Spitting on history
Here's a story about the seeming myth of the spat-upon Vietnam War veteran. The author's supposition that the stories arose even in part from the same machismo that's played on to promote military actions, and related fears of loss of gender identity is an interesting one to me. That the genesis and perpetuation of them is possibly part of a self-loathing in Vietnam vets who have too strongly linked their masculinity to a lost war, and that similar mechanisms concerning national identity are at work in the nation as a while, are the elements I find most fascinating. It certainly meshes with many aspects of the pro-war sentiments, the "support our troops" cultural push, and the way protestors are viewed by many. That it's a factor in the simple-minded appeal of the polarized "with us or against us"stance seems almost beyond question.
My question (well, the one that comes first to mind this Sunday morning) is how many of these images and stories, as we look back on it from three decades since the fall of Saigon, arose from motion picture representations? Linking them, their roots and what made them resonate with so many, with the 80's (when they apparently began to be given voice on movie screens) and the spirit of renewed national pride (including the all-too-familiar "get tough" attitude) of the Reagan era strikes me as large, clear window on the psychology of our own times. What disturbs me most about it is that while much of it is a matter of human nature and its aggregate in society, it's not a pure experiment. There are people, agencies and conglomerated interests who are very likely pushing these buttons because it serves their interests.
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