Youth Protests During The Vietnam War

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Interview For my interview, I interviewed my dad’s friend and coworker for the past 20 years. His name is Guy Campbell and he was born in 1959, making him 58 years old. Growing up in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I asked Guy about important social events such as the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Antiwar movement, and the Kent State Massacre. The first topic I discussed with Guy was the Vietnam War. The Vietnam war was the most controversial conflict in US history and he confirmed this. He said that this was the first war ever televised with color tv, and this had a great effect of American society. By watching all the body bags, bloody bodies, and destroyed villages on the tv news every night, for the first time American began to gain a truly …show more content…

The Antiwar movement of the 70’s was front page news and happening all across the nation Guy said. He also said that this was the first time the youth in society began to seek, act, and unite for social change in America. These youth were tired of the Vietnam war and the unfair practices of the military draft of the 1970’s. These protests also turned violent. The violent protests created a great sense of division within American society. In today’s society, we still see the effects of youth protests. At college campuses across the nation, youth are forming and organizing groups and protests with the goal of social change. These youth protests originated from the successes of anti war movements in the 70’s. I think in the future, the society will begin to lose the norm of youth protests. I think the older generations will begin to lose the respect for the youth as the trend of youth taking longer to self-sufficient continues. This will cause fewer successful youth protests in the …show more content…

With the trend of recent mass shooting across our country, I thought it would make for a good discussion. He immediately compared the situation to some of the police killings of african americans in our society. While several people and groups were extremely angered and disturbed, most of society continued on with their daily lives. However, he also mentioned that the Kent State Massacre caused people to choose sides. People choose the side of the police or the side of the shooters, who were protesting the war. He said that is comparable to today’s society, in which people choose their sides and refuse to listen to the arguments of the other side. This has lead to many angry arguments and discussions, without any progress being made. Once again, that can be seen in today’s society with people choosing a side, such as the police are always right or that the protesters are always innocent, and refuse to look at the facts of the case. Instead, our society races to judgement and convicts people in the court of public opinion quickly. I think in the future, we will continue to be judgemental as a society and will continue to firmly choose our

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