Ken Burns Tackles the Vietnam War

[Smitty-48]

The protests didn't have any effect, all the Hippies did was make the Hardhats dig their heels in deeper, the protesters didn't end the Vietnam War, the NVA did, on the battlefield, the Great Silent Majority didn't give a rat's ass about the protests, wasn't a deciding a factor.

"Protesting Ended The War" is just the Hippie fallacious narrative, but it's a big myth.

[Montegriffo]

Lots of bias with the Civil War. One of the most interesting things I've heard recently about the Vietnam Era is that the protests were comprised of primarily college going Boomers, only 7% of the Boomers went to college.

That all changed after the lottery draft came in. Before that it was mostly the poor and the black population who were getting drafted, once the draft affected the wealthy as well as the poor the protests became larger and more diverse.

[Smitty-48]

If anything, the protesters actually prolonged the war, just about the time that America was ready to call a halt to it, is when the protests went into high gear, and that simply incited a reactionary response from the Hardhats, extending the war for another seven years.

America was a cunt hair away from Peace with Honor in 1968, but Hippies v. Hardhats blew that up and sabotaged the deal.

[K@th]

Makes me laugh how the series is described as 18 hrs long. It is on the BBC here so no adverts, each episode is 55 mins so it comes out as 9 hrs 10 mins. Are you really getting 9 hrs of commercials?

No, but many of those episodes are 90 minutes. No commercials during a show on PBS (our version of BBC.) Commercials before & after, yes, but not during.

[Montegriffo]

The protests didn't have any effect, all the Hippies did was make the Hardhats dig their heels in deeper, the protesters didn't end the Vietnam War, the NVA did, on the battlefield, the Great Silent Majority didn't give a rat's ass about the protests, wasn't a deciding a factor.

"Protesting Ended The War" is just the Hippie fallacious narrative, but it's a big myth.

Hmm, so massive unrest and a drop in support for the war didn't force the govts hand?
LBJ knew in '65 that the war was unwinable but couldn't get out because of the loss of face. Once the war became deeply unpopular Nixon was able to campaign as a candidate for peace and LBJ couldn't even run.
Once you had My Lai you could no longer carpet bomb indescriminately so you were out of options.
Genocide or withdraw is not really an option.
Like it or not, the filthy hippies and their peace protests shamed the govt and pulling out became the only choice.

[Montegriffo]

Makes me laugh how the series is described as 18 hrs long. It is on the BBC here so no adverts, each episode is 55 mins so it comes out as 9 hrs 10 mins. Are you really getting 9 hrs of commercials?

No, but many of those episodes are 90 minutes. No commercials during a show on PBS (our version of BBC.) Commercials before & after, yes, but not during.

Must be getting the edited version on the BBC then, all ten episodes are 55 mins.

[K@th]

Makes me laugh how the series is described as 18 hrs long. It is on the BBC here so no adverts, each episode is 55 mins so it comes out as 9 hrs 10 mins. Are you really getting 9 hrs of commercials?

No, but many of those episodes are 90 minutes. No commercials during a show on PBS (our version of BBC.) Commercials before & after, yes, but not during.

Must be getting the edited version on the BBC then, all ten episodes are 55 mins.

Yeah, check IMDB, the last two episodes were almost 2 hours each.

[Smitty-48]

The protests didn't have any effect, all the Hippies did was make the Hardhats dig their heels in deeper, the protesters didn't end the Vietnam War, the NVA did, on the battlefield, the Great Silent Majority didn't give a rat's ass about the protests, wasn't a deciding a factor.

"Protesting Ended The War" is just the Hippie fallacious narrative, but it's a big myth.

Hmm, so massive unrest and a drop in support for the war didn't force the govts hand?
LBJ knew in '65 that the war was unwinable but couldn't get out because of the loss of face. Once the war became deeply unpopular Nixon was able to campaign as a candidate for peace and LBJ couldn't even run.
Once you had My Lai you could no longer carpet bomb indescriminately so you were out of options.
Genocide or withdraw is not really an option.
Like it or not, the filthy hippies and their peace protests shamed the govt and pulling out became the only choice.

Sure, you're a liberal, so you guzzle that kool-aid as you have been programmed to, but it doesn't reflect the reality, it's a meme, but it's all myth, the college protesters deeply opposed the war rigtht from the get go, but it wasn't the unpopular war which made Nixon popular, it was the unpopular protesters, the Great Silent Majority despised them with a fiery passion.

If Nixon had really felt that ending the war would make him popular, he wouldn't have gone behind Johnson's back to sabotage the peace that was at hand at the end of 1967, Nixon deliberately extended the war, because it favoured him, the Hardhats hated the Hippies so much, they extended the war just to spite them, and the Hippies hated the Hardhats so much, they took the bait hook, line and sinker.

[Montegriffo]

No, but many of those episodes are 90 minutes. No commercials during a show on PBS (our version of BBC.) Commercials before & after, yes, but not during.

Must be getting the edited version on the BBC then, all ten episodes are 55 mins.

Yeah, check IMDB, the last two episodes were almost 2 hours each.

Damn it, I'll have to buy the box set then.

[K@th]

Sure, you're a liberal, so you guzzle that kool-aid as you have been programmed to, but it doesn't reflect the reality, it's a meme, but it's all myth, the college protesters deeply opposed the war rigtht from the get go, but it wasn't the unpopular war which made Nixon popular, it was the unpopular protesters, the Great Silent Majority despised them with a fiery passion.

My parents, solid (straight ticket voting) republicans their entire lives, were vehemently opposed to the war. I was very young at that time, but I remember that much.