My son is 14. If anyone thinks in 4 years time I’ll let him get dragged into an insane and pointless conflict with Russia, they can think on. And we are a military family.
My son is 14. If anyone thinks in 4 years time I’ll let him get dragged into an insane and pointless conflict with Russia, they can think on. And we are a military family.
This is not a snotty retort but a serious question. Were you old enough to have views on American Vietnam war-era "draft dodgers" and if so, what did you think of them?
I was still a teenager. In the effective absence of alternative voices, I totally accepted the 'domino theory' and believed the American actions were for the good of the 'free" world. At the time I did not approve of Mohammed Ali's position as a conscientious objector.
Now I am in the anti-war camp, but it took the WMD in Iraq lies to open my eyes. After than I learned about False Flag events and the false dichotomy "You are either with us or you are with the terrorists' - G.W. Bush. And stories of the USS Maine, the Lusitania, Pearl Harbour, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Operation Northwoods, Operation Gladio, 9/11, the Arab Spring, the Maidan Putsch, the claims of Gadhaffi providing Viagra and Bashar al Assad gassing his own people, and on and on, all illustrating and confirming the pattern. The USA and its partners in the 5 Eyes have employed smear tactics and repressed critics, They have consistently identified minority and malcontented groups in a myriad of countries, given them support and training to undertake operations to overthrow their governments, ostensibly in pursuit of genuine democracy (purple thumb voters, must be legitimate) in phased programs of propaganda and financial support followed by violence if the soft power does not work. There is no going back when you recognize the evil actions, the poisonous words no longer work.
When "Animal House" came out, I and my two friends went to see it. A row in front of us was a comparable group of women. Everyone else in the audience was young'uns.
We six were the only ones who got what Neidermeier's threat really meant; one of us had had a boyfriend (later husband) whose bad grades had meant he was in grave danger of flunking out and being drafted.
And then there was this. I'm not so approving of self-promotion via comments threads but even all these years later I think this boy ought to be remembered.
Yes I was there and was part of the draft resistance and proud of it. It is nothing more than human sacrifice, and it was the courageous people who refused to be beaten into submission by ill-informed ridicule and scorn. They lived! We assisted those in the military who wanted OUT. We understood they were being used as pawns in an immoral war of conquest, and were not the decision makers. And no, we did not spit on them!
Heck, I grew up with Peace and Love, and "Make Love Not War" and "Ban the Bomb"!
Bob Dylan's "With God on Our Side", John Lennon's "Imagine", Simon & Garfunkel's "Silent Night", and all the rest. Some of us stayed true to the Revolution.
I have a cousin who was conscripted for Vietnam (here in Australia we had the birthday ballot), balls blown off by a mine.
My father at 18 volunteered in 1944, was a radio operator in Borneo, and saw things that no young lad should see, mates being blown up. He never talked about it, but suffered PTSD for the rest of his life.
War is terrible.
Not just the violence, but the young men going off to be sacrificed because of the political machinations of the old - one of the most evil things imaginable.
My son is 14. If anyone thinks in 4 years time I’ll let him get dragged into an insane and pointless conflict with Russia, they can think on. And we are a military family.
Good for you! That's what we want to hear.
We stole 4 years of their lives....we are not going to let the owners of the world use our children as fodder for their moneyed interests.
This is not a snotty retort but a serious question. Were you old enough to have views on American Vietnam war-era "draft dodgers" and if so, what did you think of them?
I was still a teenager. In the effective absence of alternative voices, I totally accepted the 'domino theory' and believed the American actions were for the good of the 'free" world. At the time I did not approve of Mohammed Ali's position as a conscientious objector.
Now I am in the anti-war camp, but it took the WMD in Iraq lies to open my eyes. After than I learned about False Flag events and the false dichotomy "You are either with us or you are with the terrorists' - G.W. Bush. And stories of the USS Maine, the Lusitania, Pearl Harbour, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Operation Northwoods, Operation Gladio, 9/11, the Arab Spring, the Maidan Putsch, the claims of Gadhaffi providing Viagra and Bashar al Assad gassing his own people, and on and on, all illustrating and confirming the pattern. The USA and its partners in the 5 Eyes have employed smear tactics and repressed critics, They have consistently identified minority and malcontented groups in a myriad of countries, given them support and training to undertake operations to overthrow their governments, ostensibly in pursuit of genuine democracy (purple thumb voters, must be legitimate) in phased programs of propaganda and financial support followed by violence if the soft power does not work. There is no going back when you recognize the evil actions, the poisonous words no longer work.
When "Animal House" came out, I and my two friends went to see it. A row in front of us was a comparable group of women. Everyone else in the audience was young'uns.
We six were the only ones who got what Neidermeier's threat really meant; one of us had had a boyfriend (later husband) whose bad grades had meant he was in grave danger of flunking out and being drafted.
And then there was this. I'm not so approving of self-promotion via comments threads but even all these years later I think this boy ought to be remembered.
https://redfoliot.substack.com/p/tommy-through-a-glass
Yes I was there and was part of the draft resistance and proud of it. It is nothing more than human sacrifice, and it was the courageous people who refused to be beaten into submission by ill-informed ridicule and scorn. They lived! We assisted those in the military who wanted OUT. We understood they were being used as pawns in an immoral war of conquest, and were not the decision makers. And no, we did not spit on them!
You did right.
Speaking personally as an Aussie, I was old enough to go on the Anti-Vietnam war Moratorium protest marches in 1969.
It was obvious to many of us that it was a pointless and unnecessary war.
Took far too long for too many people.
But you did right and you were smart from the start.
Heck, I grew up with Peace and Love, and "Make Love Not War" and "Ban the Bomb"!
Bob Dylan's "With God on Our Side", John Lennon's "Imagine", Simon & Garfunkel's "Silent Night", and all the rest. Some of us stayed true to the Revolution.
Sounds like you might be one of them too!
I was not political. Too busy trying to survive my own life. But I will never forgive them.
https://redfoliot.substack.com/p/tommy-through-a-glass
That's poignant.
I have a cousin who was conscripted for Vietnam (here in Australia we had the birthday ballot), balls blown off by a mine.
My father at 18 volunteered in 1944, was a radio operator in Borneo, and saw things that no young lad should see, mates being blown up. He never talked about it, but suffered PTSD for the rest of his life.
War is terrible.
Not just the violence, but the young men going off to be sacrificed because of the political machinations of the old - one of the most evil things imaginable.
My father was on Okinawa. Didn't do much to heal what his early family life had already done to him.
Me? No. Born 1972.
How would you describe them now, looking back?
Sensible. What a hideous awful war that was.
100%.