The Vietnam War were happened from 1958 to 1974, and it was the most representative war which showed how the United States was struggled in dilemma since many people were opposed the scheme to fight with Vietnamese, and judge it as a “mistake”. It also caused the greatest antiwar movement that our nation had never experienced before, and led the war to the end. The reason why the United State decided to help South Vietnam was because our country wanted to prevent the spread of communism power in Vietnam. Also, it was a good chance showing how strong our military power was to the world. Unfortunately, there were many negative images about the soldiers reported by the photographers in Vietnam. By watching those pictures or films, most people started to think how these soldiers could do it. Who was the enemy that we should kill?
According to the film “Hearts and Minds”, we could clearly see that our military power was developed very well, and we had no fear either to fight with Vietnamese or others. Our soldiers used the repeating rifle, the primitive machinegun, the submarine, and the steam powered ironclad warship to kill the enemies mainly. When the U.S. soldiers were bombing those peaceful villages, it didn’t make sense if we were using strong military power to kill those innocent people who didn’t even have weapon on their hands. These facts led us felt indignant at our government because they were destroying innocent people’s families but it didn’t relate with the war for our freedom. It had enraged our minds, those images were violent, bloodiness especially a soldier was recorded and said “we are counting dead bodies of dead women and children to prove we are being successful in the Vietnam War”. This was really unacceptable, deplorable, and disgraceful. If the goal of Vietnam War was to kill women and children who lived in the village, then it meant our congresses who had agreed to get involved in the Vietnam War were imbecile. The whole story was an innuendo. In The Impossible Victory: Vietnam by Howard Zinn. The antiwar movement not only convinced the residents, but also the juries. “One sign that the ideas of the antiwar movement had taken hold in the American public was that juries became more reluctant to convict antiwar protesters, and local judges too were treating them differently.”(p. 241) People that were on the pro-war sides started to change their minds, too.
In fact, our government was refused to show the images of Vietnam War because the truth would make most Americans felt ashamed. From Realism to Virtual Reality by Anthony Swofford has indicated that “To control these images, the U.S. government set up pools of selected reporters and photographers, confined them to certain locations, required them to have military escorts when gathering news, established stringent guidelines limiting what could be reported or photographed, and subjected all written copy, photographs, and videotape to strict censorship” (p.22) This would prevent a lots of pictures showed to the audiences, but it wouldn’t able to block all the truth that government were planned to hide behind. During the war, many individual viewers would hear other people’s commons from schools, media, newspapers, or work places. That was the main reason why we could see the antiwar movement was being expanded after the images were transferred by war correspondent.
It would be ethical to show graphic images of war and suffering while the war was just happening. All residents in the whole world have responsibility to know the truth at the first time, and different countries’ government need to update the latest information about the war. The war correspondent who was working into danger had the right to decide what kinds of image should show for viewers. Many people would think that the images provided by news were being chosen since they have relationship with the local government. Furthermore, if people saw the same image in documentaries, or fictional films, it will catch more people’s attention. The most unforgettable images shape the Vietnam way the war has been remembered is when the American military burned the villages.
Overall, the Vietnam War is the most important example of showing how images can affect people’s attitude. We should echo people’s voice not only treated them unequally since they have different races. We shouldn’t killed innocent residents and judged them as zombie. Human body lives are valuable.
According to the film “Hearts and Minds”, we could clearly see that our military power was developed very well, and we had no fear either to fight with Vietnamese or others. Our soldiers used the repeating rifle, the primitive machinegun, the submarine, and the steam powered ironclad warship to kill the enemies mainly. When the U.S. soldiers were bombing those peaceful villages, it didn’t make sense if we were using strong military power to kill those innocent people who didn’t even have weapon on their hands. These facts led us felt indignant at our government because they were destroying innocent people’s families but it didn’t relate with the war for our freedom. It had enraged our minds, those images were violent, bloodiness especially a soldier was recorded and said “we are counting dead bodies of dead women and children to prove we are being successful in the Vietnam War”. This was really unacceptable, deplorable, and disgraceful. If the goal of Vietnam War was to kill women and children who lived in the village, then it meant our congresses who had agreed to get involved in the Vietnam War were imbecile. The whole story was an innuendo. In The Impossible Victory: Vietnam by Howard Zinn. The antiwar movement not only convinced the residents, but also the juries. “One sign that the ideas of the antiwar movement had taken hold in the American public was that juries became more reluctant to convict antiwar protesters, and local judges too were treating them differently.”(p. 241) People that were on the pro-war sides started to change their minds, too.
In fact, our government was refused to show the images of Vietnam War because the truth would make most Americans felt ashamed. From Realism to Virtual Reality by Anthony Swofford has indicated that “To control these images, the U.S. government set up pools of selected reporters and photographers, confined them to certain locations, required them to have military escorts when gathering news, established stringent guidelines limiting what could be reported or photographed, and subjected all written copy, photographs, and videotape to strict censorship” (p.22) This would prevent a lots of pictures showed to the audiences, but it wouldn’t able to block all the truth that government were planned to hide behind. During the war, many individual viewers would hear other people’s commons from schools, media, newspapers, or work places. That was the main reason why we could see the antiwar movement was being expanded after the images were transferred by war correspondent.
It would be ethical to show graphic images of war and suffering while the war was just happening. All residents in the whole world have responsibility to know the truth at the first time, and different countries’ government need to update the latest information about the war. The war correspondent who was working into danger had the right to decide what kinds of image should show for viewers. Many people would think that the images provided by news were being chosen since they have relationship with the local government. Furthermore, if people saw the same image in documentaries, or fictional films, it will catch more people’s attention. The most unforgettable images shape the Vietnam way the war has been remembered is when the American military burned the villages.
Overall, the Vietnam War is the most important example of showing how images can affect people’s attitude. We should echo people’s voice not only treated them unequally since they have different races. We shouldn’t killed innocent residents and judged them as zombie. Human body lives are valuable.
