Just thought that I would explain why I asked to remove the picture … the original picture is a Vietnamese man being Shot in the Head for supporting Americans during the Vietnam War … most Vietnamese people would find that very disrespectful and a very crude joke … there is an underlying message there … I don't know if you have ever heard of the Mosquito Fleet, but it is comprised of the shrimp boats that are in the Gulf, the majority of which are operated by Vietnamese … I know that sister was kinda hurt by it http://www.yale.edu/yale300/democracy/may1text/im…
From every account I have read about that picture, the person with the gun was a South Vietnamese general who shot a Viet Cong operative. The Viet Cong operative earlier killed families of the general's deputy and close friend.
South Vietnamese sources state that Lém commanded a Viet Cong assassination and revenge platoon, which on that day had targeted South Vietnamese National Police officers, or in their stead, the police officers' families; these sources said that Lém was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Loan's deputy and close friend. Photographer Adams confirmed the South Vietnamese account, although he was only present for the execution. Lém's widow confirmed that her husband was a member of the Viet Cong and she did not see him after the Tet Offensive began. Shortly after the execution, a South Vietnamese official who had not been present said that Lém was only a political operative. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Ng%E1…
Wikipedia … the free encyclopedia that ANYONE can edit. Wikipedia is so terrible that I wouldn't even consider it a tertiary source. I have done research on the American War in Viet Nam, and I have looked at these instances and asked questions from Primary and Secondary sources. An encyclopedia can't even be referenced in a research paper, and thus is invalid in your argument. Let me tell you what I have read, been told, and deduced on my own. When one understands social science, it is pretty simple to do.
Nguyen Ngoc Loan was indeed a General, he was part of the South Vietnamese Police force. He also went insane, and went on a killing spree that claimed the lives of even those under his own command.
Some time before this photograph was taken, he lost a leg to machine-gun fire during the May offensive in Hue. Hue could easily be called the most brutal urban battlefield since Stalingrad. Keith, I truly wish that you took more of an interest in your own history.
This single bullet likely lost the South Vietnamese the war, and any hope of independence.
Due to his injuries, he was bitter and lost himself. He blamed the Americans and began to hate their presence. It is believed that he grew tired of the fighting and purposely executed this man in front of American cameras. After the Tet offensive, he went absolutely nuts and started pulling out anyone that could even be remotely associated with the attacks.
According to the South Vietnamese, there was no proof that this man was VC and he was executed purely to prove a point. He "looked similar" to a man that was a possible conspirator.
This former General managed to immigrate, but was haunted by this image and hated by the South Vietnamese. Your own uncle would probably consider him VC because of the damage that he did. Just as you might consider the men that massacred everyone in sight at My Lai.
This man couldn't even keep a business open in America after he managed to get over here, because he is despised amongst the survivors of the war from South Vietnam; here and in diaspora.
This was not an American war, sides were taken day by day. Families were forcibly conscripted into opposing sides. And not a SINGLE conversation was had between an American Officer and a Vietnamese Officer ever took place in Vietnamese. The certainty with which events have been reported by American Historians is constantly in question because of the lack of consideration for the Vietnamese people and their history. If you really want to look at it, you aren't even Vietnamese … you are Khmer, Taiwanese, and WASP.
Through conversations with your Uncle and people that are older than him and even High-Standing officials within your Mother's hometown. Things like this come up, and his name comes up fairly often. He is considered the reason why the Americans left, he is an embarrassment. The North-Vietnamese do not dislike him, and the South looks at him as someone that turned on his own people and his own country. There are stories of him killing small children of the families of "suspected" conspirators in the Tet offensive. He has been heard saying that, "I am killing these children because they will be scum like their parents." (this is through conversations had amongst your family in Vietnam, and others)
The Labels of VC and ARV were interchangeable in many instances … when he lost his mind his label changed in the eyes of the south
I would invite you to email your Uncle, and ask questions … he will understand and will reply. You have an advantage, you can learn about this history. You have family still that can tell you their side of the story. Being an avid Historian, I've even asked questions along these lines and he has understood.
(fyi: the current communist government thinks of him as a hero, and wanted to name a school after him but the people of Vietnam actually protested against it and it was shot down)
I never had a chance to find out anything about my own heritage (Lebanese), everyone that knew anything died before I was 5, you have the chance to find things out and I suggest you take it. I think it would be a good thing to pass on to future generations … the knowledge of where they came from and where they belong. You aren't the only halfie, I'm actually 1/4 Sioux, 1/4 Lebanese, 1/4 Scottish, 1/4 German … which makes me only Half-White.
I am usually very methodical when I write, but this is something that I feel strongly about. I am a historian, it is what I love and I am currently working on some things that nobody has ever done before in academia with the Renaissance and Machiavelli. I can come off as cold and bland because that is how I was reared, there was no warmth … just the cold hard facts. If you can manage to read between the lines, I wrote that much because not only do I care about the subject matter … but I care about you as well. You can take it however you will, and that is your prerogative. Try to read what I said again, without the detachment.
@theangrypanda Why try to censure art? I think the graphic is spot on. It is emblematic of America's misguided energy polices just like the photo on which the graphic is based showed the world America's misguided backing of its puppet government in South Vietnam (The person being executed was Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem by American supported South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan). Remember, America backed all colonial powers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. America did not want people of color in those areas of the world to be FREE. Why would she? Look at how she treated her people of color during that same time (1950s-1970s, hell even now with a black president…SMH). For some strange reason Russia, China, and Cuba supported the people who wanted to be FREE of their colonizers. Please read up on OUR history. The victory of the Vietnamese people over the French at Diện Biên Phu, lead by Ho Chí Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp, showed people of color worldwide, just like Toussaint L'Overture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines proved in Haiti, that they could be FREE. We now must liberate ourselves from oil and embrace ecologically sound technologies like those espoused by Nikola Tesla (FREE Radiant Energy).
I no longer feel the need to carry on this conversation … you may twist things however you like … but it doesn't matter … history always has a bias, no matter the source … you very obviously did not get the point … that is all I have to say … and is more than likely the last time I comment on this blog so as to arouse no further confrontation
New song title… "Drove my Chevrolet to the bay,
but the bay was oily,—
Please remove the second picture…
Just thought that I would explain why I asked to remove the picture … the original picture is a Vietnamese man being Shot in the Head for supporting Americans during the Vietnam War … most Vietnamese people would find that very disrespectful and a very crude joke … there is an underlying message there … I don't know if you have ever heard of the Mosquito Fleet, but it is comprised of the shrimp boats that are in the Gulf, the majority of which are operated by Vietnamese … I know that sister was kinda hurt by it
http://www.yale.edu/yale300/democracy/may1text/im…
From every account I have read about that picture, the person with the gun was a South Vietnamese general who shot a Viet Cong operative. The Viet Cong operative earlier killed families of the general's deputy and close friend.
South Vietnamese sources state that Lém commanded a Viet Cong assassination and revenge platoon, which on that day had targeted South Vietnamese National Police officers, or in their stead, the police officers' families; these sources said that Lém was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Loan's deputy and close friend. Photographer Adams confirmed the South Vietnamese account, although he was only present for the execution. Lém's widow confirmed that her husband was a member of the Viet Cong and she did not see him after the Tet Offensive began. Shortly after the execution, a South Vietnamese official who had not been present said that Lém was only a political operative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Ng%E1…
Wikipedia … the free encyclopedia that ANYONE can edit. Wikipedia is so terrible that I wouldn't even consider it a tertiary source. I have done research on the American War in Viet Nam, and I have looked at these instances and asked questions from Primary and Secondary sources. An encyclopedia can't even be referenced in a research paper, and thus is invalid in your argument. Let me tell you what I have read, been told, and deduced on my own. When one understands social science, it is pretty simple to do.
Nguyen Ngoc Loan was indeed a General, he was part of the South Vietnamese Police force. He also went insane, and went on a killing spree that claimed the lives of even those under his own command.
Some time before this photograph was taken, he lost a leg to machine-gun fire during the May offensive in Hue. Hue could easily be called the most brutal urban battlefield since Stalingrad. Keith, I truly wish that you took more of an interest in your own history.
This single bullet likely lost the South Vietnamese the war, and any hope of independence.
Due to his injuries, he was bitter and lost himself. He blamed the Americans and began to hate their presence. It is believed that he grew tired of the fighting and purposely executed this man in front of American cameras. After the Tet offensive, he went absolutely nuts and started pulling out anyone that could even be remotely associated with the attacks.
According to the South Vietnamese, there was no proof that this man was VC and he was executed purely to prove a point. He "looked similar" to a man that was a possible conspirator.
This former General managed to immigrate, but was haunted by this image and hated by the South Vietnamese. Your own uncle would probably consider him VC because of the damage that he did. Just as you might consider the men that massacred everyone in sight at My Lai.
This man couldn't even keep a business open in America after he managed to get over here, because he is despised amongst the survivors of the war from South Vietnam; here and in diaspora.
This was not an American war, sides were taken day by day. Families were forcibly conscripted into opposing sides. And not a SINGLE conversation was had between an American Officer and a Vietnamese Officer ever took place in Vietnamese. The certainty with which events have been reported by American Historians is constantly in question because of the lack of consideration for the Vietnamese people and their history. If you really want to look at it, you aren't even Vietnamese … you are Khmer, Taiwanese, and WASP.
Through conversations with your Uncle and people that are older than him and even High-Standing officials within your Mother's hometown. Things like this come up, and his name comes up fairly often. He is considered the reason why the Americans left, he is an embarrassment. The North-Vietnamese do not dislike him, and the South looks at him as someone that turned on his own people and his own country. There are stories of him killing small children of the families of "suspected" conspirators in the Tet offensive. He has been heard saying that, "I am killing these children because they will be scum like their parents." (this is through conversations had amongst your family in Vietnam, and others)
The Labels of VC and ARV were interchangeable in many instances … when he lost his mind his label changed in the eyes of the south
I would invite you to email your Uncle, and ask questions … he will understand and will reply. You have an advantage, you can learn about this history. You have family still that can tell you their side of the story. Being an avid Historian, I've even asked questions along these lines and he has understood.
(fyi: the current communist government thinks of him as a hero, and wanted to name a school after him but the people of Vietnam actually protested against it and it was shot down)
I never had a chance to find out anything about my own heritage (Lebanese), everyone that knew anything died before I was 5, you have the chance to find things out and I suggest you take it. I think it would be a good thing to pass on to future generations … the knowledge of where they came from and where they belong. You aren't the only halfie, I'm actually 1/4 Sioux, 1/4 Lebanese, 1/4 Scottish, 1/4 German … which makes me only Half-White.
Wow. I don't think I've been more insulted or talked down to by anyone in my entire life.
I am usually very methodical when I write, but this is something that I feel strongly about. I am a historian, it is what I love and I am currently working on some things that nobody has ever done before in academia with the Renaissance and Machiavelli. I can come off as cold and bland because that is how I was reared, there was no warmth … just the cold hard facts. If you can manage to read between the lines, I wrote that much because not only do I care about the subject matter … but I care about you as well. You can take it however you will, and that is your prerogative. Try to read what I said again, without the detachment.
@theangrypanda Why try to censure art? I think the graphic is spot on. It is emblematic of America's misguided energy polices just like the photo on which the graphic is based showed the world America's misguided backing of its puppet government in South Vietnam (The person being executed was Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem by American supported South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan). Remember, America backed all colonial powers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. America did not want people of color in those areas of the world to be FREE. Why would she? Look at how she treated her people of color during that same time (1950s-1970s, hell even now with a black president…SMH). For some strange reason Russia, China, and Cuba supported the people who wanted to be FREE of their colonizers. Please read up on OUR history. The victory of the Vietnamese people over the French at Diện Biên Phu, lead by Ho Chí Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp, showed people of color worldwide, just like Toussaint L'Overture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines proved in Haiti, that they could be FREE. We now must liberate ourselves from oil and embrace ecologically sound technologies like those espoused by Nikola Tesla (FREE Radiant Energy).
I no longer feel the need to carry on this conversation … you may twist things however you like … but it doesn't matter … history always has a bias, no matter the source … you very obviously did not get the point … that is all I have to say … and is more than likely the last time I comment on this blog so as to arouse no further confrontation
Good Day
wonderful…