Posted on 07/14/2009 11:35:38 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
RANDOM POLL:
Veterans: how many of you are offended by the peace symbol and why?
(Family members and friends who know the answer, please feel free to speak on behalf of Veterans who cannot post.... )
Thank you for your time!
To quote myself: "I’ve always associated the peace symbol with those who spit on the vietnam vets"
I’ll give you two perspectives, one from my Vietnam vet uncle and one from an aunt of the same era.
My uncle detests most symbols from that era, not just the peace symbol. Tie die, Willie Nelson braids, love beads, VW buses ... anything like that still sets him off to this day. He makes an effort to be at the airport to greet returning soldiers. If he sees anyone dressed in 60’s attire, he’ll ask them what their intentions are: protesting or supporting? If they’re protesting, he goes ballistic and gives them “what for” about how Vietnam vets were treated. Typically they leave, but sometimes he “converts” them and gives them a “Support Our Troops” t-shirt to put on.
My aunt wouldn’t let her children wear 60’s attire growing up. She lost many friends in Vietnam. Her grandson got involved in Seattle grunge music and bought an old VW bus to transport his band and gear. She forbade him from coming to her house for family functions in that bus. When he quit the band and wanted help with college tuition, she made him sell the bus before she’d help him. To this day, she forbids her grandchildren to wear any 60’s attire to her house. If she helps run them around to their activities, she makes them change clothes if she perceives their attire to be “disrespectful” in any way but especially so if they’re wearing 60’s tie-die and peace symbols.
I'm calling it what a 'Nam vet friend of mine calls it.
Good enough for me. ;-)
Thank you for your sacrifice. You and all of your fellow servicemen deserved so much better than what you got. May we never do to our current heroes what was done to you.
Amen, brother.
Tell, your ‘Nam friend about it indicating chicken direction. He’ll probably be amused.
“Peace symbol” is what its proponents called it. But the really meaning and usage was “anti-war symbol.” And it was directed against our soldiers fighting in Vietnam. That history outshadows everything else, including the possibly evil or satanic sources of the symbol.
As far as I know, nobody had any idea what the prior history of the symbol might have been. It suddenly appeared, and it was an expression of protest against the Vietnam War—and often in favor of Ho Chi Mimh and the Communists.
what kind of peace though. Peace between brothers or peace between God and man. Christ came to bring the latter. But Christ brings a sword to divide father from son on the subject of Christianity.
LOL sounds like your Aunt and Uncle were quite an awesome team! I love that story. We didn’t allow the peace symbol either, but it was never an issue. My kids weren’t into the peace symbol jewelry etc.
I have a friend who was in the gulf war who agrees with you... And I too would like to thank you for your service. My dad and uncle voluntarily joined the air force and navy during the 60's right before I was born..but were not in combat.
I hate it when I mess up a metaphor!
could = couldn’t
Damn.
I am a disabled VN combat vet. For me, the symbol identiifed those persons whose philosophy undermined our tactical position and caused the deaths & injuries of many of our troops. The ludicrous rules of engagement that were inflicted on us, in order to placate those who wished us ill, are a product of those who wore the symbol.
I didn't know who created it or why...very interesting articles Mcgruff. I guess the creator got his 15 minutes of fame because of the tshirt. He seemed pretty excited eh? Even though the president professes it to be the "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament logo", I think it's a slap in the face to the Veterans precisely because of what happened to the soldiers in Vietnam. (reminding me of the dhs's inclusion of vets in the right wing extremist definition)
I had never heard of it being called a chicken foot until the past couple of days.
I wonder if this guy got the idea from nero...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/08/malia-obama-cnd-t-shirt
“Since it was first sketched out by the British designer Gerald Holtom to accompany the Aldermaston march in 1958, the CND logo has become a universal peace symbol. Holtom, a conscientious objector during world war two,”
I wish the first family were white so I could call them "hippie white trash...."......
I’m not. But then I wasn’t in Vietnam.
Depends on which way the chicken is walking...
I wore a green tshirt in college right after I got back from VN that had a chicken's foot superimposed on the symbol, and the words "Footprint of the American Chicken" below it.
It wasn't too popular, but that wasn't why I was wearing it.
Another cool one back then had a top-down view of a B-52 on the "peace symbol."
Still, I fought for their right to use it, wouldn't want to live where they can't, and often appreciate the "heads-up" it gives me about people I meet.
That is, I suspect, a rather dated attitude these days - I am certain the young 0bama girl couldn't have had a clue how offensive it might be and I rather doubt that her parents did either, given the decade's difference in our ages. But despite the intervening years I find that I have neither forgiven nor forgotten, and so yes, it does offend me. I'll get over it.
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