09-17-2020, 03:23 PM
** 17-Sep-2020 World View: Persecution in South Vietnam
I received the following e-mail message from a Vietnamese web site
reader, in response to my article on Vietnam:
One thing I've noticed pretty consistently in developing Generational
Dynamics is that people who grow up after a generational crisis war
know almost nothing about it, except the bare facts. Their parents
just don't want to talk about it. In developing Generational Dynamics
I've been told by many people that their parents never talk about what
happened during WW II. I attribute this to the fact that the
atrocities that were committed (on both sides) are best forgotten.
The result is a gaping hole in the knowledge that people have about
their own countries. And of course this is one reason that there's a
new crisis war several decades later, when the people with the gaping
hole are running the world.
Here's another example: I just saw on al-Jazeera a report of some
horrific human rights abuses in Burundi. They had video of a poor guy
who was thrown into a pit who was screaming for help while security
forces looked on. The report talks in terms of "security forces" and
"political opponents" and so forth, never once mentioning that the
government is run by Hutus and the "political opponents" are all
Tutsis, and that the violence is a consequence of the 1994 Rwanda
genocide. Why is that fact, which is the core reason for the human
rights abuses in Burundi, completely unmentioned and ignored? Why are
the important facts buried, and leaving some bland mealy-mouthed
political explanation behind as the only reason given.
Perhaps a good way to explain it is "dirty laundry." There's plenty
of dirty laundry left over from a generational crisis war, and the
winners, the loses, the media, the trolls, the deniers, the
collaborators, and the various international politicians all cooperate
to hide the dirty laundry. This is unfortunate, because the only way
that there's any hope to prevent a new generational crisis war is for
the dirty laundry from the last one to be well known by the public.
Instead, they know almost nothing.
So I could modify George Santayana's famous saying as follows: "Those
who cannot remember the dirty laundry of the past are
condemned to repeat it."
I could not have written that article on Vietnam until recently. The
bare facts of Vietnam's history -- domination by China, invasion by
French, America's defeat in the "Vietnam war" -- are well known, but
beyond those facts, almost all other facts in the narrative of that
article had to be dug out from the 350 or so sources that I've been
reading. For example, the reconstruction of the Tay-Son rebellion
alone required a dozen sources, with each source describing a
different angle, but avoiding dirty laundry mentioned in another
source.
So I appreciate the comment from the web site reader, telling me what
he does not know, because what he does not know is almost more
important than what he does know.
** 16-Sep-20 World View -- Economic powerhouse Vietnam scrambles to recover from pandemic setbacks
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/x...tm#e200916
I received the following e-mail message from a Vietnamese web site
reader, in response to my article on Vietnam:
Quote:> "I have read the article and to be honest, you've
> probably done more research and have a broader and more in depth
> understanding of Vietnam and its history than I. But intuitively
> I believe what is written is true. My family is from South
> Vietnam, close to Saigon, and my family follows Buddhist
> traditions, however, not devoutly, almost as if they've had to
> hide it which I never understood. But now makes sense as it
> wasn't from shame but could be from possible persecution. I also
> definitely agree with other aspects of separation between North
> and South Vietnamese cultures as I believe my parents do not see
> Vietnam as their homeland anymore, or if they do, they almost view
> it as still being occupied by foreign invaders if that makes
> sense, probably one of the reasons they've never gone
> back."
One thing I've noticed pretty consistently in developing Generational
Dynamics is that people who grow up after a generational crisis war
know almost nothing about it, except the bare facts. Their parents
just don't want to talk about it. In developing Generational Dynamics
I've been told by many people that their parents never talk about what
happened during WW II. I attribute this to the fact that the
atrocities that were committed (on both sides) are best forgotten.
The result is a gaping hole in the knowledge that people have about
their own countries. And of course this is one reason that there's a
new crisis war several decades later, when the people with the gaping
hole are running the world.
Here's another example: I just saw on al-Jazeera a report of some
horrific human rights abuses in Burundi. They had video of a poor guy
who was thrown into a pit who was screaming for help while security
forces looked on. The report talks in terms of "security forces" and
"political opponents" and so forth, never once mentioning that the
government is run by Hutus and the "political opponents" are all
Tutsis, and that the violence is a consequence of the 1994 Rwanda
genocide. Why is that fact, which is the core reason for the human
rights abuses in Burundi, completely unmentioned and ignored? Why are
the important facts buried, and leaving some bland mealy-mouthed
political explanation behind as the only reason given.
Perhaps a good way to explain it is "dirty laundry." There's plenty
of dirty laundry left over from a generational crisis war, and the
winners, the loses, the media, the trolls, the deniers, the
collaborators, and the various international politicians all cooperate
to hide the dirty laundry. This is unfortunate, because the only way
that there's any hope to prevent a new generational crisis war is for
the dirty laundry from the last one to be well known by the public.
Instead, they know almost nothing.
So I could modify George Santayana's famous saying as follows: "Those
who cannot remember the dirty laundry of the past are
condemned to repeat it."
I could not have written that article on Vietnam until recently. The
bare facts of Vietnam's history -- domination by China, invasion by
French, America's defeat in the "Vietnam war" -- are well known, but
beyond those facts, almost all other facts in the narrative of that
article had to be dug out from the 350 or so sources that I've been
reading. For example, the reconstruction of the Tay-Son rebellion
alone required a dozen sources, with each source describing a
different angle, but avoiding dirty laundry mentioned in another
source.
So I appreciate the comment from the web site reader, telling me what
he does not know, because what he does not know is almost more
important than what he does know.
** 16-Sep-20 World View -- Economic powerhouse Vietnam scrambles to recover from pandemic setbacks
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/x...tm#e200916
