I never understand why
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Born on the Fourth of July
IsaacMovieBuff2000 — 11 years ago(August 01, 2014 08:02 PM)
Ron Kovac went into vietnam only to come out as an Anti-war person and felt betrayed by America
ONETWOTHREEFOUR, WE DON'T WANT YOUR beep WAR
Because none of my family members ever serve America by going to war,I don't get it about all this protest. If you didn't want war or go fight, then why did you? -
katiewon — 10 years ago(July 04, 2015 11:13 AM)
NO NO NO!!! You don't get it
America was a different place then. Having survived WWI, the Great Depression and basically saving the world with our entrance into WWII, we believed ourselves and our leaders were infallible and morally superior. The only country/government we felt threatened us and the world was the Soviet Union (Russia now) because WWII made them a super power, but their world view was against everything we believed personal freedom, moral superiority and the government could be trusted to do the right thing in our name, Communists believed government was inherently corrupt and the people should be the final authority. When Americans saw Communists taking over Eastern Europe, we feared they were coming for us next. Senator Joe McCarthy, uber ambitions and totally playing on our fear of Communist infiltration almost led us to give up all we belived infreedom.
In reality, our perception was backwards. Our system is run by the people and our government answers to us and we can hold them accountable for actions taken in our name. Whereas the Communists are all about the government having the power and the people are not allowed to question their authority..in the name of social equality. This leads to mass corrpution and instability. In the end, communism was doomed to failure.
So going into the Vietnam era, we saw mistakes our government was making in our name and started to really question thisslowly at first because the mentality of Americans was still that we could trust our government. The idea we could stop communism in Vietnam, by helping the South Vietnamese was a noble concept, but in reality totally unworkable and not necessary. And just as Eisenhower predicted in 1960, our military were becoming to powerful and the profitablity of war was a factor. As people like Ron Kovic came home and told their families and friends what was really happening in Vietnam, more and more Americans started questioning who we are and what was being done in our name. The protests grew, and Nixon tried to suppress this at home, and escalated the bombing to bring a quick end to the 'war' - neither of which worked and only led to more unrest at home. Starting with the students on our college campuses (the average age of a WWII soldier was 26, in Vietnam it was 19) the American people realized we can and MUST challenge our leaders decisions and hold them accountable. This was encapsulated in the story of Ron Kovic. The awakening of our people, our collective loss of innocence and trust in our leaders. It started with Sen. Joe McCarthy, then the debacle that was Vietnam and the final straw, the Watergate scandal. That changed us into who we are today. I can only equate our change from growing upstarting as an innocent child, believing everything your parents tell you, then you see their mistakes and as you grow and learn for yourself you begin questioning what you were told, until you finally grow up and see the world for what it really is, imperfect. -
ryan-anderson — 10 years ago(July 08, 2015 12:08 PM)
So going into the Vietnam era, we saw mistakes our government was making in our name and started to really question thisslowly at first because the mentality of Americans was still that we could trust our government.
As someone who was around in the 50's, I can assure you that the notion [fostered by this movie] we were just a bunch of drones that never questioned the government and volunteered for anything Uncle Sam wanted us to do couldn't be more wrong. Even during WW II (when men were supposedly flooding draft induction centers), a good 67% of the men who served were drafted. (And of the ones who volunteered, a good number of them needed work.) The Korean War remained unpopular until 1956 (only then did a majority polled agree it was worth it). And at the height of WW II (in 1944) Rep. Forest Harness (R-Ind.) finally said what a lot of people had been thinking about Pearl Harbor: there was a cover up. I could go back further but I think the point is made.
I think a lot of the perceptions/ideas of that time have been formed by such things as the old Universal Newsreels and other propaganda. They are of course misleading. (For a tangible example: they fostered a notion (that abides to this day) that the Wehrmacht was heavily mechanized/motorized..when in fact (especially when the war began) the German military relied heavily on foot power or horses.)
And when it came to Vietnam even some of the leaders who got us into it were privately questioning its value (Dick Russell and LBJ had a famous conversation about it; with one of them saying IIRC it's the biggest mess I ever saw and I'm not one to brag). But the containment strategy of the time (meant to avert another World War) forced our hand.
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