07-09-2021, 02:55 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-09-2021, 03:12 AM by Captain Genet.)
The influence of Vietnam is overrated. Certainly it was an important and painful experience for young men threatened with draft, but beyond that... AFAIK American military was winning the Vietnam war. The government surrendered because of the pressure of the media and anti-war student protests.
https://www.prageru.com/video/the-truth-...etnam-war/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathansal...ab95e3f218
Imagine America in the kind of societal mood experienced by Victorian England or currently by China. Is it likely for anti-war protests to emerge in such a mood? It is more probable that young men would be proud to die for honour, fatherland and civilization. This kind of mood was also present in America in the 19th century during the wars with the Natives. It became impossible precisely because of the influence of postwar intellectuals in the media and academia. For them, honour and civilization were suspect.
The "Vietnam syndrome" theory is also refuted by the fact that anti-war views became super popular in Europe during the Millennial Saeculum, even though no European troops were ever sent to Vietnam. And when European countercultural students were attacking the older generation, they were always calling them fascists.
You are right that most Silents were conformist in the 1950s. The cause seems to be that few young people were students back then, most of them would start full-time work before the age of 20 and marry a few years later. This does not change the fact that countercultural ideas were born in the 1950s. What makes the 2T important is the skyrocketing number of people supporting these ideas.
https://www.prageru.com/video/the-truth-...etnam-war/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathansal...ab95e3f218
Imagine America in the kind of societal mood experienced by Victorian England or currently by China. Is it likely for anti-war protests to emerge in such a mood? It is more probable that young men would be proud to die for honour, fatherland and civilization. This kind of mood was also present in America in the 19th century during the wars with the Natives. It became impossible precisely because of the influence of postwar intellectuals in the media and academia. For them, honour and civilization were suspect.
The "Vietnam syndrome" theory is also refuted by the fact that anti-war views became super popular in Europe during the Millennial Saeculum, even though no European troops were ever sent to Vietnam. And when European countercultural students were attacking the older generation, they were always calling them fascists.
You are right that most Silents were conformist in the 1950s. The cause seems to be that few young people were students back then, most of them would start full-time work before the age of 20 and marry a few years later. This does not change the fact that countercultural ideas were born in the 1950s. What makes the 2T important is the skyrocketing number of people supporting these ideas.