PSA: There is nothing funny about the Vietnam War.

[BeachBaby]

Nor is there anything funny about what happened to our men and women in uniform who served in the Vietnam War.

That. Is. All.

[rug]

1. Nor is there anything funny about what happened to the Vietnamese.

And Cambodians and Laotians.

[BeachBaby]

2. Agreed.

Thanks.

[SeattleGirl]

3. Who thinks it's funny?

If so, I'd like to kick their ass.

[BeachBaby]

4. I'm not going to name names.

But it was made fun of tonight, and I didn't appreciate it - and I imagine that the hundreds of thousands of Vietnam vets wouldn't appreciate it, either.

I'm not in a good mood.

[SeattleGirl]

12. Well, if I happen to see that, I'll definitely kick ass.

And hopefully, Skittles will be there too.

[BeachBaby]

14. Skittles would DEFINITELY kick his ass.

[SeattleGirl]

20. You can always count on her!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

You're not?

Ah, honey, that sucks.

Have you heard the latest about Yuengling? It screwed up my evening, but life will go on.

Cheer up, sweetie......................

[BeachBaby]

34. WHAT!

What happened to our first love - YUENGLING? :scared:

Thanks for your well wishes, darlin'. :hug: :loveya: :hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

38. It's awful -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367x20931

Turns out this happened in 2007. Damn.

You'll be OK, toots. If there's anything I can do, you just honk, hear?

Here's something that just broke me up madly, so have a laugh, kid...............

[TreasonousBastard]

68. That would be me, I assume, and I did not...

reply because I sensed a bit of outrage that I had no intention of dealing with.

You have no idea who I am, what my background is, or what context my wisecrack may have been in, but yet you found my black humor somehow unseemly and you are making a big deal of it.

No, three years in the Army and I never got levied to Nam-- spent all my time in Europe, a lot of it watching the dead souls of men coming back from Nam spending their last six months in in uniform in what should have been heaven but they were too busy chasing their demons to notice. And a lot of my friends did get levied and ended up on that Wall.

Even today, every time I go to the VA hospital I see the wrecked bodies of vets my age limping along or in walkers or wheelchairs and so often with that same blank stare.

Like many other Vets, I have become quite the pacifist, and worked with Viet Nam vets on demilitarizing high schools and manning the GI Rights Hotline.

So, go ahead and judge. Aim your outrage at me and my black humor.

And see if it changes anything. Recruiters are still making their quotas and soldiers are still being maimed and killed for no good reason.

[ghostsofgiants]

5. Not even M.A.S.H.?

But yeah, I'll second what rug said, especially.

[BeachBaby]

6. M.A.S.H.?

That was based on the Korean War.

[BeachBaby]

7. Dupe.

[ghostsofgiants]

9. Well shit, so it is.

Just ignore me, haha.

[BeachBaby]

13. As the old saying goes.....

"You learn something new, every day."

:) :hi:

[ghostsofgiants]

16. Now I wanna know why the hell I thought it was Vietnam.

[BeachBaby]

19. See post #18.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

30. You read too much Ayn Rand?

Just a guess...........

:hi:

[ghostsofgiants]

35. Hmm, definitely not that, haha.

Hate me some Ayn Rand.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

39. Who doesn't?

I mean, which sentient human being with a heart doesn't?

[latebloomer]

45. Because it came out during the Vietnam war, or not long afterwards

and took a lot of shots against war and the military.

[madinmaryland]

10. +(44+6)/10!! You beat me to that by a nano-second!

[madinmaryland]

8. Uhmm. MASH is Korea..

mim shakes his head.

[ghostsofgiants]

11. I'm an idiot, what can I say?

I've never actually watched it, I just always thought it was Vietnam.

[madinmaryland]

15. Wow! I am fukin old! I was watching re-runs of MASH in college.

In the early 80's.

[ghostsofgiants]

17. Haha...I could make you feel even older, but I won't.

:P

[madinmaryland]

22. Considering you were probably not even born in the early 80's!

:grr:

[ghostsofgiants]

25. ...

'85 haha. :P

[madinmaryland]

31. Heh!

You're only a couple years older than my son!

:hi:

[armyowalgreens]

41. I'm probably younger than your son...

I was born exactly 4 years before the Battle of Mogadishu.

M.A.S.H. seems like an ancient show to me. I've never been a fan of it. I also had no clue that it was about the Korean War.

[3.14158675309]

48. A son in '87?

Dood, I've got a daughter from '87...... ;-)

[BeachBaby]

18. You're not an idiot.

I can see why you would have thought it was Vietnam - since it was broadcast near the ending of the Vietnam War. :)

[SeattleGirl]

21. I read awhile ago that in a way, it WAS about Vietnam, but setting

it in Korea was, the producers felt, less risky.

Don't know if that's absolutely true, but it does make a certain amount of sense.

[BeachBaby]

23. In retrospect, I can see how Klinger's character fit into the Vietnam draft protest.

Good point. :)

[SeattleGirl]

26. I think that was loosely based on something Lenny Bruce did, or was

rumored to have done: dressed as a woman to avoid the draft.

[BeachBaby]

29. Wow! Although, if I had to think of someone who would do something like that....

Lenny Bruce certainly fits the criteria. :)

[SeattleGirl]

36. Oh, yeah.

[madinmaryland]

24. Well, they used the Korean War to portray Viet nam, but either way,

it was about wars that we "invited" ourselves to (like one that we ALL have lived through).

[Tangerine LaBamba]

32. It was purely anti-war,

although the guys who wrote it were a bunch of WWII vets.

I guess they knew what they were talking about ...................

[Kali]

28. that was always my understanding

[rockymountaindem]

37. It's essentially an allegory for the Vietnam War set in Korea

The only difference is that you can film the "Korean War" in SoCal, whereas the Vietnam War would have required filming in a jungle environment not found in or around LA.

[Aristus]

46. The second and third seasons of "Tour Of Duty" were filmed in SoCal.

It sucked. Totally unrealistic. The first season was filmed in Hawaii. That made more sense. After the first season, the series turned to shit...

[sarge43]

40. You've nailed it. A bit of distancing to make it bearable.

The evolving attitude toward the Nam war could be tracked in the series. It started off as just another fun and games at work sit com; the later episodes were often serious examinations of what it really meant to people caught in the insanity.

[Gormy Cuss]

50. The series was based on a novel of the same name by a Korean war vet.

The TV series did reflect more of the thinking of the Vietnam era towards the end of its run.

[TreasonousBastard]

65. Yes-- Viet Nam was far too close for comfort for an...

essentially anti-war TV show.

I remember Alan Alda and a few of the writers and producers talking about how they felt about Viet Nam, but they were able to make their points via the Korean War without the politcal fallout.

So, it was very definitely about Viet Nam, but Korea was the allegory.

[JVS]

27. One could easily argue that although it was set in Korea, it was actually about Vietnam and the...

issues raised by that war. Especially since it had a "when will this eternal war end" theme going on which fits Vietnam much better than a war that lasted 37 months (and 4 or 5 MASH xmas episodes). Also of note is a post sexual-revolution mentality that fits the pre-ill era poorly.

[BeachBaby]

33. Absolutely.

When I was little, I watched it with my parents - and I assumed that it was about the Vietnam War, since news of the war was on TV every night. IIRC, I asked my dad why they kept talking about Korea - and that's when I found out. :)

[malta blue]

42. My Dad was in Vietnam when I was born.

He doesn't talk about his time there. EVER.

There is nothing funny about that.

:hug:

[BeachBaby]

54. No there isn't, sweetie.

Your dad is one of my heroes. :hug:

[raptor_rider]

43. I totally agree

My dad will forever have metal shrapnel lodged in his right lung till the day he dies. He was in a ditch for 8 hours with a collapsed lung, listening to others die around him. It was friendly fire that injured him. Miscalculation with the aircraft with dropping the rocket. It happens.

[BeachBaby]

55. I'm sorry to hear that.

If you could, let him know that there are many of us who hold him in high regard - myself being one of them.

:hug:

[raptor_rider]

64. Thank you BB

It is greatly appreciated!!

Just a little bit ago, he told me that he was turning off the water outside before I pulled up (we live next door to each other out in the country) and someone was 1/2 away on BLM land and fired off 20 rounds from a full auto AK47. He said that was the first time he had ducked down in 40 years. It still gets to him this day.

:hug:

[Blue_Tires]

44. even the Vietnam Hollywood War??

I can't laugh at Col. Kilgore anymore? or Robert De Niro being forced to play Russian Roulette? or Tom Berenger's "I AM reality" spiel? or Private Pyle's jelly doughnut? or the campy, over-the-top, eye-rolling wackiness of "The Green Berets?"

[Bucky]

51. The Green Beretsis a great movie

I especially love the closing seen when John Wayne walks into the Pacific sunset... facing east.

[DS1]

47. Ho Chi Minh is a son of a bitch!

Got the blue balls, crabs, and the seven year itch

I don't know but I've been told..

:D

[BeachBaby]

52. LOL. I've heard a lot of those.

:)

[jeff30997]

53. Lol! Good one Private Joker.

Love that song ! :rofl:

[bicentennial_baby]

56. Did you know that you can see Ho Chi Minh's face

on the side of the big gas tank next to Rt. 93? It's in the blue paint...

http://www.boston-online.com/bizarro/the_ho_chi_minh_memorial_gas_tank.html

[edbermac]

67. "You seen much combat?"

"Well, I've seen a little on TV." :rofl:

[Bucky]

49. There is nothing funnier than human tragedy. The only unfunny part is bad timing.

[Iggo]

57. There's something funny about everything. (n/t)

[BeachBaby]

58. Express that sentiment to a veteran, and see what he or she says about it.

Watching children die....watching your buddies get blown up.....getting your limbs blown off....

I can guarantee you that no war vet will agree with you.

[Iggo]

60. There's nothing funny about that stuff.

But my uncle, a Viet Nam vet, tells many humorous stories from when he was over there.

Likewise, my dad, a Korean War vet, has some fall-down funny stories from his days in Korea.

My great uncles used to tell hilarious stories about some of the things that happened to them in WWII.

So, the things you listed are not funny, and I never said they were, and no veteran ever told me they were. I just said SOMEthing is funny about EVERYthing (probably should've said "anything" 'cause that's what I meant). Even in war zones. And I get that straight from the veterans you speak of.

[BeachBaby]

61. Well, I am speaking of the actual WAR itself.

The combat. The injuries. The fatalities.

Of course, they have funny stories to share; but they are not funny stories about battle and death.

See what I mean? I should have clarified. My apologies. :)

[FloridaJudy]

62. My dad used to tell funny stories about landing on the beach at Normandy

On D-Day. While experiencing food poisoning. On his birthday. I'm sure there was absolutely nothing funny about it at the time, but humor is one of the ways people deal with overwhelming tragedy. Anyone who says there were no jokes about AIDS didn't know many gay people during the eighties.

But making fun of the people who had to suffer through that - not just at the absurd situations they sometimes found themselves in - is unacceptable. Period.

[Iggo]

63. Well put.

:fistbump:

[ScreamingMeemie]

66. Tell that to my son.

Losing one's father at the age of 9 is not funny. The Vietnam War is not funny. Discrimination is not funny. Need I go on? If you think there is, see a doctor.

[StrongBad]

59. Not even Gene in "Wet Hot American Summer"?