A cause for pride or shame? She remembered, as something good, taking part in the protests against the war in Vietnam. I answered.
I got an email. It was about a film that someone - I will call her X - helped fund, on the anti-Vietnam war protests. I answered - an answer I am sure she was not expecting, about truths I am sure she had not considered.
Why write of this to you? I believe in doing what one can. In this case, I wanted to break the psy-op bubble this person was still living within - the bubble within which the protests to end the Vietnam war were a good thing, without considering what it meant, to let Ho Ho Ho the Horrible take over Vietnam, without considering the thousands upon thousands of boat people who risked death - and often died - in an attempt to escape the coming Communist “repression.” Repression - what a soft word for the death of one to two million Vietnamese after the Communist takeover. (The figure is from online research from several years ago.)
I’ll start with what X wrote:
At the time of these events, protestors (myself included) had no idea what we helped prevent and how many lives were saved. Sometimes history only reveals itself with time.
[T]he film demonstrates the power of standing up for what you believe in.
The film shows how two major anti-war protests caused President Nixon to cancel his plans for a massive escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam, including his threats to use nuclear weapons.
I decided to help with the funding of this film because I worked against the war and attended one of these demonstrations.
At its core, "this film offers hope and inspiration in a time of rising concerns about nuclear war, increasing economic inequalities and racial injustice, and an intensifying climate crisis."
To standing up for your beliefs even when it's hard,
First and foremost, it wasn’t hard to take part in the anti-Vietnam war protests. It was the easy thing. Everyone I knew was doing it. It was the in thing to do. We felt we were the good guys.
So I answered:
About lives saved. I don’t know if you have taken into account the between one and two million lives lost - Vietnamese lives - due to the Communist takeover.
I used to believe like you - so good to end that war.
On the other hand, I know how dangerous - deadly - Communism is wherever it takes over. No checks and balances. So many millions murdered in country after country. A history of horror over and over.
A couple of years ago, I read that the US was close to victory when what you mention happened - maybe key to ushering in horror in Vietnam. That’s not something I would be proud to have been part of.
I got an answer: “Thanks for taking the time to write. X appreciates your comments.”
I sent a second short answer:
I had the sense there was so much X had not taken into consideration - perhaps did not know of - like one to two million Vietnamese dead due to the Communist takeover.
I kept thinking back to that time, to those long-ago protests and the aftermath. I remembered more about that time, and wrote:
Lots of learning to do.
Like, X mentions pride. So does that mean she’s proud of being part of … the cause for the boat people fleeing Vietnam, desperate to stay alive, willing to risk death and many dying. X was part of that. And the one to two million dead, of those left behind. X was part of that. Is she proud of being part of that?
The KGB, by the way, has a term for people like X.
I know she did not mean to do harm.
I have now reread the email that prompted my response. X does not mention being proud. But the feeling is there - of someone pleased at taking part in an event that unleashed horror - and totally oblivious of the horror she took part in unleashing.
And I think back to myself. I remember so many stories about the boat people. Stories of survivors. Stories about boats that did not make it. Some of the survivors ended up in the city where I was living.
I don’t remember any of the reports on the boat people saying: this has happened because the war in Vietnam was ended. Likewise the horrors of Ho Ho Ho the Horror are happening because of the ending of the war. (I know he died just about then - but the horrors of Communism did not end.)
What in my brain did not make the connection? And why did my brain not make the connection?
I remember the song:
one two three
what are we fighting for
don’t know and don’t give a damn
next stop is Vietnam
Well, the fighting was stopped. The flight of those desperate to escape the coming mass repression began. And then there came decades of major Communist “repression.”
I remember another song:
all we are saying
is give peace a chance
Actually all the protesters were saying is:
give Communism a chance
Yup, people - myself included, and I am sure, X included - knew of Stalin and Mao Tse Tung. Millions upon millions of us knew of Solzhenitsyn and The Gulag Archipelago, the prison “islands” throughout Russia, where Solzhenitsyn spent years and millions died.
That is the “peace” that was given a chance.
Why did I not know this? It’s so obvious. So why did I not know this?
I was within that “narrative.”
Like now billions are caught within the current “narrative” and don’t recognize the information coming in, over and over, that the injections are dangerous.
I will let X know of this post.
Why bother doing all this - writing to her, and also writing about the email exchange?
As I said near the start, I believe in taking the actions one can. And this is an action I can take.
It is my sense there are often actions we can take, actions we may miss doing, because we don’t think of taking them, or believe it won’t make a difference.
Will my actions make a difference?
I think of something said by a long-ago baseball star: You miss 100% of the balls you don’t swing at.
This is a ball I have swung at. The goal, as always: a home run. In this case, the goal is that my words penetrate the psy-op bubble X is living within, proud to have taken part in … unleashing horrors upon millions of people.
What if this isn’t a home run?
So what.
Maybe you can use my words with anyone you know who still believes the anti-Vietnam war protests were a good thing.
But even if if my words don’t reach anyone I am doing something that I can do.
By the way, in my answer to X, I mention that the KGB has a term for people like her. The term, in case you’re wondering: useful idiot.
At present, the useful idiots are all those who fell for - and often are still caught in - the current psy-ops.
Maybe one wake-up encourages a more general waking up.
Two final things. First, X is someone I respect. She does loads of good work, is committed to helping people. I would not be on her email list otherwise.
Last thing. The email I received helped break yet another tiny part of my own psy-op bubble. Over the past few years, I have wondered about the whole protest movement against the Vietnam war: How much was it a psy-op? Even, was any of it not a psy-op? But as far as I remember, I had never before connected the flight of the boat people and the horrors of Communist repression in Vietnam with the anti-war protests.
Ever more learning.
All the best to all of us who are doing our best not to be useful idiots,
Elsa
Posted March 27, 2023
Right on Elsa, I'm afraid we have to revisit a lot of our beliefs, and maybe second guess some of the material that is currently presented to us, especially the push for compliance, the frictionless agenda, one could establish some parameters on how to decipher the different layers of lies, easier said than done. Thank you Elsa for your critical thinking!
Brilliant post Elsa.
And I loved "I think of something said by a long-ago baseball star: You miss 100% of the balls you don’t swing at. This is a ball I have swung at." Very inspiring.