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Dem4life1970

(541 posts)
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 06:02 PM Dec 4

I cried just now....

when I saw a South Korean lawmaker grab the barrel of a rifle of a South Korean soldier outside of their Parliament building.

I cried because it reminded me of a brave man in China who stood with his briefcase in front of a Chinese tank in
Tiananmen Square in 1989.

I cried because moments like this, before Trump, used to be bipartisan moments where all Americans rallied around and admired people standing up for freedom and democracy.

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walkingman

(8,545 posts)
5. Wow, that brought back old memories. Sonny (stage name "Country" in the group) went to prison
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 06:43 PM
Dec 4

for dodging the draft during the Vietnam War, which took much more courage than people like myself that got a college deferment. Sadly, our nation didn't learn a damn thing by that war.

I'm already against the next war!!

marble falls

(62,520 posts)
7. I got missed, by 30 or more numbers. I was involved with the Mobilization Against the War ...
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 07:33 PM
Dec 4

... enlisted in 72 when some of us got the bright idea that we needed to be organizing in other fields beside universities.

There was a strong anti-war, anti-authoritarian attitude when I was in. My being there changed nothing and I came to believe where I was meant someone else was being freed to be placed in harm's way.

The other major eason I joined was to be free to speak my anti-war opinions at the Thanksgiving table without my dad telling me my opinion meant nothing because after all - what did I know, I'd never signed up.

It worked out. VA has been very good for me.

walkingman

(8,545 posts)
8. Agree - the VA is truly a blessing for veterans, especially as you age. It is a good example
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 07:57 PM
Dec 4

of what our healthcare system should be in the future. I think will become as it becomes obvious we cannot continue to not really have a healthcare system but rather a insurance system. When insurance is allowed to approve or deny healthcare instead of doctors, it simply makes no sense.

Thanks for your service and past efforts. ☮

marble falls

(62,520 posts)
11. They've wanted to privatize it for decades. What 2025 wants to do is defund it and shut down most of it.
Thu Dec 5, 2024, 07:43 AM
Dec 5

Basso8vb

(458 posts)
4. I was 10 days away from leaving for a 3 week concert tour of China
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 06:27 PM
Dec 4

with my youth orchestra when the Tiananmen Square massacre broke out.

I watched in horror with tears in my eyes as the tour we had been working towards for more than a year went "poof."

Thank goodness it didn't happen a couple weeks later when we would have been in Beijing.

Joe Nation

(1,038 posts)
6. You have to realize something.
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 06:54 PM
Dec 4

These soldiers are simply Korean kids that have to serve a 2 year mandatory military service. They are really just kids fresh from their parents traditionally strict upbringing and know very little about much outside of their childhood. I've met Korean 30 somethings that seemed like 13-year old kids. These "soldiers" are mostly scared kids.

spike jones

(1,796 posts)
10. I have the photo of that man in Tiananmen Square on my wall since 1989.
Wed Dec 4, 2024, 08:46 PM
Dec 4

I have a history of decades demonstrating for social justice, the environment, racial equality and against police brutality. The picture reminds me that sometimes you have to stand alone. I am 80 years old, a veteran (1967-1969) and have promised myself that when the Trump fascists come for me, I will do my best to take at least one with me.

Floyd R. Turbo

(29,218 posts)
14. 🌼Flower Power🌼
Thu Dec 5, 2024, 01:22 PM
Dec 5


Flower Power is the title of a photograph taken by American photographer Bernie Boston for the now-defunct newspaper The Washington Evening Star. Taken on October 21, 1967, during the March on the Pentagon by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the photo shows protester George Harris placing a carnation into the barrel of an M14 rifle held by a soldier of the 503rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne).

The photograph was nominated for the 1967 Pulitzer Prize.

krkaufman

(13,759 posts)
15. The insanity ...
Thu Dec 5, 2024, 02:07 PM
Dec 5

… is that the MAGA crowd would think the J6 insurrectionists are the equivalent to the lawmaker, rather than the soldiers doing the bidding of the guy trying to overthrow the government.

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