Radio Hanoi

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 03:09 PM 3/30/00 -0800, Dennis wrote:
>Incidentally, apropos of things Vietnamese, I'm teaching a wonderful
>Vietnamese book by Bao Ninh called "The Sorrow of War", in a pretty good
>translation. It's a soul-shattering autobiographical account of what he
>experienced as an NVA soldier in the war. I found myself physically
>wincing over the sheer *damage* we caused that tiny, indescribably
>beautiful country. For those who survived, the bombs are still falling, in
>their minds, memories and empty places where there used to be friends,
>neighbors, loved ones. 
>

That suggest a more general observation that grievance manufacturing seems
to be inversely proportional to actual suffering - those whose suffering
was real want to forget it and go on with their lives, those who 'suffered'
vicariously - like most US-ers- make a big noise about it.  I am truly
shocked by the wide-spread feeling of 'victimization' in this pampered by
history country whose main export to the world is war.

wojtek