Most recent public comments by Jia Yi Lin https://nowcomment.com/users/17139 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=408609 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=408609 I think this sentence resonates with an idea from Nguyen's essay more or less. The idea of portraying war as a machine that creates opportunity to a better future and living standards for people, the refugees especially, in the U.S. downgrades the seriousness of war. It also fades away the fact and statistics on causalities, devastating encounters on the battleground, and the life time impacts war has on the veterans in people's mind in the country that won the war. In Nguyen's essay, he mentions how his family is a successful immigrants family, working at nice places and earning high salary. But that doesn't make up or compensate for the enormous amount of lives lost on the battleground. It questions whether people ever feel guilty that someone else paid their lives for the lives that they now live in. It questions whether people ever feel guilty that the exchange comes hand in hand with carpet bombing and maybe even lost of limbs. Thu, 12 Nov 2015 00:51:23 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=406992 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=406992 I think it is really interesting that Nguyen write the idea this way. Nguyen's family came to the United States as refugees of the Vietnam War. They came to the United States in escape of the fate of death, but they came to the country that is essentially the cause of their escape. Also, when they came as refugees, they have abandoned their identities and had to start anew in the U.S.. But as the family settle in the new environment, they start to accumulate their savings, they achieve better socioeconomic status "than many Americans". They are doing better than the Americans. They became better Americans. They became Americans. At the same time, they are constantly reminded of the sufferings that they could have gone through or their people were going through. Also, like any Americans, they open the refrigerator to get food and they waste away on the couch watching games. By becoming American and by assimilating into the culture, they become part of the population who supports war more or less. Mon, 09 Nov 2015 22:28:01 -0500