[–] 1 point 1 week ago* (1 child)

The only non-trivial similarity I can find between Iran and Vietnam is that we're stuck in the conflict because leadership doesn't want to admit they fucked up. The way it started, the way it's being prosecuted, the politics, even the geography is different.

What if Vietnam isn't the mold and model for all American imperial adventures, but just another typical example? Why didn't we learn our lesson in the Mexican American war, or the Spanish American war, or the war of 1812? What books can teach us to avoid another Philippines?

Maybe this is a little contrarian, but the the through line of Vietnam is American myopia. It's that same myopia that the Vietnam war is more culturally important to the US than the American War is to the Vietnamese. Even the Vietnam memorial is a literal monument to American solipsism. Only the American dead are listed, not the ARVN, not the Hmong, not even the French, Australian, or Canadian allies.

America's relationship to the Vietnam war is like a dude who can't get over his ex.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago

    Reminds me of The Last Duel, an excellent movie told from three different perspectives, one after the other. It doesn't tell you who to believe, only presents the three testimonies. And the actual duel, though that might be from the woman's perspective, since she was there for it.

    Plot is basically, woman accuses her husband's friend of insulting her. Her husband has a rocky relationship with the local lord, who favours the accused, so he suggests they duel to the death to decide the truth of the event.

    It's an actual event that happened, and even the historical account isn't sure who was right. I'm inclined to believe she was, because her story involving the two guys is different from their own, and they both make themselves out to be saints, while she makes them out to be human.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    I've seen a good amount of history channels run by women lately, it's refreshing to listen to a female voice talk about history topics which are not just war and the same big events other people often cover.

    Hot history is my new favorite history channel.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago*

    Could you say more about your research process for this article? The way it is written and the way the website is formatted is very LLM-esque, it lacks in text citations, the relevance and authenticity of the citations at the end are not easily verified. Your post history consists of links to this website. Given how easy it would be to generate such an article with hallucinated misinformation about historical details, if you actually put work into researching this like you claim I think it would be good to give people a little more to go on so we can know this isn't just bullshit. People having an accurate understanding of history is important and that deserves respect.

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