How I discovered Historic Propaganda
On a sociological level history helps us understand changes within a society and how the society came to be. Following on the old words of wisdom, wise men learn from others mistakes, stubborn men learn from their own. On a individual level history contributes to our identity, moral understanding and help shape is as a person. It contributes to our understand of self and of family. Without history we will have no heritage, and cannot learn from the past, and we will make the same mistakes again, and again, and no progress in human endeavors for the betterment of mankind, will ever be accomplished.
I believe one of our greatest tragedies to date is the mixing history and historic theology. To understand the important difference between the two one must understand the terms. Theology, the study of faith, practice or experience; a theory or a theoretical system based upon the body of opinion. History, Is the study of past events, the past considered as a whole, the chronological record of important events. With all of the emphasis put upon the study of history one would think that the preservation and its teaching would be forefront of modern society. I am afraid however that as a country that idea was lost some time ago.
Much of my youth was spent on the streets, I was one of "those kids" and spent much of my youth in and out of various institution of some type or another for some infraction or another. Whereas this was not an easy life to live one of the things that I am quite grateful for was my lack of exposure to general education. Whereas I was most certainly a rebel and far to independent for my own good I however did not fit the mold of the usual screw up. I would skip school to go to a library, my mind was on fire and I had a never ending desire to absorb everything I could about everything I came across from the earliest age. Especially with history, I had no desire to be taught by anyone, I had a desire to learn! I did not want to know the generalizations of subject, I wanted to know the how's and why's, the players involved, the differentiated views, how they were formed and how they played out. From the earliest of ages I found a subtle truth in history which made this all more captivating... every event, always had many sides depending on the players accounts. It was that which drove me to understand that to every story there are two sides in history but to most stories there is a third side of the unexplained. I was to young to understand its application but there in front of me laid something which I did not like and did not want to embrace and for the longest time considered it to just be a "romance" with some type of connected nostalgia. It was much later that I realized and saw the applications of this romance and how it affected both an individuals identity and their perceptions on life, love country and politics.
Unbeknownst to me I had discovered both agenda and propaganda...
By the time I meandered into high school I had missed several years of actual education, mix that with being forced into being there, having been on my own for a few years, trying to work and abide by court orders well enough to skate by keeping my freedom I found it to be a humbling and belittling experience. My most dreaded experience during the day was 5th period History in a double wide "portable"I deemed as hell. Not only was I not interested in being there but I found myself completely unable to block out the on-goings around me at times. Why in the early 1990's and even more depressing the fairy tales like Columbus and his great discovery of America. Columbus... Had claimed the Hispaniola for the Crown of Spain while enslaving it and the population of Cuba for the exploitation of gold all while believing he was in China. He died as a disgrace, stripped of title for being a liar and promoting elaborated tails of riches to keep his greedy desires aloft. Its romantic, its a great fictional story, but it is not History.
Vietnam was something I took personal at that age. Even though being 15 the vast majority of my friends and associates we in their later thirties and early forties. Mere were bikers and not the mid 1990's evolution of harley enthusiasts whom used the title but the real deal Outlaws and Abate holdovers from the 1970 and 80's generation of shoot you in the face and leave you to die type. Most were also Vets of Vietnam. This influence galvanized a insatiable appetite for all things surrounding the Vietnam Conflict, the first hand actual stories and accounts, the historical record, the conflict in our country, the political workings of our government and the US military. This would also be my first introduction to politics, propaganda, conspiracy and historic theology... It would also never allow me to look at history in the same way again.
Regardless of ones knowledge of the conflict most Americans know we had a cold war and that the war wasn't really a war. On one side you had the self proclaimed lovers of democracy and freedom, on the other you had the oppressive rulers of Communism and wheedlers of absolute control. No one can sum up the actual truths to ether side and sift out the fact from fiction. It is of my personal opinion and from my visits to Russia in the early 2000's and the befriending of a retired USSR Colonial that not all things were remotely as they seem or as we were told... that however is a belief of my own and not a fact.
What is to be known and of the greatest of importance is how the US entered into the war in 1964 under the guise of self defense and stopping communism.
To gain intelligence as to the naval strength of the North Vietnamese, American naval destroyers were sent into North Vietnamese waters. On August 2nd 1964, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on the ‘USS Maddox’ in the Gulf of Tonkin. ‘Maddox’ defended itself and fired back, hitting all three torpedo boats. One of them sank. The US destroyer then sailed back to international waters.
On August 3rd, Captain Herrick, commander of the ‘Maddox’, was ordered back into the Gulf of Tonkin and he again radioed that his ship was under attack once it had sailed into North Vietnamese waters. However, a later message contradicted this and in the second radio message, Herrick claimed that his men had over-reacted and that freak weather action may have led his men to make mistakes.
Lets look at that for a minute...
"American destroyers were sent into North Vietnamese waters"
I don't care what ones opinion is on war, history, strategy, politics etc... When a Navy of any country aggressively enters into another country's waters it by all legal means an "act of war". To do it with a fleet of destroyers for the proposes of "intelligence gathering" is almost laughable. Its like sending an elephant herd painted hot pink to sneak up on a man standing guard in a tower in the middle of an open field... you simply do not do this. You have naval ships and aircraft which are specifically designed for stealth and intelligence gatherings.
Ok ignoring ignoring the pink elephants... we'll call it a poor choice because I can not say for certain that the Johnson team was not just as stupid as the day is long, or did know know any better with out speculation.
"On August 3rd, Captain Herrick, commander of the ‘Maddox’, was ordered back into the Gulf of Tonkin"...
I "feel" that they were "asking" to be shot at... however again I can only interject by assumption. But this next little tidbit is something of amazement.
..."and he again radioed that his ship was under attack once it had sailed into North Vietnamese waters. However, a later message contradicted this and in the second radio message, Herrick claimed that his men had over-reacted and that freak weather action may have led his men to make mistakes."
On August 4th, 1964 Lyndon B Johnson went before the people of the United States and announced the beginning of the Vietnam Conflict... For the reason of N Vietnam Naval attacks on American ships in Tonkin Bay... An outright lie... a false flag attack... and our own act of aggression and war.
How do you think Americans view the war in Vietnam and more importantly their government if rather than teaching Americans about our romantic tales of Democracy and the beating back of communism. We taught that our own government outright lied to us as a nation and used a manufactured event as an excuse to kill 2,000,000 civilians, 316,000 AVP's 1, 600,000 NVA while costing 58,200 american lives and wounding another 153,300.
If we taught that.. From the begging of its inception... we were lied to... do you think it may change the american perspective on trusting our government?
You see... this is why theology in history is so dangerous... This is why propaganda works so well... To date we have many whom are passionate about war, both pro, and con from Vietnam and many other events in more recent history. We have however distracted their minds with emotion... Used them to support agendas... and fed them all of the lies possible. Pro or con... Both sides have it wrong because they are motivated by manufactured ignorance, committed to as belief, stated as truth, and led around by the nose... All while reveling in their own egos and overlooking the tricks played on their minds.
This is how propaganda works... It relies on your first gut reaction of "not me, I am to smart to be tricked" to dismiss all evident truth presented there after.
So... While all evidence and even with the the Johnson administration self admitting that Tonkin Bay was a false flag attack created an an intentional excuse... We will keep regarding it and promoting it as a "conspiracy" and doomed to be repeated again and again and again.
