Ken Burns Tackles the Vietnam War

[Montegriffo]

The protests didn't have any effect, all the Hippies did was make the Hardhats dig their heels in deeper, the protesters didn't end the Vietnam War, the NVA did, on the battlefield, the Great Silent Majority didn't give a rat's ass about the protests, wasn't a deciding a factor.

"Protesting Ended The War" is just the Hippie fallacious narrative, but it's a big myth.

Hmm, so massive unrest and a drop in support for the war didn't force the govts hand?
LBJ knew in '65 that the war was unwinable but couldn't get out because of the loss of face. Once the war became deeply unpopular Nixon was able to campaign as a candidate for peace and LBJ couldn't even run.
Once you had My Lai you could no longer carpet bomb indescriminately so you were out of options.
Genocide or withdraw is not really an option.
Like it or not, the filthy hippies and their peace protests shamed the govt and pulling out became the only choice.

Sure, you're a liberal, so you guzzle that kool-aid as you have been programmed to, but it doesn't reflect the reality, it's a meme, but it's all myth, the college protesters deeply opposed the war rigtht from the get go, but it wasn't the unpopular war which made Nixon popular, it was the unpopular protesters, the Great Silent Majority despised them with a fiery passion.

If Nixon had really felt that ending the war would make him popular, he wouldn't have gone behind Johnson's back to sabotage the peace that was at hand at the end of 1967, Nixon deliberately extended the war, because it favoured him, the Hardhats hated the Hippies so much, they extended the war just to spite them.

Nixon sabotaged the peace talks to help his election chances. A republican candidate colluding with foreign powers to win an election, who knew....

[Smitty-48]

Sure, you're a liberal, so you guzzle that kool-aid as you have been programmed to, but it doesn't reflect the reality, it's a meme, but it's all myth, the college protesters deeply opposed the war rigtht from the get go, but it wasn't the unpopular war which made Nixon popular, it was the unpopular protesters, the Great Silent Majority despised them with a fiery passion.

My parents, solid (straight ticket voting) republicans their entire lives, were vehemently opposed to the war. I was very young at that time, but I remember that much.

Everybody opposed the war, in theory, once it became obvious America was going to lose it and lose it badly, but the war at home, between the Hardhats and the Hippies, that took over and became the nexus of conflict instead, and fighting over who was at fault and who was a traitor to the republic became the war which extended the war, Nixon played it brilliantly, the only problem he had, was that he had actually commited treason by going behind Johnson's back to sabotage the peace in 1967, and it became clear to Nixon that J Edgar Hoover had him bugged when Hoover worked for Johnson, and this is what the Plumbers were looking for when they broke into the Watergate, Nixon had to know; "did Johnson pass the tapes to the DNC?"

[Smitty-48]

Hmm, so massive unrest and a drop in support for the war didn't force the govts hand?
LBJ knew in '65 that the war was unwinable but couldn't get out because of the loss of face. Once the war became deeply unpopular Nixon was able to campaign as a candidate for peace and LBJ couldn't even run.
Once you had My Lai you could no longer carpet bomb indescriminately so you were out of options.
Genocide or withdraw is not really an option.
Like it or not, the filthy hippies and their peace protests shamed the govt and pulling out became the only choice.

Sure, you're a liberal, so you guzzle that kool-aid as you have been programmed to, but it doesn't reflect the reality, it's a meme, but it's all myth, the college protesters deeply opposed the war rigtht from the get go, but it wasn't the unpopular war which made Nixon popular, it was the unpopular protesters, the Great Silent Majority despised them with a fiery passion.

If Nixon had really felt that ending the war would make him popular, he wouldn't have gone behind Johnson's back to sabotage the peace that was at hand at the end of 1967, Nixon deliberately extended the war, because it favoured him, the Hardhats hated the Hippies so much, they extended the war just to spite them.

Nixon sabotaged the peace talks to help his election chances. A republican candidate colluding with foreign powers to win an election, who knew....

Because the Democrats were about to end the war; ergo; Nixon sabotaged that and deliberately extended the war, because it actually favoured him, he couldn't win the war tactical in the jungle, but he could prolong that war, in order to leverage it to win the political war at home, who knew? Not the liberals apparently, even to this day they fail to acknowledge that their hysterical freak out in the streets actually played right into the Republicans hands.

Nixon elected in 68', prolongs the war, landslide victory in 72', prolongs the war, is only brought down by a coup de tat, war continues even with the Democrats back in control, until 1975, "Protesters Ended the War"; big myth, actually prolonged it.

[K@th]

Does Burns tackle this in the film?

[Smitty-48]

Does Burns tackle this in the film?

No idea, I haven't watched it yet, but frankly, I know more about the Vietnam War than Ken Burns does, Burns is just getting around to it now, I've studied it for 40 years.

[K@th]

Does Burns tackle this in the film?

No idea, I haven't watched it yet, but frankly, I know more about the Vietnam War than Ken Burns does, Burns is just getting around to it now, I've studied it for 40 years.

It's a wonder he didn't contact you for research purposes. Anyway, I liked the first episode. I know almost nothing about that war.

I didn't know the history of Ho Chi Minh. It was really interesting to see how the Viet Cong got going.

[StCapps]

Does Burns tackle this in the film?

No idea, I haven't watched it yet, but frankly, I know more about the Vietnam War than Ken Burns does, Burns is just getting around to it now, I've studied it for 40 years.

I'd watch Smitty's Vietnam Documentary, bet that. I'll get around to watching this sometime soon as well, but hockey season is distracting.

[Smitty-48]

Does Burns tackle this in the film?

No idea, I haven't watched it yet, but frankly, I know more about the Vietnam War than Ken Burns does, Burns is just getting around to it now, I've studied it for 40 years.

I'd watch Smitty's Vietnam Documentary, bet that.

There's too much to boil down into a documentary, docs can be entertaining, no doubt, I'm sure I'll enjoy the Burns take on it, just on nostalgia and aesthetic, but a ten hour TV show? Can't even scratch the surface of Vietnam with that, and, it's PBS, so no doubt it will be crippled by a lot a liberal kool-aid, I'm not expecting that Burns will make it all kool-aid, but the kool-aid is always in play if either Hippies or Hardhats are in the mix, baked into the cake.

[Montegriffo]

An interview with Burns and Novac by Phil Klay
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... cumentary/

[K@th]

but a ten hour TV show? Can't even scratch the surface of Vietnam with that, and, it's PBS, so no doubt it will be crippled by a lot a liberal kool-aid, I'm not expecting that Burns will make it all kool-aid, but the kool-aid is always in play if either Hippies or Hardhats are in the mix, baked into the cake.

It's 18 hours.