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Seconded. I just finished it. PBS only had the first 4-6 episodes "free" on the AppleTV app (and I assume other streaming methods) but I had recorded all 10 on
by rconti 9y ago
Seconded. I just finished it. PBS only had the first 4-6 episodes "free" on the AppleTV app (and I assume other streaming methods) but I had recorded all 10 on my DVR. I should have paid my local affiliate the $60 to get PBS Passport so I could watch the whole thing uncensored -- so if you want to see it and haven't yet, or don't have an antenna, or whatever, check to see if you can get PBS Passport access with a donation. The Blu-Ray is $130 so this is a much cheaper option.
In some ways the documentary made me feel better about today's America; they survived, so can we. The parallels between the Nixon administration (and, frankly, the pro-war coverup parts of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations) and today's administration are just amazing. On the other hand, it makes me sad to realize how much of today's mindsets are unchanged knee-jerk leftovers from that era. My dad is a Vet, and was actually on a carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin during the incident; fortunately his active duty service was complete shortly thereafter. He later came to realize the war made no sense, but I'm sure that many of the things the anti-war folks said would still hurt to this day. He's also had friends he served with who he's lost friendships with because they can't accept that someone could go from being in the military to being skeptical of these kinds of foreign interventions, and that the government isn't always right.
One thing I found really interesting was how well-received Americans are in Vietnam. Maybe it helps that communism ultimately fell apart so it seemed like we were 'right' all along, and looking out for their best interests-- but of course it wasn't their interests we cared about, and communism would have fallen apart on its own, likely without millions of deaths, if we hadn't gotten involved.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago> communism would have fallen apart on its own, likely without millions of deaths, if we hadn't gotten involved Communism caused more deaths where we weren't involved than where we were. This is confounded; the areas where we had no influence had much larger populations. But it is indisputable that if we hadn't gotten involved at all, communism would still have caused many millions of deaths.
- shouldbew0rking 9y agoI like to daydream that Chile would've been a superpower had we not overthrown Allende