strollingbones
Diamond Member
One of the most resilient images of the Vietnam era is that of the anti-war protester — often a woman — spitting on the uniformed veteran just off the plane. The lingering potency of this icon was evident during the Gulf War, when war supporters invoked it to discredit their opposition.
In this startling book, Jerry Lembcke demonstrates that not a single incident of this sort has been convincingly documented. Rather, the anti-war Left saw in veterans a natural ally, and the relationship between anti-war forces and most veterans was defined by mutual support. Indeed one soldier wrote angrily to Vice President Spiro Agnew that the only Americans who seemed concerned about the soldier's welfare were the anti-war activists.
While the veterans were sometimes made to feel uncomfortable about their service, this sense of unease was, Lembcke argues, more often rooted in the political practices of the Right. Tracing a range of conflicts in the twentieth century, the book illustrates how regimes engaged in unpopular conflicts often vilify their domestic opponents for "stabbing the boys in the back."
Concluding with an account of the powerful role played by Hollywood in cementing the myth of the betrayed veteran through such films as Coming Home, Taxi Driver, and Rambo, Jerry Lembcke's book stands as one of the most important, original, and controversial works of cultural history in recent years.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/The-Spitting-Image-Memory-Vietnam/dp/0814751474]Amazon.com: The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam (9780814751473): Jerry Lembcke: Books[/ame]
hen, starting around 1980, members of the Vietnam War generation began sharing the tales, which Lembcke calls "urban myths." As with most urban myths, the details of the spat-upon vets vary slightly from telling to telling, while the basic story remains the same. The protester almost always ambushes the soldier in an airport (not uncommonly the San Francisco airport), after he's just flown back to the states from Asia. The soiled soldier either slinks away or does nothing.
One of the early vet-spit stories appears in First Blood, the 1982 film that was the first of the Rambo stories. John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, claims to have been spat upon by protesters at the airport when he returned from Vietnam. "Protesting me. Spitting. Calling me baby killer," Rambo says. "Who are they to protest me?"
Newsweek repeats the myth of the gobbed-upon Vietnam vet.
revisionist history? the myth of being spit on.....
i know the hardships that returning veterans faced...the true ones caused by the lack of medical treatment etc....born on the 4th of july was more real than this spitting myth..
i have heard this claimed by so many...and i refute it ever chance i get....
as the book says there is not one picture of this happening...suddenly the press would not print this?
In this startling book, Jerry Lembcke demonstrates that not a single incident of this sort has been convincingly documented. Rather, the anti-war Left saw in veterans a natural ally, and the relationship between anti-war forces and most veterans was defined by mutual support. Indeed one soldier wrote angrily to Vice President Spiro Agnew that the only Americans who seemed concerned about the soldier's welfare were the anti-war activists.
While the veterans were sometimes made to feel uncomfortable about their service, this sense of unease was, Lembcke argues, more often rooted in the political practices of the Right. Tracing a range of conflicts in the twentieth century, the book illustrates how regimes engaged in unpopular conflicts often vilify their domestic opponents for "stabbing the boys in the back."
Concluding with an account of the powerful role played by Hollywood in cementing the myth of the betrayed veteran through such films as Coming Home, Taxi Driver, and Rambo, Jerry Lembcke's book stands as one of the most important, original, and controversial works of cultural history in recent years.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/The-Spitting-Image-Memory-Vietnam/dp/0814751474]Amazon.com: The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam (9780814751473): Jerry Lembcke: Books[/ame]
hen, starting around 1980, members of the Vietnam War generation began sharing the tales, which Lembcke calls "urban myths." As with most urban myths, the details of the spat-upon vets vary slightly from telling to telling, while the basic story remains the same. The protester almost always ambushes the soldier in an airport (not uncommonly the San Francisco airport), after he's just flown back to the states from Asia. The soiled soldier either slinks away or does nothing.
One of the early vet-spit stories appears in First Blood, the 1982 film that was the first of the Rambo stories. John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, claims to have been spat upon by protesters at the airport when he returned from Vietnam. "Protesting me. Spitting. Calling me baby killer," Rambo says. "Who are they to protest me?"
Newsweek repeats the myth of the gobbed-upon Vietnam vet.
revisionist history? the myth of being spit on.....
i know the hardships that returning veterans faced...the true ones caused by the lack of medical treatment etc....born on the 4th of july was more real than this spitting myth..
i have heard this claimed by so many...and i refute it ever chance i get....
as the book says there is not one picture of this happening...suddenly the press would not print this?
