...Heroes of the Vietnam Anti-War Movement One of the great things about America is freedom of speech. If you are opposed to something, speak out and people will listen. If it’s a good enough cause people may even begin to follow you. This is what happened with the anti-war movement. It was a domino affect that quickly spread all over the country. I do not agree with some logic behind the movements ideas or even some actions. However I believe any individual who stood up for the value of human life and spoke out against Vietnam was a hero. The U.S. war in Vietnam triggered the most tenacious anti-war movement in U.S. history, beginning with the bombing of North Vietnam in 1964. Over the next decade, hundreds of thousands of young people become radicalized in a largely sometimes nonviolent and sometimes violent demonstrations.This anti-war movement started mostly on college campuses. At these campuses “teach-ins” were being held by the SDS, or commonly known as the Students for a Democratic Society. The first “teach-in” was at University of Michigan. This “teach-in” was the first major university-based anti-war demonstration in the United States. Soon after that the first large-scale student movement, Students for a...
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...The anti-Vietnam war movement in the late 1900’s played an incredibly important role in American history due to the powerful combination of young students with drive, radical leaders, and the way the movement aimed to involve the whole country. The Kent State Shooting was a major catalyst for the anti-Vietnam war efforts and could be considered a symbol for the movement because it exemplified the incredible ambition of the movement’s supporters but also the tension and violence which arose as a result of it. The Vietnam War was the most unpopular war in United States (US) history. This was due to many factors: its length, arguably unnecessary amount of death and destruction (in the US and Vietnam), and the establishment of aggressive media coverage for anti-war protests. It was essentially a proxy war between the United States and Soviet Union. Following a policy of containment designed to keep Communism from spreading, the United States provided military and financial support for the anti-Communists in South Vietnam. Opposing them was North Vietnam, which at the time was primarily controlled by the Vietcong, Communist-led guerrilla fighters. By 1963, the US had...
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...honed the power of this technology, and become more pervasive than anything humanity has ever encountered. Looking at antiwar movements over the last 60 years, the media has been used to influence the mentality of millions in two very dichotomous ways. Meaning, the media has helped shape public opinion to be either for or against these movements depending on the pressures and demands of the times. Traditionally, print media industry has treated antiwar protestors as if they were disobedient children. In movies such as Across the Universe, protestors are portrayed as young hippies who do not fully understand the rationale and benefits behind war. Often the media presents us with one-sided information that is meant to persuade us to accept a message that we are not familiar. In the case of antiwar protests back in the Vietnam Era, the media while covering the issue equally with government/military administration, often only covered the more colorful aspects of the antiwar movement. While articles have been published about the tendency of the media during this time to be in favor of the antiwar sentiment, many scholars believe that print media in particular impacted the success of the movement. Antiwar movements are often conceived by the media as a form of dissent, and are further admonished by the government, and labeled as unpatriotic. While the Antiwar movement of the 1960s was ultimately extremely Mass Media Messages 3 successful, the media scrupulously covered the issue printing...
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...Banksy approaches his painting by presenting contrasting concepts in "CND". Banksy creates a juxtaposition in two different ways to convey the relationship of art and war: by using the soldiers and a peace sign and by depicting one soldier with a gun and one with a paintbrush. Graffiti has commonly been associated to disobedience for violating buildings and for advocating violence against ideas of social rules. The soldiers themselves are a representation of disobedience; the soldiers are the ones actively fighting in the war, yet they are trying to paint a peace sign in secrecy. Furthermore, the soldiers embody the idea of war, but Banksy purposely designed one soldier to be holding a paintbrush and another a gun. The soldiers, even with their weapons and gear, display a sense of fear for getting caught. The soldiers are illustrated in "CND" to be fighting for peace, which serves to suggest the ways in which soldiers are dehumanized. The assumption that the red from the paintbrush and peace sign conveys bloodshed further compliments the uncertain role of soldiers fighting in a war to acquire peace (CND Soldiers). Banksy uses satire to address the representation of free speech when at war. Although the soldiers are attempting to express their beliefs or ultimate goal of fighting in the war, the soldier's' body language demonstrates their fear. This painting is ironic, considering most justifications of...
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...1 In The Spitting Image Jerry Lembcke shows how this image is a myth that serves the interests of the powerful who led the U.S. to war. Lembcke is a sociologist at Holy Cross College, a Vietnam veteran who was an active member of Vietnam Veterans against the War. His book demolishes the myth that the antiwar movement was anti-soldier and that vets were spat upon.In this book, he argues that the common claim of American soldiers were insulted and spat upon when they returned home from the Vietnam War is a myth and nothing more. It was intended to discredit the anti-war movement and the protesters that were behind it. Lembcke stated that the Nixon administration was behind the propaganda and was using it to discredit the anti-war movement protesters. He theorizes that the reported "spitting on soldiers" scenario was a mythical projection by those who felt "spat upon" and was meant to discredit future anti-war activism. He suggests that the images of pro-war antipathy against anti-war protesters helped contribute to the myth. Lembcke argues that memories of being verbally and physically assaulted by anti-war protesters were largely conjured, arguing that not even one case could be documented. However, some news accounts that mention spitting do exist, although there has been no evidence to support those accounts.( Discover The Networks) It is hard to disprove a myth and hard to prove that something never happened. Lembcke acknowledges...
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...be part of the demonstration, which first began peacefully and esculated as the traffic was banked up in Circular Quay. The protester carried posters with anti-American slogans against the American policy in Vietnam written on it and photographs of Vietnamese civilian casualties while chanting slogans protesting the Vietnam war and handing out scores of leaflets. The demonstrators included members of the Communist Party, the Waterside Workers' Federation, the ALP youth body and the 'Save Our Sons' movement as well as university students. Next to police cars, 15 radio cars found their place in the demonstration to report about the movement to show their reports to the Australians on the television. The demonstration obviously was an anti-conscription movement, because the included organisation are popular for being...
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...airdrop 10,000 flowers on the Pentagon was foiled by undercover agents. After the airdrop was halted the flowers intended for the airdrop were placed in the barrels of officer’s rifles resulting in the iconic images from the “flower power” movement. The slogan “flower power”, coined by poet Allen Ginsberg in 1965, was used by the American counter-culture resistance as a symbolic action of protest against the Vietnam War. A surge of peaceful demonstration protesters were handed masses of flowers to offer policemen, press, and politicians as retaliation and defiance against the war. The flowers served two purposes: one as symbols of passive resistance of non-violence and secondly as emblems to reduce negative energy and connotations associated with feelings of fear, anger, threats, prosecution - all which were frequent results of these anti-war demonstrations. Photographs of flower-wielding protesters at the Pentagon March became seminal images of the 1960s anti-war protests. The image I chose to analyze is a photo by French photojournalist Marc Riboud of a seventeen-year-old high school student, Jan Rose Kasmir, clasping a daisy and gazing at bayonet-wielding soldiers on the steps of the Pentagon. This photo embodies the flower power movement by illustrating a strategic juxtaposition of armed forces against flower power innocence. The lighting of the picture helps develop this juxtaposition. It creates a brightness that forms a highlighted contour of her face. The...
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...(664 word count) 3/29 /15 Frederick Douglas, a mixed race slave contributed to anti slave movement and civil war beginning as a lecturer, influencing Lincoln to push for the emancipation proclamation as well as black women’s rights. Douglass was able to escape slavery and articulate his experiences in compelling lectures. He played a role during Lincoln’s presidency to influence to allow the participation of African Americans to fight in the civil war. He also pushed for freedom for all African American Slaves. After the 15th amendment was passed Douglas fought for African American woman’s equality and their right to vote. His accomplishments helped shape the country into what it is today, one nation. Frederick Douglass was born on a plantation in Maryland and was raised by his grandmother. He knew he had a ‘white’ father and that his mother was sent away to work at a neighboring plantation. When he was 8 he was sent to another plantation to become a house servant. He was taught by the master’s wife to read and write. At around the age of 13 he taught himself public speaking by reading the book The Columbian Orator, which he purchased for himself. (teenink.com) William Garrison, head of the Anti-Slavery Society, recognized Douglass as and excellent and interesting speaker. The society later helped him publish his autobiography. He wrote his book, “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, in which he described his life and experiences as a slave. (Sayre 962)...
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...From 1955 to 1975 it was said that approximately 200,000 of our men died in the Vietnam War. By the end of the 1960’s, the United States and the USSR had in their possession thousands of nuclear weapons, more than enough to wipe off all humankind on earth several times over. The music was the pivotal influence in keeping the optimism alive in the American people and the artists themselves and also contributing to the anti-war movement. The official American version of events and justification of going to war was that the Americans were fired upon while on patrol in the gulf of Tonkin on a PT boat in 1954. The war was historically poorly supported with for the first time in American history news coverage and daily video reportings from networks...
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...virtually anyone. Most notably of them being pornography. Porn still existed before the internet, of course, but in the form of magazines and films that someone had to be a certain age to purchase. Nowadays in the age of technology, anybody with a computer and internet connection can view pornographic images for free... All they have to do is click a button that says that they are over 18. Pornography at first seems natural and harmless to anyone who is of a mature enough age, but much like the mainstream media and Hollywood today, pornography creates unrealistic expectations of women and treats them like sexual objects. This belief launched a movement in the 1980’s that was against all pornography, dividing feminists into two groups, one for and one against porn. Pornography catapulted to the forefront of the American women's movement in the 1980s. Because of this, many feminists viewed it as a key agent of female oppression. However, ‘sex-positive’ feminists viewed pornography as an essential ingredient of sexual liberation, and porn can liberate women from conventional notions that they must be monogamous, romantic and that sex should only be associated with procreation. For pro-sex feminists, the patriarchal nature of our society oppresses the sexuality of ALL people, not just women. The sex-positive feminists generally opposed obscenity laws and other measures that they saw as being restrictive of sexual expression. Gayle Rubin, who is a cultural anthropologist best known...
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...the novel with the intent of an anti-war message. Throughout the novel, he portrays the horrors of war through what the soldiers experienced during World War I. Remarque demonstrates his anti-war message by showing the effects the war had on the young men, providing horrific details of war, and The author shows how young men are sent into war at such early ages, haven’t yet to experience much of life other than war. “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another”...
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...An Article Review Written by: Sabah Sayed Ali In 2012, the American Journal of Family Therapy published an article titled “Structural Therapy with a Couple Battling Pornography Addiction” by Jeffrey J. Ford, Jared A. Durtschi, and Darell L. Franklin. This remarkable publication addresses an issue about how the increasing availability of pornographic material is becoming detrimental to couples’ relationships. It notifies the reader that boundless addictions to pornography are affecting individuals in a relationship, and as a result, therapists are pursuing effective ways to solve this significant issue. In this article, it is mentioned that pornography causes personal distress and symptoms of withdrawal and tolerance, which, in turn, can adversely affect relationship and neurological functioning. Unfortunately, there are many instances where therapists encounter victims of pornography addiction, but due to its uncommon occurrence, importance is not given to these addictions. The effects of this addiction are often underestimated, and it is often ignored that these addictions are as severe and difficult as other types of addictions. Therefore, this article addresses the severity of pornographic addictions, in addition to introducing the implementation of a successful structural therapy for obsessive patterns of pornographic addiction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the structural therapy, the authors present a case study of a couple battling a pornographic addiction. The...
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...Destruction of War on Soldiers The novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque is one of the best books featuring the atmosphere of World War I, including trench warfare. It illustrates how young men were forced to participate in the battle even when they do not fully comprehend what they are fighting for. The novel does not directly decide who is right or wrong, but only who is left when it is over. It provides a wonderful insight about the tribulations and trials encountered by common soldiers. The author accurately accounts the people who did the fighting and their reactions. The main character of the story is a volunteer soldier named Paul along with his fellow soldiers. They argued about the real purpose of war and they have strong worries on what the war has done to them and what will happen to them after it ends. This paper aims to explore on the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque and its attitude towards WW1. Generally, the book provides a clear picture about the horror of war and what it is really like to be in the battlefield. It elaborates the gruesome war based on the perspectives of German soldiers. Its author presented an amazing imagery about the war including the details such as, how soldiers lost their legs after being amputated along with all the pain they experienced. Furthermore, it also demonstrates how the soldiers missed their families while on the battlefield, and how they yearned for love. Having a cigarette and plenty...
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...western front is said to be the greatest war novel of all time. Written by Erich Remarque, this novel is set in the early 1900’s during World War 1. It is told in the voice of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier who joins the war to fight on the French front. We follow the events of Paul’s life during the war as well as his group of comrades with whom he lives and learns. While Paul and his friends once entered the war with a child-like innocence, they are quickly shaken with the realistic and painful lives that they are living. They learn to understand the brutality of the war that they are in and that maybe “to die for one’s country” is not as sweet an honorable as they once thought. Throughout the book, there is a constant theme of war and the difficulties of it. It is up to the reader to decipher if they consider the novel to be pro- or anti-war. The book begins at suppertime after coming back from the front lines. Out of their company of 150 men to have gone with them, only 80 returned. Paul and his comrades believed that the extra rations that had been prepared should be dispersed among the remaining men. It is here that we first meet some of Paul’s comrades in war. There is Mueller, Kropp, and Katczinsky. Mueller is said to have been the more realistic one of the group. He sees the war for what it really is and his observance seems to foreshadow the loss of innocence among his friends as they progress through their life in the war. He is only 20 years old but he feels as...
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...Anti-Globalization Movement “Anti-globalization Movement is a disputed term referring to the international social movement network that gained widespread media attention after protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, WA in late November and early December 1999. Activists and scholars debate whether it constitutes a single social movement or represents a collection of allied groups, a "movement of movements." (Engler, 2007). The Anti-globalization movement opposes different types of social, economic, and ecological injustices that are believed to be the consequence of globalization which are against globalization. Participants of the Anti-globalization movement oppose political powers of large MNCs, and the powers of trade agreements. Corporations have been accused of seeking to maximize profits at the expense of undermining labor standards, environmental conservation principles and the integrity of national legislative capacity. Activists of the Anti-globalization movement seek global integration that provides better democratic representation, advancement of human rights and more egalitarian states. Anti globalization is argued from several points of view, the environmental aspects of globalization, human rights, nationalism (mostly economics), and heterogeneous. Allowing that many of the groups that anti globalization are single focus groups, the different groups do band together to create interest in their causes. The environmental aspects...
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