Vietnam

[Mark Mandel]

Now that you point that out, yes, I do remember that part of the atmosphere
of the times. So I agree that Blumenthal may not have intended to imply here
that he had served in the Nam.

m a m

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 11:40 PM, <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> Actually, in that poisonous atmosphere, anyone wearing a uniform was
> subject to the sort of abuse that Blumenthal described. A Marine would have
> been particularly vilified, and a Marine who had not actually served in
> Vietnam would surely have felt solidarity with those who did: "we Marines"
> in other words.
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Date:         Fri, 21 May 2010 22:49:48
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] Vietnam
>
> You may not wish to reply, Victor. But as one who has not previously spoken
> in this (I agree, over-politicized) thread, I will throw in my two cents to
> disagree in part with you here.
>
> "When we returned from Vietnam, I remember the taunts, the verbal and even
> > physical abuse we encountered."
> >
>
> There are two "we"s here. The first, in "When we returned from Vietnam", I
> agree can be read collectively, referring figuratively to "America" or
> literally to "America's troops".
>
> But next comes "I remember the taunts, the verbal and even physical abuse
> we
> encountered". To this reader, the cooccurrence of "I" and "we" in this
> clause practically forces a personal, literal interpretation of that "we".
> If "I remember" what "we encountered", then that individual "I" who
> remembers was a member of that "we" who encountered abuse, the set of
> returned veterans receiving tribute. And he wasn't, and he knew it.
>
> Mark A. Mandel
>
> On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 4:11 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> >
> > http://bit.ly/dCcOTz
> > > During a May 18, 2009, military board tribute to veterans in Shelton,
> > > Blumenthal was quoted by the Connecticut Post [http://bit.ly/boM16X]
> > > as saying, "When we returned from Vietnam, I remember the taunts, the
> > > verbal and even physical abuse we encountered."
> >
> > Sure, YMMV. But what I see here is a "we" that represents the country,
> > not "we" including the individual "I". I suppose, a more technically
> > accurate statement would have been "When our troops returned from
> > Vietnam", but it would not change the meaning of the statement one bit.
> > NYT quotes a similar line from the Milford Mirror, another local paper.
> >
>
>

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