As it's November 22nd, another anniversary of Lee Harvey Oswald reminding us that people with three names are crazy and should not be trusted. Here's Walter Cronkite announcing to the world President Kennedy's death. One similarity I can note to today's news is that even back then, live breaking news was a clusterfuck of rumor, speculation and uncoordination. An incredible and surreal piece of television history though. It's impossible to imagine in the all shock and pomp that TV news has become, how something this tragic would be handled. Information travels so fast now it's hard to believe there could be that long a period of groping in the dark trying to figure out what happened. [yt="This is Walter Cronkite"]2K8Q3cqGs7I[/yt]
I know, the way it's reported you'd think all assassins/murderers/serial killers went by their full names. Our infotainment outlets aren't geared to handle actual news, they can't be, there just isn't enough actual news to fill twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
That said, Walter Cronkite is roasting in Hell. He probably ties LBJ for being responsible for allowing S. Vietnam to fall to communism.
Yep. People actually believed the news back then because they didn't know any better and when Wlat said the was was lost, that was it. The fact that the NVA and VC were buttraped on a daily basis wasn't important I guess. Too bad he didn't get mortared when he went over there to report.
Of course. Because all those "reports from the field" with the dead and wounded were actually just CGI. Oh, wait.
War has casualties. Cronkite saw a couple of dead American G.I.'s and did what ever lib does, puts his hands on his face and squeels "Oh no, we lost!" without understanding the bigger picture of the war itself. WC is personally responsible for thousands of Americans dying in vain!
And to get this back on topic, I'm mindful of the reporting on 9/11. Now, granted, I came in late (West Coast Time) and may have missed some of the early scrambling to grasp what was going on, but I have to say the reportage over the next several days and weeks, on ABC at least, was dignified and as organized as it could be under the circumstances.
I keep forgetting that in this place everything has to be spelled out in big block letters. You can't win a guerrilla war with conventional methods. The U.S. learned that in Nam, then the Soviets made the same dumb mistake in Afghanistan. If you understand the history of either region, you understand that they've been fighting invaders for centuries, they don't wear uniforms so you can tell who the Bad Guys are, and they will fight to the last man, woman, and child.
Ask the VC how their insurrgency was going after Tet. You'll need a ouija board for your answers because they were wiped out. The Soviets never had that kind of success because they weren't fighting that kind of enemy. The VC was equipped, trained, and backed by the NVA and the Soviets. The Muhajaddeen got a handful of rifles, some advisors, and a few Stingers. Apples and Oranges. Now that the VC are taken out of the equation you can tell me all about the successes of the NVA.
We didn't lose battles in Vietnam. We lost the public relations war at home (Cronkite was a powerful opponent) and we also couldn't overcome our own executive and bureaucratic stupidity. Put a man like LBJ in charge of the war (remember, he was the one that blatantly lied to get us into it) and let him micromanage it to death and you're bound to wind up with a mess that can only be improved by bailing out. Afghanistan was a manageable, low-level situation a couple of years ago, much like Vietnam was when LBJ came to power. As smart as the Obamessiah is supposed to be, he's making very similar LBJ-level mistakes in Afghanistan. Oh, yes. It's his war now. edit And Obama is most definitely proving he didn't learn anything despite his lectures in the campaign. The "smartest guy out there" has messed this one up.
I have to agree with you there. Most of the reporting from all of the networks and local stations was pretty dignafied. The first hour was mass confusion until the second plane hit, then there was no mistake that we were under attack. Yet the media for the most part kept their heads and kept the speculation to a minimum. For all the horror of that day, it was good to see people coming together and acting like adults, even if it didn't last.
I agree, but Cronkite said the war was lost, and there was no reason to. There were no defeats on the battlefield, after Tet the VC simply ceased to exist, and once Nixon went into Cambodia and ordered air strikes against the North, the war was over militarily, but because of the liars at ABC, NBC, and CBS, everyone knew the war was lost and put pressure on Nixon to get us out. It would be like Cronkite walking on Omaha Beach and saying the dead troops we suffered in Normandy proves we couldn't win the war and we needed to get out.
I'm quite certain that, at least anymore, they do this on purpose. Kinda like that way all scandals now need of have a nifta little nickname ending in -"gate", all entertainment-related multi-performer extravganzas now end in "-palooza", and all topic-specific groups here are {fill in the blank}Forge. Were I to go on a shooting spree (ain't gonna happen folks--just a hypothetical...), I'm entirely sure that I would be portrayed "Reggie Bob" Nautica, even when my entire life I'd gone by Reginald Nautica*. IMO this actually serves to propagate the myth, pollute the jury pool, and increase presumption of guilt via mass media. * - Name changed to reflect a lack of reality.
Yep. We'd pretty much won Vietnam by Tet '68. Then the NVA bided their time until we were pulling out before launching the '73 Easter Offensive. Unfortunately they didn't bide quite long enough, we still had some advisors in-country--and at least one destroyer on station off the coast (with a bunch more brought in) to provide naval gunfire and they lost that bid too. This brought them to the negotiating table and they signed a peace treaty. Of course a peace treaty with communists is only as valuable as the guns you keep in place to enforce it and since Walt and the boys ensured there weren't any guns--or even any aid--in place, two years later the North Vietnamese invaded and fucked over South Vietnam.
This isn't entirely true. You can win a guerilla war with conventional methods, but you have to be pretty brutal about it. Essentially, and not making a joke, you have to kill them all. Leave no-one left alive to be a guerilla. You "win". Even the Soviets weren't prepared to go that far.
Yep, it's nothing more than the media using their full legal name. You'd probably be called "Reggae Bob," hopefully you'd have the dreadlocks and affinity for herb necessary for the nickname.
