alcuno
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Sat Nov-15-03 08:51 PM
Original message |
Was the Vietnam War a "Holy War?" |
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I wasn't around for Vietnam, but I don't remember hearing that it had religious overtones. Maybe it did. Now we have a president who early on "mentioned" a Crusade and is supported by fundamentalist Christians; a president who believes he was appointed by God. We have a general making speeches about how his God is better than their God.
They have their own radical elements inside the Islamic faith and use this for political gain. Did Vietnam have this "clash" of faiths in the mix?
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Some Moran
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Sat Nov-15-03 08:52 PM
Response to Original message |
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Can't forget those "Godless" commies.
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alcuno
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Sat Nov-15-03 08:56 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
2. Communism isn't a religion. |
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By the way, I wonder what happened to all those evangelicals who were ready to enter Iraq to preach the word of God?
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madrchsod
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Sat Nov-15-03 09:03 PM
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at least not the way the way bush has made it. johnson and nixon didn`t think that god told them to wage a holy war. yes the commies were godless but no one saw the war that way-well a few did.
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hlthe2b
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Sat Nov-15-03 09:19 PM
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4. Well, very much like Iraq.... It was |
DemoTex
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Sat Nov-15-03 09:30 PM
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5. Not a whiff of holiness in the Vietnam war. |
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If anything, it was the most secular of wars.
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DrFunkenstein
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Sat Nov-15-03 09:31 PM
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6. Historically, God Has Been On Our Side |
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Oh my name it is nothin' My age it means less The country I come from Is called the Midwest I's taught and brought up there The laws to abide And that land that I live in Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it They tell it so well The cavalries charged The Indians fell The cavalries charged The Indians died Oh the country was young With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-American War had its day And the Civil War too Was soon laid away And the names of the heroes I's made to memorize With guns in their hands And God on their side.
Oh the First World War, boys It closed out its fate The reason for fighting I never got straight But I learned to accept it Accept it with pride For you don't count the dead When God's on your side.
When the Second World War Came to an end We forgave the Germans And we were friends Though they murdered six million In the ovens they fried The Germans now too Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians All through my whole life If another war starts It's them we must fight To hate them and fear them To run and to hide And accept it all bravely With God on my side.
But now we got weapons Of the chemical dust If fire them we're forced to Then fire them we must One push of the button And a shot the world wide And you never ask questions When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour I've been thinkin' about this That Jesus Christ Was betrayed by a kiss But I can't think for you You'll have to decide Whether Judas Iscariot Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin' I'm weary as Hell The confusion I'm feelin' Ain't no tongue can tell The words fill my head And fall to the floor If God's on our side He'll stop the next war.
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alcuno
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Sat Nov-15-03 10:59 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
12. Where's that from? n/t |
sweetheart
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Sat Nov-15-03 09:39 PM
Response to Original message |
7. it depends what you worship |
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If you worship corporate nationalism, then it was a holy war. The film "the quiet american" is insightful if you care to see it.
Why we entered vietnam i'll never know for sure, there are several reasons/theories:
1. Vietnam was deemed a strategic supply of rubber, like iraq is oil, and if it fell to "the enemy" as in soviet communism, then we would have a hard time making tyres... and though by the time the conflict excalated, we had developed petrochemical replacements to rubber plant, it was too late and we were in the swamp up to our necks.
2. We took over from the french who simply did not have the spine to keep vietnam FREE. We took over, 'cuz inside of every gook is a democrat waitin' ta get out. quote from a texas vet i roomed with who slept with a 45 under his pillow.
3. Vietnam was percieved as the key to southeast asia, and if it fell, we could write off cambodia, laos, and even thailand and burma... and ironically, this has proven strangely sorta true, and sorta not... just the american way of winning over hearts and minds by killing people is sooooo mongolian, that few hearts were won. Had we spend the money on gifts and trade, likely the entire place would be entirely different.
4. Vietnam was a communist test of american willinness to extend global power across the pacific, and if it fell, it threatened the sability of american allies from taiwan to south korea who depended on american military muscle and our willingness to use it to keep the soviet menace at bay.... uuuhh? beavis... that wuz coooool.
God knows why we were there, but whatever reason you hear. Its a lie.
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leesa
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Sat Nov-15-03 10:28 PM
Response to Original message |
8. No, it wasn't staged that way. It was one of the commie scams |
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Evangelical christianity was very small then and pretty much confined to the South
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alcuno
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Sat Nov-15-03 10:57 PM
Response to Reply #8 |
10. I knew they pushed the communism angle, but religion and faith seem much |
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deeper and more personal.
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frustrated_lefty
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Sat Nov-15-03 10:51 PM
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9. Religion had little to do |
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with VietNam. Don't mistake me, religion figured in to it. We appointed a Catholic ruler in a 80% Buddhist country. Buddhists immolated themselves in protest. The religious "clash" in Viet Nam had to do with the fact that America refused to acknowledge the faith of the VietNamese people.
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DemoTex
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Sat Nov-15-03 10:59 PM
Response to Reply #9 |
11. Then we assassinated the Catholic ruler (we = CIA) |
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A month later our Catholic ruler (JFK) was assassinated (by the CIA?). October-November 1963. Diem/Kennedy. Neither was, by any exterior manifestation, a religious zealot.
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Fri Apr 26th 2024, 09:07 PM
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