Kafka and Dying in Vain
Today is Saturday, 3 June 2006.
“At least she/he didn’t die in vain.”
The classic justification for the Vietnam War was the Domino Theory: if South Vietnam (governed by an American-backed military dictatorship) falls to Monolithic Communism, then all of Southeast Asia falls, then falls Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, South America, Africa, Europe, and finally the United States.
In 1975, South Vietnam fell to the Vietnamese, Laos fell to the Laotians, Cambodia fell to the Cambodians. But they didn’t fall to Monolithic Communism.
South Vietnam fell to Vietnamese nationalists who happened also to be “communists.” Laos fell to Laotian nationalists who happened also to be “communists.” Cambodia fell to Cambodian nationalists who happened also to be “communists.” Not one of those “communisms” was the same as the others.
And then neither Japan fell, nor the Philippines, nor Indonesia, nor Australia and New Zealand, nor South America, nor Europe, nor the United States.
There had never been a Monolithic Communism, nor dominoes.
And neither the American dead, nor the Anzac dead, nor the Republic of Korean dead, nor the collaborationist Vietnamese or Laotian or Cambodian dead, died fighting for Freedom.
It is said, and it is probably true, that the vast majority of warriors fight, in the end, not for abstractions like Freedom or Empire, but for themselves and the buddies next to them, in hope they all survive.
If one speaks of warriors fighting for their own survival, then, in that more human-scaled sense, the dead don’t die in vain.
Cold comfort, for the living and the dead, but appropriate for the anniversary of the death in 1924 of Franz Kafka.
“At least she/he didn’t die in vain.”
The classic justification for the Vietnam War was the Domino Theory: if South Vietnam (governed by an American-backed military dictatorship) falls to Monolithic Communism, then all of Southeast Asia falls, then falls Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, South America, Africa, Europe, and finally the United States.
In 1975, South Vietnam fell to the Vietnamese, Laos fell to the Laotians, Cambodia fell to the Cambodians. But they didn’t fall to Monolithic Communism.
South Vietnam fell to Vietnamese nationalists who happened also to be “communists.” Laos fell to Laotian nationalists who happened also to be “communists.” Cambodia fell to Cambodian nationalists who happened also to be “communists.” Not one of those “communisms” was the same as the others.
And then neither Japan fell, nor the Philippines, nor Indonesia, nor Australia and New Zealand, nor South America, nor Europe, nor the United States.
There had never been a Monolithic Communism, nor dominoes.
And neither the American dead, nor the Anzac dead, nor the Republic of Korean dead, nor the collaborationist Vietnamese or Laotian or Cambodian dead, died fighting for Freedom.
It is said, and it is probably true, that the vast majority of warriors fight, in the end, not for abstractions like Freedom or Empire, but for themselves and the buddies next to them, in hope they all survive.
If one speaks of warriors fighting for their own survival, then, in that more human-scaled sense, the dead don’t die in vain.
Cold comfort, for the living and the dead, but appropriate for the anniversary of the death in 1924 of Franz Kafka.
posted by HH at 7:38 AM
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