Ken Harbaugh Veterans Stereotypes Analysis

Harbaugh’s Veteran Stereotype In a commentary aired on National Public air, navy pilot veteran, Ken Harbaugh argues about the stereotypes of “damaged” veterans. He speaks about how veterans are portrayed through the media in a negative light, that in terms, is not always true. Harbaugh does this by comparing and contrasting, “damaged” veteran stereotypes, to how veterans really are outside of combat. He mentions several statistical studies, and how media influenced stereotypes corresponds with them. Ken Harbaugh reveals to us the parallels between Vietnam movies and Iraq movies, and the concerns he has about the parallels these movies from different eras spark in him. Harbough first shows the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq movies by mentioning famous movies such as, Rambo and Ground Truth, that encourage people’s perspectives towards veterans. He depicts on how in the era of the Vietnam war, the media characterized returning Vietnam veterans as, insane sociopaths. According to The Atlantic Monthly Group, authors Sally Satel and Richard J. …show more content…
Ken Harbaugh argument simply states that most veterans come home with sound, stable minds, who live normal lives; that the unfortunate result of those who come back “damaged”, should not cause stigma among those vets who are in terms, doing well after serving. It is important to educate oneself with facts and not feed into what is shown on movies before making any kind of assumption. As mentioned in The Atlantic article, nearly all veterans are “proud” to have serve their country, but the media do not show this in either Vietnam war movies or Iraq war movies. Therefore, the parallels that Harbaugh is concern about can only be combatted, by civilians educating themselves on what a veteran is truly like, outside of their