Jane Fonda is to be pitied

AUGUSTA FREE PRESS ^ | APRIL 5, 2005 | BRUCE KESLER

[CHARLITE]

The only anti-Vietnam War protester that can tick off a Vietnam veteran more than John Kerry is Jane Fonda. In her interview by Leslie Stahl on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday, April 3, Jane Fonda characterized such reactions to her as "ill-placed anger." In one respect, she may be correct.

It may be "ill-placed anger" neither because her anti-Vietnam War activities deserve praise nor because she makes an exceedingly partial recantation now. It may be "ill-placed anger" simply because of her current irrelevance and because of our moral compunction to attend to more important matters, including bettering our own decencies.

There is no doubt that Jane Fonda's anti-Vietnam war activities were treacherous, if not treasonous. There is no repentance in her continued prideful defense of her anti-Vietnam War activities. In 1972, having accused the U.S. of committing "genocide" by fighting communist takeover of South Vietnam, she volunteered for 10 vehement propaganda broadcasts for Radio Hanoi that called President Nixon a "new-type Hitler" and encouraged South Vietnamese soldiers to desert being "cannon fodder for U.S. imperialism," asserted U.S. pilots' bombing "makes one a war criminal," and she gleefully appeared around the world filmed in the firing seat of a North Vietnamese anti-air gun.

This piece of film she now admits was a "betrayal of the country that gave me privilege."

The hypocrisy and shallowness of this admission was quickly exposed when Jane Fonda defiantly added "I won't apologize" for her propaganda appearance with U.S. POWs, showing no remorse for some tortured for refusing to appear with her, by explaining in her morally blind view "both sides were using POWs for propaganda."

This Fonda effrontery mirrors her 1990 comment to Barbara Walters that she was simply "popping off" when in 1973 she called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars." In 1975, she applauded the success of the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam with the armaments and tanks supplied to North Vietnam by the Soviet Union (compared to the cut-off of promised arms and support from the U.S.), by going to Moscow to thank them "for sending assistance which the Soviet people are sending to Vietnam."

Even in 1979, when the world was aware of the millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians murdered and starved to death by their communist victors, when even Joan Baez protested the Khmer Rouge slaughter, Jane Fonda refused to join in. As she then told the National Press Club, she was unable to confirm the accuracy of the charges.

Like today, in trying to promote her autobiography with a faint and partial apology for "betrayal" only for her anti-air gun appearance, in 1988 Jane Fonda similarly tried to promote her film career. Vietnam veteran protestors disrupted filming of her latest movie in New England. She said she was "sorry that I hurt them" because "there were times I was thoughtless and careless," fairly vacuous without any recantation of her actions and without any reflection on the evils committed by her communist heroes.

Now, having reviewed Jane Fonda's past and current treachery, moral blindness, and self-serving commercial promotion, and much more could be added to the litany of her sins, why would I say that I tend to agree those who oppose her may display "ill-placed anger"?

I agree, not because anger, even pity for her life of insipid self-delusion, is unjustified. I agree because it is "ill-placed." Her movie career is about over. Only Hollywood gossip reporters, fervent for anything to fill columns with news of her ilk, feign interest in her views of anything. It is "ill-placed" because she is irrelevant, and has earned that irrelevancy and disregard.

She considers herself heroic: "I'm a brave woman. I can go to Vietnam. I can challenge my government." An escorted, choreographed, anti-U.S. propaganda tour by the North Vietnamese during wartime is hardly heroic. It is pathetic, even moreso 33 years later to take pride in it when any idiot should know better.

One may reasonably argue that ignoring her is to forgive her transgressions. It is not. She has not repented, necessary by scruples, before forgiveness is granted. Religious scruples, and common sense, however, call upon us to not poison our own soul with bitterness that has little effect, as she is oblivious to the depth of her sins, and that distract from matters of greater importance. Anger is "ill-placed" just because she is not worth it, and we are. Let's just forget her. She deserves to be forgotten and ignored. Nothing else could so deflate her self-image of being of any worth, and punish her.

Bruce Kesler ChFC REBC RHU CLU

Comments: letters@augustafreepress.com.

[Critter]

Forgot to mention:

Image rendered viewable with the round of choice of her comrads, 7.62X39, and a little .223 mixed in, I think.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"Adult Children of Dysfunctional Parents" tend to have a lot of "issues."

That explains not only Jane Fonda but much of the postmodern wasteland spread across the vast rolling fields of the Republic.

[cajungirl]

Great article but no matter how much I try, her name still makes my blood boil.

[Jimmy Valentine]

You got that right. I never will understand why my generation (Boomers) has such a hard time playing the cards that life has dealt them.

you cannot blame your parents for all of your screwups, all of your life.

Jane can't seem to get there.

Regards,

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

A cold, stoic, unfeeling, self-absorbed Hollywood actor father and a mother that commits suicide when the children are young enough to be traumatized for life. You can see Peter Fonda (using method acting techniques) crying and cursing his dead mother during a real LSD trip near the end of the film Easy Rider, the sequence with the prostitutes in the cemetery in New Orleans.

[gakrak]

"There is no doubt that Jane Fonda's anti-Vietnam war activities were treacherous, if not treasonous"
She should have been convicted of treason and doing this stupid interview from prison. Every time I see this creature I get sick to my stomach. Amen.

[ops33]

Could you please tell me what a Silver Medal of Honor is? Could you perhaps mean the Silver Star?

[MeekOneGOP]

Hanoi Jane: Yesterday's Fiery Communist Revolutionary
She's today's very rich capitalist
(See also: http://www.usvetdsp.com/story8.htm)

Using her wealth and influence, she managed to garner support from American college campuses, advocating communism and encouraging rebellion and anarchy against the U.S. government. In a speech to Duke University students in 1970, Fonda told the gathering, "If you understood what Communism was, you would hope and pray on your knees that we would someday become Communist."

Kerry Heckled at Memorial Day Event

Excerpt:

Sen. John Kerry's record as an anti-war protester came back to haunt him on Memorial Day when he was confronted by a heckler as he tried to pay his respects to a soldier killed in the Vietnam War.

"How much money are you getting to betray our POWs?" an unidentified middle-aged woman shouted as Kerry visited the Vietnam Veterans memorial on the Washington Mall.

"Are you paying tribute to all the people you spat on, Senator Kerry?" she added.

< snip >

The heckling episode served to underscore the resentment many veterans still feel towards Kerry from his days as a leader with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, when he teamed up with anti-American actress Jane Fonda.

---

My thanks to BulletBobCo for the concept of this
pic and to Conspiracy Guy for the captions!

[tiamat]

The ONLY reason we are hearing about Hanoi Jane so much now is because she has a new movie out.

(I can't recall the name of it, but *I* won't be seeing it! )

Here's hoping it flops!

[Guenevere]

#31..It was Jeremiah Denton who wrote When Hell Was in Session.

[Guenevere]

also....Admiral (retired) Jeremiah Denton....who spent 8 years in a Viet prison....was prevented from speaking at the California Assembly because they disagreed with his politics, and this happened just last year!

When Gov.Arnold Schwartzenegger heard about it, he personally invited Denton to speak in his own office.

[ALWAYSWELDING]

You are probably right about the name of the medal. I can't ask him about it. I was told by an old friend of his and family members because he won't talk about it.

[JFC]

I do not pitty her either... Jane Fonda betrayed our country and military.

[ALWAYSWELDING]

You are probably right see post 53.

[b4its2late]

Publicity stunt.

[Sicon]

I saw clips of her trip to N. Vietnam on "60 Minutes." Lord, she looked weird, like someone caught up in a cult, grinning as if she had an evil spirit. The contrast with the sober Vietnamese soldiers around her is striking.

Yeah, stupid people do that a lot - grin for no apparent reason. Its just a very clear, very visible indication of how much of a dupe (and a dope) she was, and still is.

[tiki]

She is a sad and pitiful caricature of a human who has become irrelevant. Even back then, if the Commies had realized what a spoiled, rotten ditz she was they would have never used her as their poster girl. The sad thing is that there were many more like her and they are the rabid liberals of today.

[TexasCajun]

"I took my cues from [Vadim] and threw myself into the threesome with the skill and enthusiasm of the actress that I am. If this is what he wanted, this was what I would give him - in spades." -Hanoi Jane-

[television is just wrong]

I don't feel sorry for a woman who has committed treason, never been convicted, lived a life of luxury at the expense of the soldiers she has betrayed.