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War Hurts: The Deep Wounds of Distant War
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B
ENJAMIN DE
C
ARVALHO
| 2
War Hurts:
Vietnam Movies & the History of a Lost and Distant War
B
ENJAMIN DE
C
ARVALHO
You say I am the Jane Fonda of the Right? Listen, I’m not the right wing. I’m not the left wing. I love my country. I stand for ordinary Americans, losers a lot of them. They don’t understand big, international politics. Their country tells them to fight in Vietnam? They fight. […] The men who fought for us in Vietnam got a raw deal. Their country told them to fight. They did their best! They come home and they’re scorned. People spit at them. […] It left scars, that period, and I’m glad we’ve come out of it.
—Sylvester Stallone
1
The phase now is to make up a tolerable explanation for Vietnam. Our appetite is for a substitute answer, not the real answer. We’ll salve ourselves.
—David Rabe
2
In Iraq, the USA are once again, after Vietnam, involved in a quagmire abroad, whose end seems
ever more distant, and whose purpose, to many, has never been clear.
3
Although the protests
against the war are far from reaching the dimensions of the Vietnam antiwar demonstrations,
the presidential elections of 2004 showed clearly how divided America was on the issues raised
1
“Stallone on Patriotism and ‘Rambo’” The New York Times Jun. 6, 1985, p. C21
2
“The War and the Arts” The New York Times Mar. 31, 1985, p. SM50
3
It is not my purpose in this paper to argue that Iraq is a new “Vietnam.” However, many
commentators have drawn the comparison already, and as some commentators argue, “Iraq is no Vietnam,” “Vietnam holds lessons for Iraq” (Jonathan Rauch, 2004, “Iraq is No Vietnam” ReasonOnline Sep. 15, 2004 [accessible online from http://www.reason.com/rauch/091504.shtml]). Rather, the point I wish to argue in this paper deals with the difficulties related to the construction of the collective memory of difficult wars, or lost wars. As such, the paper might hold insights for a “post-Iraq” situation; assuming Iraq does not turn into a glowing American victory…
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| | Authors: de Carvalho, Benjamin. |
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B
ENJAMIN DE
C
ARVALHO
| 2
War Hurts:
Vietnam Movies &
the History of a Lost and Distant War
B
ENJAMIN DE
C
ARVALHO
You say I am the Jane Fonda of the Right? Listen, I’m not the right wing.
I’m not the left wing. I love my country. I stand for ordinary Americans,
losers a lot of them. They don’t understand big, international politics.
Their country tells them to fight in Vietnam? They fight. […] The men
who fought for us in Vietnam got a raw deal. Their country told them to
fight. They did their best! They come home and they’re scorned. People
spit at them. […] It left scars, that period, and I’m glad we’ve come out of
it.
—Sylvester Stallone
1
The phase now is to make up a tolerable explanation for Vietnam. Our
appetite is for a substitute answer, not the real answer. We’ll salve
ourselves.
—David Rabe
2
In Iraq, the USA are once again, after Vietnam, involved in a quagmire abroad, whose end seems
ever more distant, and whose purpose, to many, has never been clear.
3
Although the protests
against the war are far from reaching the dimensions of the Vietnam antiwar demonstrations,
the presidential elections of 2004 showed clearly how divided America was on the issues raised
1
“Stallone on Patriotism and ‘Rambo’” The New York Times Jun. 6, 1985, p. C21
2
“The War and the Arts” The New York Times Mar. 31, 1985, p. SM50
3
It is not my purpose in this paper to argue that Iraq is a new “Vietnam.” However, many
commentators have drawn the comparison already, and as some commentators argue, “Iraq is no
Vietnam,” “Vietnam holds lessons for Iraq” (Jonathan Rauch, 2004, “Iraq is No Vietnam” ReasonOnline
Sep. 15, 2004 [accessible online from http://www.reason.com/rauch/091504.shtml]). Rather, the point I
wish to argue in this paper deals with the difficulties related to the construction of the collective memory
of difficult wars, or lost wars. As such, the paper might hold insights for a “post-Iraq” situation; assuming
Iraq does not turn into a glowing American victory…
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