Reply to 2 Students as a student do not grade or critique work be curtious and add to conversation
First reply to Joseph
The Vietnam War was fought by the military in both Vietnam and at home. The Vietnam War was the first war that the American public strongly opposed. This opposition was exasperated by the use of media. Photographs and videos of the war were televised and broadcasted across the United States. The graphic images and depictions of war made many Americans doubt why they were fighting the war. The guerrilla warfare tactics and local insurgents made the war impossible to win. This damaged the morale of the American soldiers, and consequently the American public. Additionally, gruesome events such as the 1968 My Lai Massacre of 347 women, elderly, and children further damaged public opinion.
The antiwar movement at home was lead by young teenagers who protested the war effort. This youth revolt was referred to as the “counterculture” movement. “The youth revolt was inconceivable without the war’s destruction of young Americans’ belief in authority. By the late 1960s, millions of young people openly rejected the values and behavior of their elders” (Foner, 2017). The war caused young Americans to reject the beliefs of their parents and question authority. They viewed the decisions of the American government to continue the war effort as irresponsible and inhumane. This movement was difficult for elders to understand. Many of these teenagers elders were veterans from the World Wars. These veterans grew up during a time of nationalism and had pride for their country. They sacrificed their lives for the betterment of the country and now their youth is rejecting that countries values.
Foner, E. (2017). Give me Liberty!: An American history(5th ed., Vol. 2). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Second reply to Adriana
The “counterculture” movement transformed the United States in many ways, both on the societal level and the individual levels. To start, it took the societal norms many were accustomed to and changed the perspective of many adolescents and young adults to be more explosive in nature. The aggressive state of mind that surrounded the movement was very contagious for many of those young, inconclusive minds that were susceptive to the message it carried. As Dr. Theresa Richardson clearly put it, “it promoted a political and cultural ideology based on profanations against the domain assumptions that had guided modernism” (2012).
Second, was its influence and the extensive outbreak it had across the country, so much that many challenged the way history was viewed as a result of this movement. Just as we often see today, where the media distorts the truth to appease the viewer’s socio-political inclinations. The same can be argued about the “counterculture” movement in that it challenged the status quo of that era. Not to mention, the profanations inferred by the movement created much hostility amongst those who favored the movement and those who opposed it. Notwithstanding, that those who opposed it often silenced their point of view due to the chaos and hostilities that would come of their opposition.
In essence, history seems to be repeating itself today as it did in the 1960s, the socio-political divide that existed in the “counterculture” movement was very similar, if not identical in many aspects, to what we witness today. The tension in the country, coupled with the consistent argumentative statuses of each side and the transgressive normality of race and gender, is, as it was then, the witness to the country’s divisiveness. We could only hope that this time around, it’s end result proves to be more positive in its course.
Reference:
Richardson, T., PhD. (2012). The Rise of Youth Counter Culture after World War II and the Popularization of Historical Knowledge: Then and Now. Retrieved November 24, 2018 from the Internet at https://www.bu.edu/historic/conf2012/Richardson.doc.