Posted by Declan on November 20, 2006, at 2:35:44
In reply to Re: The side Effects of What are you saying? » Declan, posted by lil' jimi on November 17, 2006, at 22:06:05
My memory of Vietnam as a schoolkid is that the USA completely blew its credibility through years of unreliable pronouncements.
Everyone opposed the war by the end. But the people in the Administration knew the difference between lies and truth, even if they did not tell it.
There have been periods in the C20 when an empirical view of the world has given way to other ways of seeing it.
That had not yet happened at the time of Vietnam, under either the Johnson or Nixon Administration, even with the bombing and the Paris negotiations.Surely you know the breach and the observance thing? It is simply the knowledge of right and wrong, observed or not.
Of course I meant almost total disregard, mitigated (in the case of Vietnam) by the traps of history.
Certainly the story was better.I was trying to say that the pattern of public dishonesty has greatly changed over the last 50 years.
If I have offended you by implying that our leaders are more sincere than those of the past, I apologise.
That really was not my intention.
I am confused about this.And shame seems to be passe. That is part of it.
Declan
poster:Declan
thread:702096
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20061009/msgs/705433.html