Political Power Grows Out of the Posting of Memes

This fell into my virtual hands today like a virtual ripe apple, when a Facebook friend shared it to her timeline:

According to a Google search, the US invasion of Vietnam ended on April 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese Army tanks arrived in Saigon.  Not May 24, when Allie Johnson posted this meme; not June 21, when my friend passed it along.  So there's a reason why there's no mention of the anniversary today.  But you know, it's okay, time is just an illusion, and every day is a good day for Trump fans to play the victim.

I agree, though: let's also remember the millions of Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians we killed, maimed, tortured, and made refugees. They are also veterans of the war, and should not be forgotten. Unlike the Confederacy, they didn't start the war, didn't attack the United States.  They only defended their country against an invader.  Yet our country is littered and polluted with monuments to the Confederacy, and its battle rag still waves in every state.

I especially want to salute those US Vietnam veterans who worked hard to make peace, by traveling there to help the people of those countries when our government was hard at work punishing them even more. American veterans helped them remove landmines, for example, which our government refused to assist. The history of the Vietnam war and its aftermath has been as distorted as the history and aftermath of the Civil War. So much needs to be done about that.