Why do you think Americans today are unwilling to accept and support worldwide tragedies like the war in Vietnam?

Answer 1

Today's younger generation (and ALL generations most always say this...) hasn't experienced "duck and cover Atomic Bomb drills" during their grade school years, haven't experienced "air raid sirens" within their own city blocks in Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. These were the 1950's and early 1960's. When Nuclear War (the Cold War) was driven into US CHILDREN. Today's young men under 30 years of age have NOT experienced the "shock" of having THEIR LIVES disrupted by being inducted into the military to fight a war that they probably never even heard of until the day they got their "greetings from Uncle Sam letter" in the mail. Being inducted into the military in the 50's & 60's involved getting your hair shaved off (to the skull); and being yelled at with NON-Politically Correct Language, as soon as you got off the bus at 0400 hrs (4 AM). STILL IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES! That was day one! Things could get physical from there, in the following days. After 8 weeks of boot camp & another 8 to 16 weeks of AIT (Advanced Individual Training) you recieved, maybe, a week or two leave (military term for a vacation). Then off to the "Nam". The above experience is NOT appreciated by today's youth. They may know what they perceive war to be like from watching the video's...but they FORGOT about the military itself; that in itself was quite an experience. Today's military might kick a person out of the service for not behaving; back during the draft days, the military put a man on the front lines for punishment (called, "in the field"), if that didn't straighten him out, he went to LBJ (Long Binh Jail located in South Vietnam), from there he went to a US Army Stockade (military jail) back in the "world" (GI jargon for the USA). Today's younger generation "might" be more tolerant of "world wide tragedies..." for the simple reason, they don't have to be INDUCTED/DRAFTED/CONSCRIPTED INTO IT!Those that have NOT learned from past history are DOOMED to repeat it!