# Hanoi Jane - as American as smart bombs and Bozo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2006, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557 "2006-06-21T07:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kevegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e68b1a/32.png) [@kevegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevegan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/1 "2006-06-21T07:53:39Z")
My mom recently read Jane Fonda’s execrable autobiography “My Life So Far”. She says this review by Tom Carson sums the enterprise up perfectly [http://www.powells.com/review/2005\_07\_12.html](http://www.powells.com/review/2005_07_12.html) Sure made me laugh. See what you think. A couple of paragraphs snipped here for your delectation: “According to Fonda, she couldn’t have written My Life So Far unless a key insight had (c’mon, guess) “liberated” her to do so: “Coming to see my various individual struggles within a broader societal context enabled me to understand that much of my journey was a universal one for women – played out in different ways and with different outcomes, perhaps, but with common core experiences.” It’s also played out with different incomes – and how much sweeter it is to be universal when you’re traveling first class. Yet if nothing else, her predictably ludicrous but unexpectedly endearing determination to play schoolmarm during her celebrity striptease is enough to settle any remaining doubts about the validity of this woman’s U.S. passport. That Fonda can still be an unconscious narcissist after all these years is triumphant proof that she’s as American as smart bombs and Bozo.” “Bigger storms are brewing, though. As she jets from L.A. to Vegas to marry Vadim, Watts is on fire down below – “an omen, though I didn’t see it as such at the time,” Fonda reflects. She also doesn’t say of what, tempting us to picture flames that spell out he’s a bum, jane. Then comes 1968: “perhaps the most turbulent, tumultuous year of the century,” she reminds us with nostalgia. She and Vadim have just completed Barbarella, but Jane is restless; filming a silly sci-fi comedy “when so much substantive change was taking place in the world had acted as yeast to my malaise.” She’s also about to give birth to their daughter, and her inner radical is on the verge of blossoming too: “My pregnancy during that fertile year – 1968 – created a rich loam.” Yeast, loam, malaise – suddenly Vadim’s drinking looks so sensible.” Laugh out loud funny. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/2 "2006-06-21T11:04:29Z")
Well worth reading in its entirety. Thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/3 "2006-06-21T12:01:07Z")
“A hurricane in a pawnshop.” Perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/4 "2006-06-21T15:07:37Z")
Ah yes, it’s an election year and we must trot out 40-something year-old grudges. Can’t wait for the inevitable emails with the usual glurge about ol’ Jane. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/5 "2006-06-21T15:12:48Z")
I’m a diehard liberal, and I couldn’t disagree with a single thing the guy said. She really is an embarrassment to the left. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/6 "2006-06-21T15:15:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’m a diehard liberal, and I couldn’t disagree with a single thing the guy said. She really is an embarrassment to the left. To the Left, to the Right, to Ted Turner, to Hollywood–hell, the North Vietnamese prolly wish they’d never seen her, by now. She needs a new hobby. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/7 "2006-06-21T20:43:13Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’m a diehard liberal, and I couldn’t disagree with a single thing the guy said. She really is an embarrassment to the left. Um, what’d she do? She’s a movie star with outspoken lefty politics. I still haven’t bought into that right-wing claptrap about how it’s deeply immoral for celebrities to express liberal views, so help a guy out and explain what the problem is. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/8 "2006-06-21T20:51:47Z")
I was responding to **Chefguy** , who I understood to be calling the article a conservative attack on Ms. Fonda. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/9 "2006-06-21T21:00:29Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I was responding to **Chefguy** , who I understood to be calling the article a conservative attack on Ms. Fonda. I’m honestly clueless about what makes her “an embarrassment to the left.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/10 "2006-06-21T22:00:00Z")
Guys, this – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane\_Fonda#.22Hanoi\_Jane.22](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda#.22Hanoi_Jane.22) may be enlightening, assuming some goober doesn’t vandalize it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/11 "2006-06-22T01:04:33Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I’m honestly clueless about what makes her “an embarrassment to the left.” Did you read the linked article? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/12 "2006-06-22T01:10:47Z")
Anecdote: when Jane was promoting “The Vagina Monolgues” she came on a program at the station where I worked, by telephone. She wanted to know beforehand if we had a delay. At the time, we didn’t. This gave her the green light to say the c-word on our airwaves not once, but five times. If anyone had complained to the FCC, we’d have been up shit creek. Stupid c-word. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/13 "2006-06-22T01:32:16Z")
I’m certainly no conservative, but Jane Fonda is one of the issue on which I agree with the conservatives. She went way beyond anything that could be excused as just a differing political opinion. The only thing I can say in her defense is that, based on what I’ve heard about her, she’s probably too dopey to really have understood how wrong she was. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/14 "2006-06-22T01:37:52Z")
There are many that feel if the Vietnam War had been a declared war and not a “police action” Jane should have been tried as a traitor to her country and executed and further, her actions in North Vietnam played a significant role in the unjust way American soldiers were spat upon and called “baby killers” upon their return to American soil. ---
**Author:** ![kevegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e68b1a/32.png) [@kevegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevegan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/15 "2006-06-22T01:43:50Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > This gave her the green light to say the c-word on our airwaves not once, but five times. If anyone had complained to the FCC, we’d have been up shit creek. A) If the station had promoted the interview with Jane Fonda in advance, no one would have been tuned in. B) Casual listeners may have assumed when she said c\*nt, that she was referring to herself. Either way, no complaints likely. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/16 "2006-06-22T01:48:05Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > There are many that feel if the Vietnam War had been a declared war and not a “police action” Jane should have been tried as a traitor to her country and executed and further, her actions in North Vietnam played a significant role in the unjust way American soldiers were **spat upon and called "baby killers**" upon their return to American soil. [Ahem.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_on_soldiers_during_the_Vietnam_War) ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/17 "2006-06-22T02:03:00Z")
> [@kevegan](#): > > A) If the station had promoted the interview with Jane Fonda in advance, no one would have been tuned in. Wrong. She came on as a favor to the performers doing it in our area, as she was overseeing it in another city. The phone banks started up at 7 AM for an 11 AM show. We must have cut off a dozen people who started with one premise, only to break into a Hanoi Jane monologue, and we just cut them off. All callers thereafter were warned that if they deviated by one word from what they told the screener they were calling for, or made any mention of anything that was not the Vagina Monologues, they would be cut off immediately and banned from calling any other program. We still cut off several more after it. The show was not about Jane-bashing, and we were not about to let it go there. She was able to embarrass us enough all by herself without letting the audience get in on it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/18 "2006-06-22T02:04:20Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I was responding to **Chefguy** , who I understood to be calling the article a conservative attack on Ms. Fonda. Didn’t read the article and have no love/hate for Fonda. I was commenting on the OP’s perceived need to call her “Hanoi Jane”. It’s inflammatory and unnecessary. As if to make my point for me, **Nic2004** then trotted out that old bullshit about soldiers being spat on. Read a friggin’ book, for cripe’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/19 "2006-06-22T02:13:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Didn’t read the article and have no love/hate for Fonda. I was commenting on the OP’s perceived need to call her “Hanoi Jane”. It’s inflammatory and unnecessary. > > As if to make my point for me, **Nic2004** then trotted out that old bullshit about soldiers being spat on. Read a friggin’ book, for cripe’s sake. I am fairly well read but my comment comes from numerous friends that were returning Vietnam vets (one of whom is a former POW that was held in Hanoi) and my statement is to the opinions expressed by **Vet.'s who returned from Vietman**. Sorry if that doesn’t coincide with what you’ve _read_. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557/20 "2006-06-22T02:24:53Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > I am fairly well read but my comment comes from numerous friends that were returning Vietnam vets (one of whom is a former POW that was held in Hanoi) and my statement is to the opinions expressed by **Vet.'s who returned from Vietman**. Sorry if that doesn’t coincide with what you’ve _read_. Speaking as a former returning Vietnam vet and 23-year career military man, it’s nonsense through and through. Returning military came back via commercial charter aircraft that landed in places like the AF base at San Bernardino, not commercial airports. I wandered around in my uniform for several days and nobody glanced twice at me, let alone said or did anything untoward. There has not been a _single solitary documented case_ of a soldier being spat upon. I never spoke to a single military person in 23 years who claimed to have been spat on, sworn at or otherwise insulted. Your friends are either embellishing their own experience by relating populist nonsense and hearsay, or are just lying to impress you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanoi-jane-as-american-as-smart-bombs-and-bozo/361557.md?page=2)