I know patriotism is looked down upon by many residents of this board, but I thought I would share a bright spot in American history that I, an American, am proud of. All too often, tales of mighty and bold deeds are enveloped and overtake by tragedies and missteps. I think it is important to remember both.
Below are two very interesting pieces produced by NPR about the history of the USS Kirk. I highly recommend listening to the pieces to get the full flavor of the story, but they do have text if sound is not an option.
Say what? Patriotism isn’t looked down at here; demagoguery that asks us to set aside rational disussion of policy options in favour of blind emotional boosterism is.
I dunno, maybe we got so confused and mixed up during the process that we actually evacuated South Korea during the fall of Saigon. You know all those gooks look alike! (That was a joke - you know how all those old white establishment fucks thought in the 60’s).
I mean really. They are both “south” of another place, we fought a war both places, and they are only 1,800 miles apart. They are practically the same thing.
Truthfully, despite my natural handicap of being an American, I am usually really good at geography/countries…
Actually, getting South Korea and South Vietnam confused would be exactly the kind of thing the hard right blind emotional boosterist might do. A real patriot OTOH, would be a student of foreign affairs.
As Sarah might say, “I can’t see either of 'em from Alaska, so they must be the same.”
Not trying to pick on the OP who just slipped a gear, but that *is *a really awesome blunder.
How do you know they didn’t? Did anyone interview anyone from the SRV? For all we know, they could’ve had a whole chorus line of Ricardo Montalbán wannabes lined up at the piers, emoting their hearts out…
