Harvey linked to the Stolen Honor post I have below. In his comments I said this:
I remember when Kerry testified. It was the year before my father died. What I remember the most is how FURIOUS Daddy was. I mean damn straight mad. And he didn't get mad. Ever that I remember - except for that.
What I didn't remember was that Jane Fonda actually went to the POW camps. SHE WENT THERE! I kept playing that part over and over again, saying how the prisoners were like a dog and pony show for her.
I don't know how she can live with herself. How she can look herself in the mirror everyday.
I know so many of you knew this, and I know that she actively protested the war - but I didn't know that. Ever.
Tammi exemplified on October 23, 2004 at 09:17 PM
The response was all I had to do was look in the archives and it was all there. So I did, and I'm ashamed of myself.
I've always been political. I've always supported our military 100%. But I didn't always do all the research I should have.
This is not an excuse - it's an attempt at an explaination. Mostly to myself as to how I could have been so ignorant.
I do remember Kerry's testimony. I was 9 yrs old, and the main reason I remember is that my Daddy got mad. Furious. The most pissed off I had ever known him to be. That got my attention. I wanted to understand what had happened so that I could understand why he was so mad.
My parents didn't talk about politics in front of us. They didn't talk much about the war, as in those day's parents tended to shelter their kids a bit more than is the norm these days. I wasn't allowed to watch the news. They felt the footage from Viet Nam was too much for a young girl. But kids hear things, kids see things. So I had a pretty good grasp of what was going on for a girl that knew no one directly serving.
In school, if they talked about Viet Nam, it was the same shit they taught everywhere. The same lies. I would question them and get in trouble, so I stopped asking my questions out loud. Daddy was gone by then and Mama wouldn't talk about it. She didn't know how. She grew up in a pacifist household, disagreed, but didn't know how to have that discussion.
I knew from what I was able to hear that Jane Fonda was an active war protester. I knew she was often talking on TV and doing all these protests and marches. But I didn't know she had the gall, the lack of character to actually go to Viet Nam and visit the POW camps. To be honest I didn't think that ANYONE, any AMERICAN would ever do something like that.
I never looked any farther. Because the idea was so foreign to me, in my mind it just was not possible.
That came to a crashing halt when I saw the documentary Stolen Honor. I never liked her before - now I cannot express my distain. My disgust.
I guess what I'm saying is I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't know. I'm sorry I didn't research. I'm sorry I couldn't concieve the idea that someone could be so low.
A bit of me is gone now. That bit that actually believed that all people have some bit of decency in them, however small. I'll never trust in the same way.
I will never make the same mistake again.
Posted by Tammi at October 24, 2004 10:12 AM