Most recent public comments by Irina Grigoryeva https://nowcomment.com/users/17113 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=407216 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=407216 I was wondering about Vang's use of "white tears" in this paragraph because I could not figure out his tone in stating that. Does he mean "white" guild-ridden "tears," and demonstrates a sort of criticism? Or does he mean just "white tears," as in tears belonging to white Americans who previously have not felt this kind of sadness? As I'm thinking more about this statement, I feel like it actually could be both. The juxtaposition in this paragraph contrasts the Americans' applause and revelry over the movie with their tears, which suggests both a sense of shock and guilt. However, the shock is not fully justifiable, in my opinion. It brings the question of whether the Americans knew what was occurring in the war and just chose to ignore it, like in Nazi Germany. Their guilt may stem from that knowledge and from their lack of action, but may at first seem to be just guilt for the actions of Americans everywhere. Wed, 11 Nov 2015 22:42:09 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=406728 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=406728 Throughout this essay, Nguyen presents a sense of sensationalism that comes with the telling of war stories. War is portrayed solely as a necessary, heroic gesture meant to save people of an impending evil. However, the many realistic details that constitute the majority of war and its business aspects classifies war as less ideological and more mundane. Nguyen argues that looking at those seemingly mundane details is a more accurate description of the trauma caused by war. This kind of dramatization of war alludes to the dramatization of white Americans as “saviors from the modern Western world” who have come to help the “weak, ancient, and crumbling Eastern world.” It references the idea of the racialized "Other" and the belief that he requires to be saved from a force that is different from that of the Western world. Although not necessarily war-related, this exposition makes me think of white feminism and how previously those white feminists believed that they need to alter the cultural dress of Eastern and Middle Eastern women in order to fit this idea of Western feminism. This is not an accurate representation of all feminists, obviously, but it contributes to an important conversation about Western entitlement. Nguyen mentions that the Vietnam war focused on making Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans into "better" Americans than white Americans, which references the false belief that cultures must be Westernized. Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:33:46 -0600