now that the soldiers were being protected more even though the war did not officially end until 1975.
Works Cited
Alsop, Joseph. “Cooper-Church Measure Dies in House-Senate Committee.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File): 1. Oct 02 1970. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sep. 2015 .
Averill, John H. “Nixon Assails Senate Over Cambodia Curb.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File): 16. Jul 02 1970. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sep. 2015 .
Cooper Church Amendment, 01 June 1970, Folder 14, Box 49, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 03 – Legal and Legislative, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. 13 Sep. 2015.
Limiting US Involvement In The Indochina War, 27 January 1975, Folder 12, Box 51, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 03 – Legal and Legislative, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. 14 Sep. 2015.
Rasmussen, R James. Letter to Congressman Harold T. Johnson. 21 May 1970. Broome Library Harold T. Johnson Collection. Camarillo, CA. 15 Sept. 2015. TS.
Blog 4: Refugee Crisis.
Hi there! First off, the links to my sources are posted at the bottom in the order that I brought them up. Here is my entire process for Challenge 3. First I opened up a few tabs and opened the three suggested search engines: Duck Duck Go, Google, and Yahoo. I typed in “Refugee Crisis” in all three and clicked on the “Search” or “Go” buttons in each respective search engine. I first looked into the results from the Duck Duck Go search Engine since I have never heard or used this one before. It is extremely useful if a person is trying to find news articles to use as resources because that is everything it pulls up immediately. I was quickly able to find fantastic sources on New York Times, CNN, and Fox News.
Quick background on the current refugee crisis. The International Rescue Committee informs that, “More than 300,000 people have fled to Europe over the past year to escape conflict or persecution in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Most have fled the brutal civil war in Syria, now in its fifth year.” The war on terror with Isis has also contributed greatly to the refugees. The problem countries are facing is what should they do with all of the refugees, and how can it be done safely? Many people expect terrorists to hide in cover in refugee groups so that they can attack countries easier.
From Duck Duck Go, I found an article from September 20, 2015 by New York Times titled, “U.S Will Accept More Refugees as Crisis Grows,” authored by Michael Gordon, Alison Smale, and Rick Lyman. The article is about a huge increase in refugees that will be accepted. The usual amount is 70,000, but it will be increased to 100,000. This is a great decision by the U.S government to help people in need. There is plenty of unrest and refugees that need help.
Next I looked at my results from the Yahoo Search Engine. This was useful because there were plenty of videos and pictures that gave me a clear picture of what the current refugee crisis looks like. I chose blog from The Hill.com titled, “Rand Paul blames Hillary for refugee crisis.” I honestly chose this blog because I found it extremely annoying that people would use a terrible problem to increase their political prowess and to try to garner headlines. Rand Paul is “upset” with Hillary for saying that we would accept refugees. Overall I found it incredibly selfish.
Finally I looked at my results from Google. The 1st page alone gave me so many different possible sources, so I decided to narrow my search. I changed my search to “Refugee Crisis Blogs” and found some fantastic sources. One was from Rescue.org and is a blog about the refugee crisis in Europe. The title is “Refugee crisis in Europe: Aid worker updates” dated on September 6, 2015 by the International Rescue Committee. The article contains info about the current crisis, and provides pictures of the refugees. It also provides tweets from a few people and organizations to help the public understand how severe this crisis is.
Another useful source is from Whitehouse.Gov titled, “What You Need to Know About the Syrian Refugee Crisis and What the U.S is doing to Help” by Tanya Somanader who is the Deputy Director of Digital Content for the Office of Digital Strategy. It is actually a blog on Whitehouse.gov, which I found surprising. This article describes who the U.S is responding, and people can further do for help.
Lastly, I chose another article from New York Times titled “The Refugee Crisis Has Produced One Winner: Organized Crime” by Misha Glenny. It was written on September 20, 2015. The article describes how gangs in Europe are offering a bodyguard service to refugees, for a price of course. It’s incredibly saddening and shocking that people would take advantage of these refugees, but it is also expected.
Overall it was a great learning experience that informed me of all the help the refugees are receiving, as well as the troubles that they go through.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/254321-rand-paul-blames-hillary-for-refugee-crisis
http://www.rescue.org/blog/refugee-crisis-europe
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/09/15/what-you-need-know-about-syrian-refugee-crisis-and-what-us-doing-help
Thanks for reading.
-Ryland
Archive Dive- Essay
Christina Cisneros
Professor Anderson
English 330- Tuesday
8 September 2015
Information Worth Sharing
Propaganda gathers ideas to trick people by convincing them that their actions is based from their own belief. Communication and media comes from many sources that provides us with information in various forms. Harold T. Johnson served in the House of Representatives (1959-1981) during the Vietnam Era (1961-1975). In a 1967 unprocessed letter from a patriotic citizen, Mrs. Tressa Rosecrantz wrote to Johnson about a phone call from a conscientious anti-war representative questioning Rosecrantz defense in supporting the American government. Rosecrantz informed herself about the war by reading books and newspapers on Vietnam to make an educational decision in supporting the U.S. government. Clips on television serves as an entertainment source of information in a positive, negative, or neutral fashion. During the Vietnam era, there was a battle in propaganda aside from the military war. One must identify the credibility of the source and to perceive the truth behind the lies.
First, “Like “Us” or “Them”? Perceptions of the U.S. on the CBC-TV National News Services in the 1960,” Mallory Schwartz analyzed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television news on the U.S. foreign policy: Vietnam. Schwartz writes to us that the CBC-TV brought the vietnam war into the living rooms of English-speaking Canadians. In a 1963 tv news clip, reporter Dale Mont expressed a story in a neutral setting of the American efforts in training Vietnam troop. The news clips also viewed the american military aid dropping food resources and supplies in the village of Chan Wang. “Although such actions had potentially positive semantic connotations, Mont displayed no favour for the American forces, using only neutral and concrete language to describe their efforts”, as Schwartz addressed in his analysis(p.138). The clip of 1963 presented the U.S. in the Vietnam war in a natural viewing of military assistance.
Equally important, in a 1964 CBC-TV clip transitioned to the U.S. military intervention; the audio language did not paired with the visual. The visual narrative shows an unpleasant war-like setting; the language narrative was negative; the music was tense, fast-paced, and scary. Schwartz explains, “while the visual narrative and the ominous music projected explicit and implicit American aggression, the language-base narrative did not even discuss the action shown” referring to the low-level of criticism the language paired with the visual (p.139). This clip of information provides viewers with a realistic visual setting of the war in Vietnam.
In any case, a 1965 CBC-TV clip shows content of an anti-war protest. Similar protest carried along through 1968 releveling chaos between police and protesters. Anti-war activists were not always presented positive. The information is “the combination of sativa, ridicule, and the reports use of negative language to describe the draft dodgers- especially through associations made with the Vietcong- made both them and their efforts appear comical”, Schwartz concludes as the CBC only criticized and was bias against those not in favor for the Americans involvement in the war (p.142). The CBC also featured stories about peace negotiations. Most of the language presented on CBC was neutral describing the actions and decisions of the U.S. government. The useful information of topic clips served as a pro-American message.
Second in, “Another War in Vietnam–Propaganda”, Leslie Jacques tells us who were the sources of information in the forms of posters, newspapers, tv, and banners from the streets of Saigon. Posters and banners hang encouraging people to backup their soldiers in Saigon Front. Saigon is being overturn by the Viet Cong battling against the U.S. efforts in South Vietnam(LA Times). The U.S. and South Vietnamese government were heavily involved in a propaganda battle. One must read multiple sources of information in order to figure out the lies from the truth.
In fact, the propaganda in newspapers from Saigon tells two different stories. Newspaper were seized when outspoken words targeted to retreat soldiers. Jacques notes President Nauyen Van Thieu and Members of Parliament ordered no more disclosure of information on military events and to engage no propaganda (LA Times). The South Vietnam legislatures only rely on the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) and on the Voice of America to obtain truthful information. Information can be censor and one must be knowledgeable in identifying reliable resources.
Furthermore, Jacques tells us Dang Due Ky was the director of the South Vietnam nationwide government-run tv station. Ky confesses that raw information must be cooked for the tv audience however he was responsible for the information that ended up being view by President Thieu. As a source of information, Ky told the truth that he thinks people ought to know(LA Times). The information presented by KY was the truth to persuade a side of knowledge. Naturally, propaganda is a relevant source of information after deducting 80 percent of the “make stuff up” story.
Third, “U.S. Widens Vietnam Propaganda Aid”, Seth King writes to us the propaganda war between the U.S. and Viet Cong. The two sources of information presented was through leaflets and booklets.The U.S. government carried out leaflets encouraging South Vietnam people not to support their government in its fighting; the end results was death. At the same time, the Viet Cong used the other side of the leaflet announcing their success of an attack on the American billet in the city of Quinhon (NY Times). Both propaganda pieces serves as an information framework to gain knowledge of events and action taking place during the war. The U.S. govt was feeding South Vietnam with leaflets and booklets and at the same time, Viet Cong shared their side of the story on the same leaflets for their advantage. Obtaining both sides of the story is key in receiving information as being either accurate or not.
Fourth, “A Study of Veteran Viewpoints on TV coverage of the Vietnam War”, Anthony Adams tells us to look deeper to find the truth of a message. As a result from the survey, there was a range in the accuracy presented in tv news items. Adams concludes that the higher educated veterans reported that the tv was the most realistic form in viewing the events during the war (p.251). Most important, the veterans agreed that the tv coverage influenced the viewers opinions about the war. Information is either truthful or misleading.
Last, in a February 1971 advertisement for Vietnam veterans against the war a photo of a casket appeared in the Playboy Magazine. These veterans are recruiting other veterans and citizens who feel the same way; over 300,000 U.S. soldiers died as the U.S. continues to intervene. The Vietnam veterans were strongly passion about leaving the message stating, “And we don’t think that that’s worth it”, referring to the image of the picture: a dead U.S. soldier (p.65). Propaganda appears in magazines too and it’s the receiver’s responsibility to be well-informed to the issues happening around the world on a daily basis.
Propaganda captures worldview information to turn one’s ideas in a convincing fashion. As a result, propaganda influences people’s behaviors. Bizz Johnson received many letters from the citizens of the U.S. of their concern in America’s involvement with the Vietnam War. Johnson replied tactful information to help support the American political decisions on this foreign issue. Schwartz concludes that the CBC-tv news brought viewers a non-persuading entertainment information on the warfare in Vietnam. Any relevant source of information builds powers of knowledge. Jacques tells us the propaganda war in Saigon was a two-sided information battle as one must seek and beware of the truth behind all the lies. King writes to us another propaganda battle from leaflets and booklets. Finally Adams tells us the higher educated veterans are aware of the bias information sent by a particular source in making the public to be convince on a certain-sided argument. The more information one receives, the better understanding of knowing the reality of current events. Sources of information are ideas worth sharing.
Works Cited
Adams, Anthony. “A Study of Veteran Viewpoints on TV Coverage of the Vietnam War.” Journalism Quarterly. pg. 248-253. Web. 1 Sept 2015.
Jacques, Leslie. “Another War in Vietnam—Propaganda.” Los Angeles Times. 30 April 1972: k1. Web. 1 Sept 2015.
King, Seth. “U.S. Widens Vietnam Propaganda Aid.” New York Times. 17 Mar 1965: 4. Web. 1 Sept 2015.
Rosecrantz, Tressa. Letter to Congressman Harold T. Johnson. 17 May 1967. Broome Library Harold T. Johnson Collection. Camarillo, CA. 25 August 2015.
Schwartz, Mallory. “Like “Us” or “Them”? perceptions of the United States on the CBC-TV National News Service in the 1960″. Journal of Canadian Studies. 44.3 (2010): pg 118-153. Web. 1 Sept 2015.
Unknown. Vietnam Veterans Against the War. 1971. PlayBoy Magazine. Vietnam War Era Ephemera Collection. By University Libraries University of Washington: Digital Collections. pg 65. Web.
