ideologies of the vietnam war the finish draft

                                                        The ideologies of the Vietnam War

       

The Vietnam War that took place from 1958-1974 sparked to the largest anti-war movement in

U.S. history, the ideology of patriotism was developed among soldiers since soldiers felt they

had to fight in representation of their country. The government had to do a lot with the ideology

developed among soldiers. Since the government convinced a lot of soldiers that they were

fighting for the prevention of communism, making soldiers believe that they were fighting for

freedom that couldn’t be obtain under the rule of communism. There were also soldiers that

didn’t know what the cause of the war was. Since a lot of speculations were created about the

war that many soldiers felt lost. Soldiers just knew they had to contribute in doing their job.
 
Some of them felt pride in doing their job, as the film Hearts and Minds showed towards the end
 
of the film the interview of a pilot that was part of the Vietnam War in which he mentions that he
 
felt pride in dropping the bombs because he was doing his job. Even though he recognized that
 
the results of the bombs had negative effects; he couldn’t deny the feeling of pride he felt
 
because he was doing what he liked.
    
Even though there were soldiers that felt pride in contributing to the war, many other soldiers
 
were not especially the ones that were being drafted to the war. Some soldiers felt pressure in
 
going to war because they felt that by not going they were being cowards, betraying their country
 
and disappointing their families.
 
  On the Rainy River by Tim O’ Brien the author is able to support my argument by providing
 
his personal experience about being drafted to the war. O’ Brien didn’t want to be part of the
 
war and he was considering in escaping to Canada. Even thought O’ Brien was considering in
 
doing this he was not able to do it. “I couldn’t endure the disgrace or the patriotic disgrace;
 
embarrassment that’s all it was”(pg59). As O’Brien many other soldiers that were drafted to the
 
war felt they had the obligation to go to war because their reputation was being played. The
 
ideology of reputation was also taken place since a lot of soldiers were worried about what their
 
families and the people of their country will believe of them. The group Vietnam Veterans
 
Against The War was created to manifest their perception against the war. By sharing their
 
experiences the soldiers were able to change the ideology of the war being a good cause war
 
that was fighting for freedom; instead it showed that the war was about violence, killing
 
innocent people and destroying their houses and resources. In The Impossible Victory: Vietnam
 
by Howard Zinn (Winter Soldier Hearings) is able to support my argument by indicating that in

“December 1970, hundreds of them went to Detroit to testify publicly about atrocities they had

participated in or seen in Vietnam”. pg 238. Having the testimonies of soldiers that were part of

the war gave them a more persuasive influence. Among the people by showing the negative

results that were occurring in Vietnam and how the civilians were being hurt.
       

The anti-war act that took place in April 1971in the capital of Washington, D.C.
 
According to Zinn “They went up to a wire fence around the capital, threw over the fence the
 
medals they won in Vietnam”. This actions indicates how some soldiers didn’t feel proud in
 
being part of the war; it also shows the indignation that they felt that the war was still going on.
     

  The civil rights leader Martin Luther King J.R. also took part in the Vietnam War by
 
declaring that the war is related to the civil rights movement because African Americans were

being asked to fight in the War; when their rights were being violated as not being treated the

same way as white people in the U.S.
 
  King J.R. ideology was that in order for the U.S. to be fighting for the freedom and

independence of other countries in this case Vietnam. The U.S should first worry on solving the

problems happening in the country.  King J.R. used the African Americans civil rights movement

as an example on what the U.S. should focus on. In Beyond Vietnam: A time to Break Silence by

Martin Luther King he mentions the segregation that African Americans were experiencing

“Watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has

been unable to seat them together in the same schools” The ideology of patriotism is being

denied by the ideology of Martin Luther King; by  indicating that the U.S. is not focusing on

solving the problems happening in their home country. King wants to show that a country that is

not giving freedom to their citizens can’t make a productive change in another country with out

solving the problems of their country first.    

  Some of the other ways in which activists were showing their opposition to the war was by

 comparing it to other issues that were occurring in the U.S. such as comparing it to the violence

that was being use against African Americans taking actions as their opposition to the war as

they discover that a classmate was killed in the war. According to Zinn in The Impossible

Victory: In Vietnam.  The juveniles started distributing leaflets that had written “No Mississippi

Negroes should be fighting in Vietnam for the Whites man’s freedom, until all the Negro people

are free in Mississippi”. People that were against the war tried to look for different ways to show

how the war had only negative effects; it was not only killing the civilians of Vietnam but many

soldiers as well. What about the families of this soldiers and civilians? They were also suffering

the consequences of this tragical war. They felt the impotence of watching their love ones being

 killed.
   
  The Vietnam War is an important event not only because it contributed to one of the largest
 
wars that seem to have no purpose at all. That killed millions of people, but because it showed
 
that the U.S. consider one of the most powerful countries; in which freedom seems to be the  
 
main concept. It shows that is only an ideology because the citizens of the U.S. were not treated

equally only because they are from a different race or color. Not letting another country decide
 
what they want is not freedom. What if the Vietnamese wanted to be a communist country and
 
have their own government? What role does the U.S. have to play in this event? Every country
 
needs to have the freedom of deciding what they want and is best for them. Without having any
 
other country interfering. The government of the U.S. needs to focus more in the issues in the
 
country because the U.S. haves a lot of issues itself because when the U.S will have an
 
economic problem as we are now in recession who is going to help us.