Most recent public comments by Deon Coley https://nowcomment.com/users/16453 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=399356 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=399356 I feel like these forgotten campaigns are mostly disregarded because those who have their home and lives destroyed by them are often either too damaged to have the resources to focus on bringing attention to their status, or because their voice and influence is too small to gain enough notice. Your mention of the entire ordeal becoming a distant memory as veterans grow old and die can draw parallels between the lost stories of comfort women that were taken by Japanese armies. The women are becoming old and slowly dying off, and with them, their stories die as well, all while Japan remains silent about acknowledging their plight. While not the only two cases of such tragedies being suffered and forgotten, I felt that their similarities should be noted because of how abnormal it is for the suffering of an entire population to just be kept in silence. Mon, 02 Nov 2015 19:25:43 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=399355 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=399355 I understand that a common idea held is that America often gets itself involved in international affairs where American intervention is not wanted. Their intervention is also often romanticized by American media, in a way that matches the story told in Gran Torino of a white surrogate-father coming to the "rescue" of a Hmong-American family -- a story that was written and directed by Eastwood, a white, American man. Eastwood's character is even written as being a war veteran, which only makes the similarities stronger. As unintentional as this effect may or may not have been, if definitely mirrors the lack of attention given to the stories of Hmong soldiers that remain untold. We do not hear about these soldiers in the same way we do not hear much about the family's lives before they meet Eastwood's character, and the story focuses on how their lives change through the introduction and intervention of his character to support them during their struggle. Mon, 02 Nov 2015 19:14:27 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=388298 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=388298 I feel like the different adjectives were used in order to emphasize the different motivations people have for going to war. Some go to war because they don't have a choice, to protect their people, others have gone to war in history for not-so noble reasons. However, I agree with your notion of every one having their own war story when they come back from it -- war does inevitably effect countless lives, with war being viewed in different lights based on who you end up asking. But I suppose that beg's the question if a majority of people saw war as "good", should it be considered "good" in spite of the costs? Tue, 20 Oct 2015 02:28:10 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=388294 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=388294 I think the use of the phrase "immigrant story" is interesting here. It begs the question of how romanticized the tale of immigrants venturing from war-torn countries and finding success. Has it been sensationalized to "justify" acts of war, thaty have left people to speak in the samer manner as this sentence? Even though immigration has undoubtedly lead to some finding a prosperous life in the States, most were not so fortunate and I feel like their stories did not recieve as much recognition -- at least not in the past. This truly makes the immigrant story a type of "double sided coin". Tue, 20 Oct 2015 01:13:58 -0400