Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Pre-Writing Activity

Look on the portal in preparation for the next paper 3:


1. “The outcome of the Vietnam War was determined not on the battlefield, but on the television screen.” To what extent is this statement true?

OR

2. Why had President Nixon ended American involvement in the Vietnam War by 1973?

Address them both briefly. What pieces of evidence would be worthwhile to consider when addressing these questions.  Finally, how might the evidence surrounding the My Lai massacre serve to answer both questions?

15 comments:

  1. 1. There wasn't really a war, but because of the media's propagandas, many people believed that there was a war between the US and Vietnam, even they didn't go to the frontline and battlefield, they saw images and videos on TV that were bloodily and cruel so they thought that there was a war.
    2. President Nixon ended American involvement in the Vietnam War by 1973 for a better future for the US, a peaceful future for the US, it's been 10 years, it shouldn't last even longer.
    Many pieces of materials can be used to answer these questions. For example the Nixon peace speech can be used for the second question. The My Lai massacre serve to answer both questions because it provides evidences what the US did to Vietnamese people (which can be put on TV and show that it is like a war and what people should do about it) and also address that as soon as the US army ended involvement in Vietnam War, it would be fewer similar events.

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  2. 1. The war was not only fought in Vietnam. The Vietnam War enraged many Americans, some taking to the streets to vehemently protest having American soldiers in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was the first official war that was broadcast on tv nightly and engaged the American people through the mass media. The knowledge of what was happening in Vietnam not only upset the American people but also pushed them to become more involved in rallying against the war itself.
    2. In 1973 Nixon was forced to end American involvement in the Vietnam War because the public became very upset at the fact that they were still in the war to begin with. Furthermore, the Mai Lai Massacre court marshall that was televised at home facilitated the horror that the American people felt towards the war. Vietnam became the first truly televised war, allowing the people to see the travesties of war, including the Mai Lai massacre that sent Americans hatred for the war into overdrive.

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  3. 1. I do agree with this statement, however I do think that the majority of the war was fought between the media and not on the battle field. There was so much propaganda in the news and so many stories that the Americans didn't know what to think so it is only fair to say that the war in Vietnam didn't really occur the way people thought it did (however it is not fair to say that it never happened because of course there were battles, just not so extreme).
    2.The reason why Nixon decided to end the war in Vietnam was because he was in way to deep over his head with lies and promises that he couldn't keep to the people of the US, so when he decided to pull of the the war he would be able to say that we didn't lose. No we didn't lose, we just gave up and the south was left by themselves.

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  4. 1. The war was not necessarily determined on the TV but represented/ created the way people felt about the war. The war was still being fought the way it was with out any regard to television. But on the TV, it showed the way people thought about the war, and it influenced many other minds around the country. This is why there was not much support to the Vietnam War effort.
    2.Nixon ended involvement because he saw the way the war was going. He knew that it was going downhill in a hurry. And because of this, he said the power status of the US decreasing, and that was a huge problem because we might not be as respected as before. Nixon did not want this to cause any further problems, so he pulled out of the war before our reputation really got bad.

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  5. 1. Most of the war was driven by the domestic pressures from the people back home who either repented or advocated escalation. Like the cartoon with the blind-folded man walking up the stairs and the man with his head in the sand, these people were oblivious to what was ACTUALLY going on perhaps because they only got their information from what they saw on TV

    2. By this time, the domestic pressures to get out of the war were immense. So many people at this time were against it and if Nixon were to be liked by the people then he better well get out of the war. Also, things were just getting too out of hand over in Vietnam. Money was being thrown left and right and we really had no obligation to be fighting FOR the South Vietnamese. I guess this "out of controlness" can be seen in the absurdity of the My Lai massacre. As the soldier put it well in his letter back home, "Today we went on a mission and I am not very proud of myself, my friends, or my country. We burned every hut in sight!"

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  6. “The outcome of the Vietnam War was determined not on the battlefield, but on the television screen.” To some extent the media made it seem as if there was a war in Vietnam when there really wasn't. There were many stories and propaganda that falsely portrayed the soldiers. The soldiers had a much different view and experience of the war rather than the people seeing all the propaganda.
    President Nixon ended the American involvement in the Vietnam War because he wanted to seem as if we and him were the good guys with his "Peace and Honor" speech. I also agree with Meghan that Nixon was consumed in lies and promises that he could not keep, as a result there was no other way. He had to get his troops out of the war in the best way possible.

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  7. I would have to disagree with the statement "The outcome of the Vietnam War was determined not on the battlefield, but on the television screen.” because what these soldiers were doing is what ended the war. Yes there were stories and propaganda like everyone's been saying but this was not a big impact on the war.
    2. Nixon ended his involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973 because there was no longer a need for us. To many soldiers have already died to this point, this brings me back to the reason why the US got involved in this war in the first place which was for power and communism. Yes, Nixon has demonstrated leadership and what not but it was time for the US to stop the fighting.

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  8. 1 The outcome of the Vietnam War that is perceived by the U.S. public is determined by the media. In addition to this, the public view of the war is also formed by the media, therefore establishes public attitudes toward the war. Protesting against the war brings pressure to the government, which eventually effect the outcome of the war. However, this statement is only partially true. The real outcome of the war is still determined by real frays on the battlefield. This statement stresses the influence of public opinions on the Vietnam War.
    2 The domestic turmoil in U.S. is definitely one of the factors that pull Nixon out of the war. As a president, Nixon highly values public opinions which eventually affect the result of the election. Besides the public attitudes toward the war, the U.S. effort in Vietnam is also inundated by the Viet Com. The amount of money the U.S. has put into the Vietnam War probably already outnumber Vietnam's value to U.S. Therefore, another reason for Nixon to end the war is the paucity of benefit U.S. can gain from the war.

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  9. 1. This statement is pretty accurate since during the vietnam war, the television era was going on at the same time. People started publishing things on this new medium and this put so much more pressure and stress on the American president since everything that they chose to do was commented in public. As well all they did was watched by many more Americans than before the TV era. The war was documented by a lot of ways especially through pictures and videos that could be published by anyone publically.

    2. I think that Nixon ended the intervention because of all the pressure that was made by all the Americans by opposing the war. People were starting to be too loud and opposing the war more and more. Nixon did not want his population to go even more crazy and did not want riots in the country therefore he decided to stop American's intervention in the vietnamese war. In addition the war was being to brutal and violent and useless anymore.

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  10. The outcome of the Vietnam War was determined not on the battlefield, but on the television screen:
    This statement is very true, showing the incredible influence the media had on the Vietnam war. Once the media would report on what was actually going on over there the American public became furious, tired of seeing the constant deaths, bombings and atrocities committed by both sides of the aisle. Even today the media has a big say in public option. Its scary to think that almost 100% of our information comes from the news
    Why had President Nixon ended American involvement in the Vietnam War by 1973?
    His presidency became so unpopular due to the continued involvement in Vietnam that he had no other option but to withdraw or witness the hell-fire of a hateful public. There should be a law that if Congress approves military involvement then all of their children of able age should be the first ones deployed.

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  11. 1.I agree with the statement that the outcome of the Vietnam war was determined on the television screen. Because Vietnam war was the first war that was televised on TV, people saw propaganda and images of war. However, when people got to find out what was going on throughout the war, people got very mad and started to protest on the street.
    2.Based on the Peace Speech from President Nixon, Nixon wanted to bring peace and harmony to between the two countries in a right way not only because people were upset about the fact that the United States were still involved in Vietnam War but also, ending the U.S involvement in Vietnam will be beneficial to the United States’ future. In addition, when Mai Lai Massacre was showed on television in the United States, people saw how horrible war could be.

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  12. 1. The Vietnamese War was the first war in which the media conveyed more of our own atrocities than those of the enemy. Perhaps this is partly because we committed more unforgivable crimes in this war than in previous ones. Thus, it can be said that the American media was the North Vietnamese's greatest ally. Americans were already unhappy about so many soldiers' deaths in a country that was on the other side of the world, so the emotionally compelling stories and pictures of our barbarity were the last straw. This news alienated many Americans from their support for their government and lead to mass protests and catchy yet damaging phrases like "LBJ, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?" The media did more to end the war than anything that Ho chi Minh's soldiers had done.

    2. Richard Nixon ran for office with the pledge to leave Vietnam. To his credit, he did send most of the troops home, but he also dragged on the war. During his process of "Vietnamization," we continued to bomb the hell out of Vietnam. Covertly, we began to bomb and invade Laos and Cambodia as well. But these military endeavors were complete failures. When Americans found out about this further escalation they immediately began to protest. They were fed up with the governments cruelty, discrimination, and lies. The public's extreme opposition to the war gave Nixon no other choice than to finally conclude our activity in Vietnam and Indochina.

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  13. American civilians at their own soil are definitely influenced by the war. They once and a while receive a body bag of a young boy's dead body of the their son or brother but that's all the reason that they are upset about the war. Civilians did not get to see the war by their own eyes but through the television. Whether to fight in the war, really depends on the support of the people and whether people would enlist. Therefore winning or losing is depending on the matter of media influence.
    As Stefan said, there was no choice for president Nixon to keep the troops in Vietnam. Nixon promised to pull troops out, as well as the strong protests. Richard Nixon had to do what he did.

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  14. 1. Originally the people of the United States were furious about the decision to send troops to Vietnam in order to settle something that didn't directly involve the United States. Because of this, the media had a lot to cover in the issue of trying to convince people that the government and so the media was filled with propaganda and lies. Bloody images were often seen for the first time in a home setting, completely shocking the public. The news purposefully broadcasted examples of the losses on their side, but not those of the enemy.However, instead of helping the public to agree with the war, they went against it. The television became the way for everyday people to understand what was going on, and if the war and images stopped on TV than to those watching, that was the end of the problems despite if they were still going on.
    2. At first, Nixon came into office saying he would end the war in Vietnam and agreed with the people. However, as time went on he did not end the war and so the people got restless and began to react. I believe this is why Nixon was forced to completely "end the war" and to pull out more troops.

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  15. 1. Originally the people of the United States were furious about the decision to send troops to Vietnam in order to settle something that didn't directly involve the United States. Because of this, the media had a lot to cover in the issue of trying to convince people that the government and so the media was filled with propaganda and lies. Bloody images were often seen for the first time in a home setting, completely shocking the public. The news purposefully broadcasted examples of the losses on their side, but not those of the enemy.However, instead of helping the public to agree with the war, they went against it. The television became the way for everyday people to understand what was going on, and if the war and images stopped on TV than to those watching, that was the end of the problems despite if they were still going on.
    2. At first, Nixon came into office saying he would end the war in Vietnam and agreed with the people. However, as time went on he did not end the war and so the people got restless and began to react. I believe this is why Nixon was forced to completely "end the war" and to pull out more troops.

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