Yes, The War on Terror = Vietnam
by Joe Katzman
Winds of Change.NET
June 1, 2005 01:19 AM
Over the past 4 years, an uncountable deluge of commenters have compared the war we're in, explicitly or implicitly, to Vietnam. The analogy snakes through the war like a main circuit cable, plugged straight into the New Class.
So lately, I've been thinking: What if they're right? And, more recently, "I think they are."
Just not in the way they imagine.
Consider what happened during the Vietnam era. Large segments of the public:
- Learned that trusted sources and institutions could be trusted to lie to them regularly, with descriptions of events that deliberately bore little resemblance to reality.
- Lost faith not only in politics, but in many of the institutions once held up as arbiters and exemplars of the best society offered.
- Found themselves enmeshed in a cultural orthodoxy they considered smothering, and were none too pleased with the disciplinary tactics used to enforce it. These tactics, they believed, concealed and excused injustice, interfered with free choice, created unnecessary pain and often led directly to injustice themselves.
- Tuned in to alternative views, and alternative sources for finding them and the issues they reported on.
- All of the above, plus controversial war, mobilized large numbers of people into one side of the political spectrum and strongly shifted others who were already engaged. The intensity of that mobilization set their political templates for years to come.
Fast forward to the current era. Large segments of the public have now:.
- Learned that the sources and institutions they trusted (media, NGOs, social activists) can be trusted to deliberately lie to them, and that their descriptions of events often bear little resemblance to reality.
- Are losing faith in many of the institutions once held up as arbiters and exemplars of the best society offered. Media trust numbers are dropping like rocks. The U.N. is a sewer pit whose legitimacy is drowning in the stink. NGOs like Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and the International Red Cross are revealed as less than trustworthy, wasteful - and sometimes outright nefarious in pursuing policies anthithecal to their stated aims. "Toyota Taliban" is the soundbyte that says it all.
- Find themselves enmeshed in a cultural orthodoxy they consider smothering, and are none too pleased with the disciplinary tactics used to enforce "political correctness". PC, they believe, conceals and excuses injustice, interferes with free choice and expression, inflicts unnecessary pain and often leads directly to injustices itself.
- Tune in to alternative views, and alternative sources for finding them and the issues they report on.
- And a controversial war ensures that every one of these fault lines is destined to widen in the coming years.
Hence "9/11 liberals" and "the new Independents" in politics and the commentariat. Hence the blogosphere, which captures this dynamic better than any other medium. Hence "South Park Conservatives."
The current war may indeed be Vietnam redux. The Left erroneously assumes that it will therefore be on the winning side.
I wouldn't be so sure.
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