Should the Vietnam war memorial be dismantled and removed?

[DrWeird]

Poll question: Should the Vietnam war memorial be dismantled and removed?

This is what the Sinclair corporation has to say about listing the names of dead American troops:

"this so-called tribute in an effort to highlight only one aspect of the war effort and in doing so to influence public opinion against the military... (b)ased on published reports, we are aware of the spouse of one soldier who died in (Vietnam) who opposes the reading of her husband's name to oppose our military action. We suspect she is not alone in this viewpoint."

So basically, Sinclair believes that listing the names of the dead is an unfair political ploy. And their right. It obviously sways the opinon towards the antiwar movements instead of the pro war party. And it's sitting right there in the Mall in Washington, D.C. which is public property, and we should always respect the rights of others not to be forced to see indoctrination. So do you agree with Sinclair that the Vietnam memorial should be removed?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Haha! Good one Dr Weird

They claim it is politicizing deaths or that Nightline is anti-war rather than Nightline using the intent of a FREE PRESS to inform

[noahmijo]

2. I'd vote but..

There's no column that says HELL NO

I also vote for whoever authorized that statement to be bitchslapped.

[BurtWorm]

3. Excellent bait and switch!

The wingers are going to be pissing themselves when they get caught on it! :toast:


(Hi, wingers! :grouphug: )

[DrWeird]

4. You know...

yoou spend way too much time over there.

[BurtWorm]

5. I'm done.

I had my fun, but a little of that place goes a lllllong long way.

[Scottie72]

6. The Vietnam War memorial

Is such a very emotional monument. Several years ago when I first saw it, it was so very moving. We were all laughing as we approached. The wall just slowly builds up and a hush came all of us.

The thought of having this removed is just silly.

[Mountainman]

8. I saw it 2 years ago and it seemed so quiet there. I was as if people

may be apologizing for the war ever happening. I went to the names of my friends and it was as if I could see them standing on the hill behind the memorial.

There is a painting I saw were an older vet is touching a name with his hand and the reflection of a young soldier can be seen in the black marble reaching back to touch the vets hand.

[LizW]

19. I saw the Wall for the first time a month ago

and I was struck by how respectful people were passing by. The folks like us, who were just tourists, filed by in an outer line, while the people who were looking for a particular name stood inside, closer to the Wall. Everyone spoke in low voices, and lots of people were wiping tears. The Vets were there, handing out paper and pencils for rubbings.

I couldn't believe how large it was, and how the names covered every inch, from end to end. It was amazingly moving.

[Westegg]

7. I remember an issue of "Life" magazine from about '71...

...My mom kept it. In that issue, they printed page after page of small photos of American soldiers killed in Vietnam, along with their names. I can't recall off-hand if it was "Killed this week" or "this month"---it was something like that. There were hundreds. And when I was a kid, I'd look through that magazine and, maybe more than anything else, seeing that list of pictures and names clued me in to the terrible cost of the Vietnam war.

I'd guess that the folks behind this "Nightline" episode have taken their cues from that issue of "Life" which, I'm told, made quite an impact when it was released.

What can you say about Sinclair? What can you say about people like that? I won't even dignify them with a comment.They are beneath contempt.

[Bjornsdotter]

9. Nice...Catch 22 n/t

[damnraddem]

10. No, Sinclair Broadcasting should be dismantled and removed.

Do you think the Iraq-Invasion memorial will be built in a quagmire?

[Old and In the Way]

11. Why does Sinclair Broadcasting hate America?

The VietNam Memorial is a powerful symbol of what we lost and a reminder of why the interests of the MIC may have little or nothing to do with our national security interests. Perhaps Bush should have spent some time at the Memorial and reflected on what was gained and what was sacrificed with the deaths of those 57,000 men and women. Instead, he chose his narrow political/economic interests over our collective national interests and, once again, our sons and daughters are having their blood spilled for no good reason.

[markomalley]

12. I voted yes, but not for Sinclair's reasoning...

...I simply believe that all memorials to all wars should be taken down. Why memorialize war and the atrocities that went with it?

(that goes for the wall, the new WWII memorial, all the other memorials of wars and war criminals that are scattered throughout the country, and any other reminder...)

[texastoast]

13. How quickly we forget

Even having memorials reflecting the atrocities of war. I think memorials serve as a good reminder of the cost of the maniacal, egotistical posturing and bullying exhibited by world "leaders."

Their sons and daughters seldom serve. A memorial is a reminder of how much cannon fodder we have provided for them. A memorial is a reminder of much-needed, peaceful revolution away from war.

[markomalley]

14. If you could make a memorial to the horrors of war...

...like the Germans did with the Dachau camp...then I would agree. Unfortunately, all the memorials I have seen to date appear to glorify it...even, in its own way, the Vietnam wall. It captures the human cost (of American lives), but in no way acknowledges the death and destruction wrought on the Vietnamese by many of those memorialized.

[texastoast]

15. I see your point

If a memorial were more graphic, perhaps it would hammer home the horror a little better. Apparently, this country needs that. My husband's friends smuggled pictures out of Vietnam (sandwiched in a Poloroid) of stacks of Vietnamese bodies.

When pictures of the current war come over the TV on the nightly news (as they did during Vietnam), the tide against the war will turn. shrubito remembers how powerful was the image of the little Vietnamese girl on fire from napalm. He just can't have that.

And we call it "free press." Sadly laughable.


On edit: Somebody told shrubito about the napalm photo. I doubt he remembers anything from that time period.

[0rganism]

16. If we had a memorial wall listing the names of Vietnamese casualties...

it would be about 7 miles (~16km) long, assuming the same amount of space used for each name and the same average height.

Perhaps the Vietnamese should consider building one.

[markomalley]

22. No, perhaps we should consider building one...

...they don't need to be reminded of the atrocities committed on them...we need that reminder. (And then we have people like JK, McCain, etc., who brag about being Vietnam war heroes? Sorry if the irony sort of escapes me here)

...we should also build one to memorialize the atrocities committed on the people of Iraq between 1991 and 2005(hopefully???)

It's an ugly business...

[calimary]

17. I can understand your overall view, but, really, the Vietnam Memorial

should stand, precisely for the sake of sentiments like yours. I have never seen ANY monument, anywhere, that so beautifully and poignantly underscores what war is, and costs, as the Vietnam Memorial does. It is such a powerful statement. It is a reminder because, at least to me, it goes straight to the human suffering and lost and waste. The whole point of it is to drive home the reality of every lost husband, brother, son, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin, lover, and/or friend.

The first time I saw it, I started at one end, not too emotionally affected. As I walked the length of it, I saw more names and more names and more names. As I walked, I saw others either standing there (in combat fatiques), gazing at it, or civilians touching it, people leaving little notes, flowers, flags, medals, or taking note of what others had left there, or were making rubbings of certain names with paper and pencil or crayon. It was excruciatingly touching. By the time I had walked the length of it, back up to the opposite end, I was crying my eyes out.

Even if all other war memorials are abolished, this completely unique and painful reminder should STAY.

[vetwife]

18. No..A vet and their family REALLY UNDERSTANDS

It has nothing to do with what they did..It is who was lost and an
almost healing wall for those friends they made and could not help. The wall is like a tombstone. Should we tear down all tombstones? Does it make them any less dead? No. Funerals and memorials are for the living and my husband got some comfort seeing some recognition and just the thought his name might be there. Many vets are so messed up, they are not sure if they are dead or alive. The wall helps some. hurts some, but it humbles all...or should ! The wall just as the war will always be part of the vet and should always be standing.

[markomalley]

23. I do understand what you're saying...

...but the point is that the other side had worse losses and worse horrors committed on them. Maybe an addition to it depicting what that misguided, evil, and criminal policy wrought upon an innocent population would be an appropriate ADDITION (rather than replacement) to the wall.

[riverwalker]

20. the Dr. is In

Excellent point. Sinclair will also want to blacktop Arlington National Cemetery too, and build a parking lot. It is soooooo politically anti-war you know. How about that large field in Normandy with all those silly white crosses? It too, is much "too political". Sinclair will promote building condos or a Club Med there as well.

[9215]

21. Excellent point

Good one.

You never know; that may be the very reason that the fascisti try to use to do that very thing some day.