Thang Nguyen 555

The A isn’t in CAPS for a reason. It’s just my own, small “a” America which I know, being late in the game while still “Hail Mary” to get a decent final scores.

I have no idea how it changes so quickly, right before my eyes (or in between my trips overseas).

I first met America through American Army men, who moonlighted (still in uniforms) at a local English school.

Then via State-run newsreels featuring West-Point Westmoreland e.g. how many weapons were rounded up, next to squatting, blind-folded Black-Pajamas. America sent us some Moon Rocks so we can see for ourselves that its Moonshot was bearing fruit i.e. world leadership, “on Earth as it is in Heaven”.

Results, results and results. Always quantifying and tabulated with charts and graphs (one can easily lie via charts and graphs – on an easel and with a long stick – at Five O’Clock Follies).

Army-issued canned foods started to arrive, and get recycled on black market. Rock and roll music played over the air – the tape (Ten Years After’s “I am going home”). Helicopters and C-130’s flown above head, while Jeeps and Army olive-green convoys left a trail of red smoke.

Vietnamese localities started getting mis-pronounced, but recognizable: “Long…..Ben….” (for Long Binh), Dja Neng (for Da Nang) and of course, Hue (sounds just like a Huey which subsequently ferried many casualties).

My first initiation to America was via the war it conducted with boots on the ground, and B-52’s sorties in the air. Later, at its conclusion, I was confronted with walls, from Airport wall to Embassy wall, from sandbag wall (of a river barge) to battle ship gangplank.

Then of course, Army-based Island, and Army barracks.

Any college dorm after that would be an upgrade.

My America was tall, decent and willing to admit its mistakes. It carefully observed the STOP sign (my first impressions) even when no one was in sight, in the rain. The America I first got to know lent a hand, greeted strangers and was quite light-hearted. Its music and sense of humor won me over.

All those late-night debates over bottomless coffee or occasionally beer (Rolling Rocks – small bottles) sealed our bond.

The America of late 70’s was quite innocent. So trusting that guys like Jim Jones could manipulate 900 followers into mass suicide.

The country had just come to terms with Watergate and War. So we re-invented ourselves, with silly pranks….”Rocky Horror Picture Show” to “Rocky, Balboa”, from Rambo to Chuck Norris. A face-saving revisionist transformation – from men in uniforms to imprisoned pajamas to shirtless/bandanas hero rescuer.

My America had OPEC crisis and crisis of confidence (in Carter’s words). Iran could just take Americans hostage, for days on end. AIDS killed Rock Hudson. Still killing people disproportionately. Very much like today’s covid.

Wall Street emerged as a force to be reckoned with, despite stagflation of the late 70’s.

Network news got their thrones, those of High Priests’.

Presidents did look “presidential” in the person of Reagan, then Bush.

The Cold War gave us scares, but that which did not kill us, made us strong.

Technology started to ramp up, outside of Defense-driven contracts, in the apple orchards of Silicon Valley.

Voila. Can’t talk about America without talking about the rise of Tech and the staying power of its campuses.

Ideas and entrepreneurs have been its staples: hungry and eager for a challenge. Failure was a badge of honor.

West-Coast Garages were replacing East-Coast Bell Labs (ATT) and Route 128.

Meanwhile, music commanded our devotion (Just look at the Rolling Stones and remnants of the Beatles).

The America I know took people in for the Big Meal, sharing turkey and table seats. People got in line, first in first out. DMV, Post Office and Social Security Office – consistent and conscientious. The norms.

America was into efficiency, so much into it, that off-shoring and automation got traction at the expenses of labor union. The floor started to crack….from one decade to the next, with NAFTA then WTO. Both benefited Mexico and China, more than the US.

Foreign students still arrived in droves, but fewer stayed. In AI Superpowers, we learned that Chinese engineers were recruited and returned for the country’s Belt & Road initiatives (not Belt Way of Washington D.C.). America has tried to keep up with Science and Technology, while neglecting Society.

Tech gets ahead of public policies (IT merged with Communication to make ICT), while readership migrated to digital format. Broadcasting turns narrow casting. Audience could now “spell” with help from auto-complete. There is no need for lengthy “Letters to the Editor” as in years past. Fan loyalty? What (myspace) fan loyalty?

Computing and communication powers are now in the hands of common folks, even citizens of overseas.

Just upload. A clip here and a comment there.

Book titles are ample to reflect diversity ( a good thing). Youtube videos uploaded by the millions. Micro audience helped foot the bills for home chefs and other outlets. Tech companies, giants in their own right, diversify to gain influence (Apple News, Yahoo News, Facebook and Twitter).

The old guards (NYT, Post) go by subscription to fight of competition. Splintered news, and of course, fake news. Traditional print media began to fade, just like their predecessors e.g. shipping news and telegrams.

Mad max world. Post-truth era.

The conversation moves away from Central Casting to the Cult of amateurs, from Network News to Nightly News, from Cronkite to Colbert (to use a journalist book title).

Rip van Winkle can hardly locate his TV dinner (people already knew the gist of the Evening News). Mobile platform and dis-intermediation sideline subject matter experts.

Marketers scratch their heads. Advertisers go bald.

The machine does it all. It could even synthesize and write a decent piece (after all, it won at the game of Go).

Where does this leave me and my small “a” America?

I have to cope, to change (after heavy lamenting). I don’t seek to assign blame. Just the way it is, like Cronkite used to end his newscast. I need to join “the conversation”, learn to connect – 2nd and 3rd degree etc..and to “comment”…..(What do I know about technology, coding, cloud and conveyor of half-truths).

American are out for him/herself. Self-protection from the outside (covid) and self-protection from the inside (count the votes). Monroe doctrine (America for Americans) has a dust-off. So is McCarthyism (just label them).

All of a sudden, it feels like we are living in a foreign country (Hungary or Belarus, your choice).

Future Shock! (A few of us still live in Agricultural past, much less Industrial past & coal mining).

Kids are moving back home. Adults are moving back home. And foreign students are moving back home.

If my movie could be rewound, I would find myself back to 2008, 2001, 1975 and 1968. Then I would dream of a “California Dreaming” again, of innocence and unlocked gates, orchards and organs, of allowing strangers the benefit of the doubt. Of trusting teachers, preachers and politicians. Of living simply and seeing the glass as half-full.

Not a nation, once capitalized “A”, now AME-RICA.

(someone even put a band-aid over it, where the hyphen is, just to keep it together, however loosely and temporarily.)

I miss my small “a” America. It affords me time to develop my immunity and immersion. It’s where I could make mistakes and adapt. Nowadays, I am not so sure of that. I might get shot, not get help. The only good thing comes out of covid is that school-shooting has been way down (there ain’t much to risk prison term).