vietnamese59 (u/vietnamese59)

vietnamese59 commented on At My Lai: The Photographer Who Captured the Massacre foto.gettyimages.com/arch... · Posted by u/user982

andrepd · 8 years ago

Maybe we should ask what Soviets think of their regime (most of them supported it, and still more people prefer the Soviet Union to Putin right now). That doesn't make their regime any more or less good.

And how does the "other side" committing atrocities excuse your own atrocities?? That's an appalling way to attempt to self justify.

vietnamese59 · 8 years ago

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who opposed communism had their lives slaughtered. What is even remotely equivalent committed by the "other side"?

EDIT to andrepd, since I can't reply to you because of post limit: You're using straw man arguments and I can't keep up. I don't know anything about East Timor but by "other side", I meant the US and South Vietnam. We're obviously discussing the Vietnam War and the participants involved and you're going off on a tangent that makes it impossible to have any debate with you.

vietnamese59 commented on At My Lai: The Photographer Who Captured the Massacre foto.gettyimages.com/arch... · Posted by u/user982

subpixel · 8 years ago

Ken Burn's recent series on Vietnam is very well made and speaks with participants and stakeholders from across the ideological spectrum. Highly recommended: https://www.netflix.com/title/70202579

vietnamese59 · 8 years ago

I know it's a popular series, and I haven't gotten my dad's response to it because he hasn't watched it, but many war veterans and South Vietnamese military members say it's not a very balanced documentary.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/29/veterans-angry-disapp...

https://www.military.com/off-duty/television/2017/10/02/vete...

vietnamese59 commented on At My Lai: The Photographer Who Captured the Massacre foto.gettyimages.com/arch... · Posted by u/user982

system16 · 8 years ago

To be fair, the Vietnamese communities in Southern California are stuck in a time bubble. Vietnam has changed dramatically since the Vietnam War (or War of American Aggression as it's called in Vietnam), but the Vietnamese diaspora's image of the country has not. It's not the same place, and the government - while nowhere near perfect - is not the same as it was 50 years ago. The country still has many problems, but it is getting better, and the country's youth have a very healthy skepticism of government (unlike mainland China).

Also, let's not try to paint the former South leadership as noble. Buddhists weren't self-immolating in the streets of Saigon because of the communists, and the victim in the infamous photo being shot at point blank in the head was a Viet Cong.

vietnamese59 · 8 years ago

You're using two data points when hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians were systematically slaughtered by Ho Chi Minh and his comrades. The propaganda is strong when the general public knows more about the head shot photo than the mass murders committed by communist Vietnamese regime.

vietnamese59 commented on At My Lai: The Photographer Who Captured the Massacre foto.gettyimages.com/arch... · Posted by u/user982

namelost · 8 years ago

I'm sorry but the actions of the Viet Cong do not excuse the crimes committed the US, and neither does the nationality of your parents.

To this day, many are maimed and killed by US land mines in the region, and the US does not give a shit.

vietnamese59 · 8 years ago

You're setting up a straw man to an argument I never made. All I'm telling you is how my dad, his brothers, and the vast majority of his first generation Vietnamese friends (who arrived as refugees) feel about America and the Vietnam War. Despite what you may think, they wholeheartedly support America.

If you don't believe me, you should try visiting Little Saigon on Bolsa Avenue in Orange Country and ask them what they think of the USA. Look at the flags they use (South Vietnam and the USA). If you want to get assaulted (I highly don't recommend this), try bringing Vietnam's current flag and parade it around.

EDIT:

to andrepd: Again, you keep setting up straw man arguments. It's very easy to attack someone if you misrepresent their views. I never said anything about excusing massacres.

vietnamese59 commented on At My Lai: The Photographer Who Captured the Massacre foto.gettyimages.com/arch... · Posted by u/user982

megous · 8 years ago

Sadly, similar massacres are happening almost daily in this world. One day you see someone start a twitter campaing like #iamstillalive, the other you see a reports of him being killed in an airstrike with countless other people. People are daily begging on twitter for their lives, to be spared, to someone help them. You can easily find similar images from what you see in this article, from yesterday, day prior, almost any day of the week. Dead people, burned people, living people who have their arms baked to the bone, hacked off extremities... plenty of orhpaned children. Just yesterday ~61 people were burned to death in incendiary air strike in the middle of the city with many others injured.

What is worrying though how much propaganda there is these days, which says that this is all made up, staged, people are doing it to themselves, and how many people seemingly take this shit seriously. How much effort there is to justify such attrocities. That's seriously deranged, and I still don't know what to think of it.

vietnamese59 · 8 years ago

My parents are Vietnamese. My dad actually fought in the war with the South Vietnamese army alongside US troops. He's a lifelong Republican, as were all of his brothers who also fought, as well as the vast majority of his friends and their families who arrived as refugees.

They supported the war. They saw the US as liberators against the communists who wanted to murder them and take over their country. They love America and despise communist Vietnam. They wish the US had finished the job.

Promoting things like the link above and conveniently omitting the pure savagery of the Viet Cong, Ho Chi Minh, and the communists from the North is pure propaganda. It's always puzzling to me what types of topics journalists choose to run.

Instead of listening to journalists reporting on Vietnam from half a world away, you should visit Little Saigon in Southern California and Northern California and ask them how they feel about America and the Vietnam War.

EDIT: Since I have a post limit and I can't reply below, I'll reply here.

quan: I didn't say My Lai was propaganda. I said emphasizing My Lai over the several atrocities committed by the communists, including the systematic murders of those who opposed communism, is propaganda.