Moderate Antiwar Activist
I am writing this letter to throw my weight behind the antiwar activism going on at the university and around the country. It is entrenched in our constitution that it is our basic right to protest and there could be no better time to exercise that right than in the current situation considering the irresponsible move by our government to send troops to Vietnam. Imagine what the world would be like if we all remained silent about these issues of national interest. Ours would be a sad story because there is enough evidence from the past on what happened to our country when the crowds chose to remain silent.
In this regard, I wish to express my support for moderate antiwar activism. Change does not come without pushing …show more content…
What is even more disturbing is that a majority of the victims are innocent civilians who die in extremely inhumane circumstances. Whereas this is unacceptable, it is ironical that our country that is known for upholding human rights is in the midst of these crimes. It may also come as a shock to many that the issues we here about the Vietnam war are mere propaganda accelerated by hatred. Those who want to see us divided are using the war politics to divide and rule us. War leads to discrimination by making followers of the propagandists believe that a certain group is unwanted thus causing more instability, something which is not good for the country. The war in Vietnam is also causing massive environmental damage. Our troops are using herbicides which they spray over the vegetation, all in the name of countering the guerilla warfare tactic by the Vietnam soldiers. Little does our government realize that they are adding toxic substances into the environment that will kill many organisms and plants or even interfere with their genetic composition. We are also left to wonder why the government is coercing its citizens to support the war in Vietnam whereas America is known to be a free state. We cannot allow the government to curtail our liberty at the expense of patriotism. What is bad remains to be bad, not even patriotism can justify it. Economists will also tell you that the …show more content…
In the last few days, we have had a group of radical protestors who would do anything including the use of violence to be heard. Whereas the intentions are good, I strongly oppose the radical protests. I have heard some of them argue that a “soft” strike will achieve little in persuading the government to act. I think we should allow the government reasonable time to respond to the “soft” strike order considering that troops won’t be withdrawn overnight as it may require technical and logistical planning to do so. Also, to force some students to take part in an action they do not voluntarily subscribe to is completely wrong. As antiwar activists, what we ought to do is to show those who are reluctant to join the movement the need to join hands against the Nixon policies. In this regard, those who want to attend classes should be given room do so without any interference since getting an education is equally important. I also feel that calls to have a complete “hard” strike or nothing at all by the radical protestors is in their self-interest. We know that some of these students have political ambitions which they want to advance at the expense of the majority student body. It is only fair for every student to do what he or she pleases under the current circumstances. It also is unfortunate that as a result of the radical protests some students were shot dead complicating the issues
I am writing this letter to throw my weight behind the antiwar activism going on at the university and around the country. It is entrenched in our constitution that it is our basic right to protest and there could be no better time to exercise that right than in the current situation considering the irresponsible move by our government to send troops to Vietnam. Imagine what the world would be like if we all remained silent about these issues of national interest. Ours would be a sad story because there is enough evidence from the past on what happened to our country when the crowds chose to remain silent.
In this regard, I wish to express my support for moderate antiwar activism. Change does not come without pushing …show more content…
What is even more disturbing is that a majority of the victims are innocent civilians who die in extremely inhumane circumstances. Whereas this is unacceptable, it is ironical that our country that is known for upholding human rights is in the midst of these crimes. It may also come as a shock to many that the issues we here about the Vietnam war are mere propaganda accelerated by hatred. Those who want to see us divided are using the war politics to divide and rule us. War leads to discrimination by making followers of the propagandists believe that a certain group is unwanted thus causing more instability, something which is not good for the country. The war in Vietnam is also causing massive environmental damage. Our troops are using herbicides which they spray over the vegetation, all in the name of countering the guerilla warfare tactic by the Vietnam soldiers. Little does our government realize that they are adding toxic substances into the environment that will kill many organisms and plants or even interfere with their genetic composition. We are also left to wonder why the government is coercing its citizens to support the war in Vietnam whereas America is known to be a free state. We cannot allow the government to curtail our liberty at the expense of patriotism. What is bad remains to be bad, not even patriotism can justify it. Economists will also tell you that the …show more content…
In the last few days, we have had a group of radical protestors who would do anything including the use of violence to be heard. Whereas the intentions are good, I strongly oppose the radical protests. I have heard some of them argue that a “soft” strike will achieve little in persuading the government to act. I think we should allow the government reasonable time to respond to the “soft” strike order considering that troops won’t be withdrawn overnight as it may require technical and logistical planning to do so. Also, to force some students to take part in an action they do not voluntarily subscribe to is completely wrong. As antiwar activists, what we ought to do is to show those who are reluctant to join the movement the need to join hands against the Nixon policies. In this regard, those who want to attend classes should be given room do so without any interference since getting an education is equally important. I also feel that calls to have a complete “hard” strike or nothing at all by the radical protestors is in their self-interest. We know that some of these students have political ambitions which they want to advance at the expense of the majority student body. It is only fair for every student to do what he or she pleases under the current circumstances. It also is unfortunate that as a result of the radical protests some students were shot dead complicating the issues