Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Author: Thang Nguyen 555
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If you recall an old movie in which an Armed Forces DJ was the main character, you would figure out right away….. Yes, it’s “Gooooooooooooooood Morning Vietnam”. (other song would be “I feel good” to depict the era). At the end, it’s Louise Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World to accompany visual of lush-green fields (riddled…
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Countdown “Ten, Nine, Eight…” Press and drop to Usher in the New Year. Mechanically predictable! the law of physics: e.g. Trains arrive on time, auto-payment, life expectancy. Flip over another calendar page. Set the alarm. Direct withdrawal. Punch in and out mechanically just as the machine at work. Auto-reminder, preset dental appointment. Ours has been…
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We have seen the carnage played out. Almost to its final act. We came, and have yet conquered. Yes, the land perhaps. But not hearts and minds. I am not referring to Vietnam. I am talking about America. Its young history, fickle ambition and shifting shadow of past glory. We should have paused and enjoyed…
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Kennedy was about to say in his undelivered speech in Dallas on November 22, 1963 (per Theodore C. Sorensen): ” Words alone are not enough….Where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction, not belligerence. If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words…
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So this is what it was like: watching news of war from foreign soil in the comfort of home i.e. TV dinner between viewers and the 19-inches screen. Back then, it’s the three networks, beaming daily footage back to American homes from the rooftop of Saigon’s Caravelle Hotel. It’s surreal, to have lived here almost…
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Erich Maria Remarque set Ravic, his German refugee surgeon protagonist, in the shabby Hotel International, not far from the Arc de Triomphe with its “faint, lonely flame on the tomb of the unknown soldier, which looked like the last grave of mankind in the midst of night and loneliness.” At one point, in between Adieu…
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In life, not everything is cut and dry e.g. Santa vs Santos, Kissinger praised, Kissinger despised. It’s complicated. Not just in diplomacy i.e. the enemy of my enemy is my friend etc… That path, pretty soon, leaves us with no real friends. I have good friends for a good five and a half decades. Being…
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Self-editorializing instinctively precedes self- expression. We all are self-editors of words said and unsaid. To err is human. To unleash uncensored unedited thoughts e.g. racist, put-down or out-of-bound/below-the-belt comments is to ask for a tit-for-tat, if not outright violent reaction. Lately, uncensored expression under the guise of freedom of expression have been rampant and re-tweeted.…
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Walk like one. Die like one. Must be one. We’re told to watch and listen with our eyes. To adjust and survive, in war and in peace. As if living were just playing for time. Breathe in and out. Never listen to oneself, the complex person inside, completely unknown nor fully known. (I was just…
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People are clustered and bunched up via personal preferences. All due to the accident at birth. Village people look up to the Chief. Urban the mayor and in a Democratic society the President. Individual freedom vs Internet freedom. A scary thing. We have at our finger tips all the knowledge in the world (including bias,…
Thang Nguyen 555 