Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to But not the truth, either

Remember "perspective?"
TB — (archived)

It's inane to try and float the notion that the American Left of the 60s and early 70s did not have an enormous hostility to all things military, including people in uniform. I didn't spend that period of time living in a cave.

That they were a minority among Americans doesn't change that. And trying to isolate the hostility to a specific physical act (spitting) is misleading, to put the best face on it.

It would be like trying to isolate and quantify racism in the Old South by only counting the number of lynchings, and ignoring all other lesser behaviors.

A much more prevalent attitude among moderate Americans after Vietnam was discomfort, and trying to pretend it would all go away if nobody paid attention to it. This was a lot better than hostility, but not much help for many troubled veterans, who tended to find that their problems were being ignored.

The military personnel of the current conflict are getting a better general reception from most Americans than the veterans of Vietnam did. However, the hostility of the Far Left is still there.

I also don't think the more moderate liberals, who are not hostile toward the troops, quite understand the ramifications of demanding that our forces abdicate the battle, and the effect this would have on those same troops. They honestly believe that the average soldier or Marine wants nothing more than to come home, regardless of the circumstances under which it happens, including defeat. For most of them, this is not true.

This latter issue is much more significant than a few banners in a protest march.

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