Protest to Begin at Vietnam Memorial

[Dizzy]

The Protestor's Side Here

And the Veteran's side

To summarize the link, on March 17, 2007 protesters plan to march from the Vietnam Memorial to the Pentagon in protest of the war. They feel that the Iraq occupation is just a modern version of the Vietnam War, and hence feel it's an appropriate place to start their protest. 'Hanoi' Jane Fonda and Cindy Sheehan are amongst the many participating in the ANSWER-organized protest.

Veterans, on the other hand, are outraged. This is the same group of people who spray painted the steps of the Capitol and spit at a disabled veteran. They are afraid of the protestors desecrating the Wall.

My question is: Should the protestors be allowed to start their march at the Wall?

IMO, if they really wanted to get their point across, there are other places to hold protests. A memorial to Veterans who lost their lives is not the place to do it. To me, this is akin to starting a protest at a cemetary- it's just disrespectful and very low-class.

I think it also adds insult to injury that Jane Fonda is one of the faces of this group. Although ANSWER said that they don't plan on desecrating the wall, I think that the Veteran's fears are valid. They might have a right to protest, but does that mean that they have to do it at a memorial?

Thoughts?

This isn't about anyone's views on the war. This is more about where they want to protest.

 

[prinzessin784]

it's freedom of speech - they can say what they want, where they want. I am not saying it's very polite, but the moment they even touch the monument to do something crappy I'd hope the police would step in. Say what you want and get out of there.

 

[lemurian]

I'm all for having the right to protest, even though I completely disagree with the protesters in this particular case. But protesting at a memorial, to me, is wrong. I cannot compute the logic in this.. I feel so sad that we cannot muster just a little respect for our dead

Particularly those who died in Vietnam after having been drafted. We've had laws drafted here in Iowa to keep protesters from disrupting veterans' funerals, which is great. But the fact that those laws actually HAD to be written makes me shake my head in disgust. I wouldn't care if they held up traffic all day in the streets of DC, at the Pentagon, etc. I just feel like sites memorializing the dead should be off limits.

 

[*Stargazer*]

To me, it just shows that they don't care about the Vets and their feelings, but are more concerned with making their point while claiming to have the Vets in mind.

I'm all for freedom of speech, but when people neglect to consider how their actions look or make people feel, I don't feel sorry for them when things backfire and they look bad, you know?

 

[Beauty Mark]

While I'm strongly against the war in Iraq, I think it is disrespectful. The memorial is a memorial of a lot of people, probably some who didn't want to serve or were against it to begin with.

If they want to make the correlation, fine. I think they have some good points, but you can make that through speeches, commercials, whatever have you. You don't have to take it the actual memorial.

Knowing how protests work, you don't have plan on messing up something in order for it to happen. Having been several protests, people get worked up very quickly and some go kind of crazy. I consider myself a fairly rational person, but even I've felt a lot of things during a protest. Rationality can go out the window fast.

 

[Beauty Mark]

If they want to do something there so badly, I think a candlelit vigil would be acceptable, to mourn the past, present, and future. Those are generally very peaceful.

 

[Hawkeye]

Hanoi Jane and Cindy Sheehan. That in itself says it all.

I think if they wanted to do a protest that badly they can just go and protest somewhere else. They say they care about peoples lives and one of the things that really irks the hell outta me with these protesters is they have this slogan "Bush Lied people Died". People. Died. People. Died. What are our soldiers? I mean seriously. What are they? Last time I checked they were people.

But- God forbid- we're not talking about AMERICANS. How SILLY of us to think that when the protesters are protesting that human life ended it includes SOLDIERS.

I've grown so sick of this crap. They don't care about people dying. All they care about is getting their name in the paper and doing whatever way is quick and easy to disrespect anything they can any way they can.

I mean I'm all for protesting. But there is a right and a wrong way to do it to be most effective and quite frankly- this isn't the best way to show how effective they are it just shows us more and more what creeps these people are.

That's just my opinion.

 

[macslut]

Both my parents served during the Vietnam era. My mother volunteered to go there (yes you read that right, fab ones, my mother volunteered, in honor of her mother who served during WW1). It angers both of them when they hear this war compared to Vietnam. Nothing is comparable to that mess. When the troops came back they could not find jobs, they were spit upon. It was very very bad.

No I don't think they should be at the Memorial. Not because I don't believe they should protest, they should. I just don't trust all of them to behave themselves. I am sure most would. But you know there are always bad apples in the bunch.

 

[macslut]

Here is the link to the USO donation page. Please, if you can spare it, make a donation in "honor" of hanoi Jane. If you want to donate to a specific program, there is a link to "donate to specific program". Ok, I am getting off my soapbox.

https://www.uso.org/donate/Default.aspx

Remember we are free because of the fine men and women who serve our country with pride.

 

[giz2000]

While I am all for freedom of speech, I am also all for respect. You have to give respect to get respect...I'll be keeping an eye on this to see what happens.

 

[Shimmer]

They have the right to do it.
I have the right to not like it, and to consider it a sign of the worst kind of disrespect imaginable.

 

[macslut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by macslut Both my parents served during the Vietnam era. My mother volunteered to go there (yes you read that right, fab ones, my mother volunteered, in honor of her mother who served during WW1). It angers both of them when they hear this war compared to Vietnam. Nothing is comparable to that mess. When the troops came back they could not find jobs, they were spit upon. It was very very bad. No I don't think they should be at the Memorial. Not because I don't believe they should protest, they should. I just don't trust all of them to behave themselves. I am sure most would. But you know there are always bad apples in the bunch.

I have a correction to make here. I was informed that my grandmother (maternal) served during WW2 and my great grandmother (maternal) served during WW1.

See this is what happens when you are really tired. You start screwing up family military history.

 

[MAC_Whore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shimmer They have the right to do it. I have the right to not like it, and to consider it a sign of the worst kind of disrespect imaginable.

Well said, as always.

For their war protest to start at the memorial is atrocious. Don't assume that the thousands of dead soldiers that monument honours share your antiwar opinion.

To say that this war is like Vietnam is very simplistic. One war does no equal another just because they share the same name. Compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges.

I probably have a special room in hell waiting for me, but here I go: I wouldn't feel too bad if Cindy Sheehan and Jane Fonda accidentally tripped and fell into a big, blazing bonfire.

 

[Hawkeye]

It's OK MAC_Whore. You probably have a seat next to me in that special room reserved in hell