RE: Noam Chomsky (was RE: joinThe American Peace Movement)

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Fri Dec 13 2002 - 18:30:53 MST


Charles Hixson writes

> [Jeff writes]
> >[Lee wrote]
> >>What are you thinking about here? The U.S. or the
> >>party it supported in Vietnam killing as many people
> >>as the Communists did? That didn't happen, as you
> >>should know.
> >
> >I disagree. And not respectfully. You've had a
> >lifetime as long as mine to get at The Truth. You've
> >been shown where to find it. Yet you still deny the
> >holocaust.
> >
> He may be remembering some reports of Pot Pol.

No, I *meant* Vietnam, and specifically those killed
by the North Vietnamese (even though, of course,
the South Vietnamese were excessively brutal by
Western standards). In the mid-fifties, there
occurred a "collectivization" of agriculture in
the North, and, as always in collectivizations,
certain elements needed to be liquidated. This
time it was only a few tens of thousands (well,
Vietnam is a small country). When the country
was effectively partitioned, a lot of refugees
moved both ways. Ninety percent of them headed
south (mostly, I think, because the Communists
were so into religious persecution).

The U.S. killed a lot of North Vietnam soldiers,
but when comparing civilian deaths, the Communists
were just ruthless. About 6000 people died at
Hue alone, and you have to chalk that up against
about one-twentieth of that at My Lai, and that's
typical.

> But projecting the atrocities of
> Pot Pol onto any other government
> is like suggesting that all elected
> governments are like the Nazi's.
> Yes, the Nazis won a reasonably
> fair election (fairer than the
> most recent US one). But that
> doesn't make all elected governments
> mass murderers.

Right. But speaking of "fair elections",
the North Vietnamese held one in 1956.
Guess what? The Communists won by 99%.
Amazing, isn't it, how well they had
captured the hearts of the people,
collectivization and all!

Lee

P.S. The last sentence was heavily
sarcastic.



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