I Love America. That’s Why I Have to Tell the Truth About It by Viet Thanh Nguyen is an argumentative essay about a man, (the author), who claims multiple countries as his own and has grown a deep understanding of his countries that have led him to love his countries, but also see what is wrong with them. He argues that even America has many flaws that most Americans do not recognize. The author makes his argument by showing the flaws of his countries, but also showing what there is to love about these countries. The two main countries he talks about in the text are Vietnam and America.
The Vietnam war began on November 1, 1955 being so sudden a draft began, this is when there is a major crisis and extra troops are needed for combat. The way the men were picked to go to war was a lottery was implemented, there was no system in place to determine order of call besides the fact that men between the ages of 18 and 26 were most likely to be drafted. Millions of men were forced to put their lives on hold and fight for their country if they liked it or not. Even though many consider the draft to be unconstitutional there were positive effects. Equality began to spread extensively over those years, since people were forced to get to know one another they started to understand that they're all the same.
Body: 1st argument in support of position, examples and/or evidence Canadian citizens eagerly volunteered to participate in World War 1. 33,000 men volunteered for the military near Quebec and the Canadian Patriotic Fund launched a fund to support soldier’s families. Despite the soldiers being inexperienced and insufficient for the dangerous Western Front of World War 1. 2nd argument in support of position, examples and/or evidence Despite the poison gas and the disintegration of the allied Franco-Berber troops, the Canadians managed to launch a counterattack on the advancing German troops during the Second Battle of Ypres. The Canadians and Germans fought to the death until the Battle of Frezenburg and Bellewaardre, where the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry successfully thwarted the final German advance in Ypres.
The twentieth century Vietnam protest was a time when many American citizens resisted the idea of war because they did not fully understand why Americans had to fight in Vietnam. College students refused to be drafted in this war because they strongly believed that this was not their fight, this a fight for the government alone. There was Nonviolent and violent sector of the protesters. Even Martin Luther King Jr was against the war. Civil rights groups and college students were the main opposed to the Vietnam war.
People protest every day. They protest about work, sports, gender, race. This happens all around the world. That doesn’t mean that everyone that protest is a hater of their country. To me, it just means that they have a different opinion than the ones presently represented.
During the Vietnam conflict, the U.S. government had ordered groups of American soldiers to camp in Vietnam territories. The purpose of the United States sending American troops to foreign soil was to prevent another conflict. However not everyone agreed to this. Many families of these troops saw no real purpose of sending troops to Vietnam to be in a conflict that isn’t theirs. Most American in that time period protested against the U.S. interfering with the conflict because they believed that the U.S. had no right to interfere into a conflict that was not theirs.
One of the reasons for the mass majority of Americans against the United States involvement in Vietnam was the draft process that was either the working class men or men who are poor was being drafted while the wealthy eligible men were able to get around this process. The other that angered most of the American public was the age restriction was lowered from 26 to 19 years’ old (Gillon, Steven M. web), a lot of those who were protesting against the United States involvement in Vietnam had strong concerns, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who in March of 1967 led a protest in Chicago against the United States involvement said that “war was a blasphemy against all that America stands for” (Hall, Simon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr). This brought
Other reasons why Americans were dissatisfied had to do with the draft, The Tet Offensive, Hamburger Hill, and My Lai The Tet Offensive occurred in 1968 which happened to be the worst year in the 60s. Tet was a Vietnamese holiday to celebrate the new year. It was suppose to be a seven day seize fire to purely celebrate. North Vietnam lead surprised attacks all across South Vietnam. Although we had beaten the Vietcong in the Tet offensive, it was not considered a success.
Vietnam war occurred many years before I was even born, but I have gained some perspective on the event through history and talking with people who either served in the war or were old enough to remember the war. This is a very controversial and divisive issue, one thing we should all agree on, is no matter how much we disagree with the war or the "justification" of it, we must honor and be proud of our troops that serve and are sent into battle. I honestly don't think we helped our standing the world be engaging in this conflict. At that point I'm not sure communism was really as a significant threat as it was made out to be.
At this point United Sates wasn't fully into the war, the U.S made sure to help France by providing them financial aid. In 1954, France and Vietnam signed a treaty, consequently ended up dividing Vietnam into North Communist Vietnam and Anti-Communist South Vietnam. This made matters worse actually, in way, North Vietnam was receiving money and armory from Communist countries such as the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was aided with financial manners and political advisors by the United States. In the South, things were pretty complicated, uprising communist soldiers and infiltrated ones from the North, wanted the south become one with them. Things are now starting to get pretty ugly.
During the 1960’s the United States was experiencing a time of love, peace, war, and internal turmoil within its own borders. The experiences of war were being tossed aside by the movement toward peace and love. The quest by many to remain out of the international wars and to focus on life with happiness, peace, and internal balance was the common theme among many young people. A time of turmoil in the world and aggression in many countries cannot be explained on a rational level.
The United States is a nation with a very intense history. A country with a mixture of cultures and customs that come from different parts of the world. His lifestyle, his beautiful landscapes, and people leave surprised all the people who visit him. A territory that has been a pioneer and passed through different periods and historical stages with the passage of time. A term called Reconstruction began.
America is also the leader of the Western world and as that leader, America has great power and influence. Many times throughout history America used this power for good. For example, America used its power to rebuild Europe After World War Two. However, America has also used this influence to rig other countries elections, prop up cruel and dictatorial governments and to intervene in foreign wars(Watson). Many of these actions may have seemed necessary at the time but caused unimaginable problems later.
Is America the greatest country in the world? Americans certainly seem to think so. America has fought in every major conflict since 1776. She has helped rebuilt nations, jumpstarted economies, fought against oppressive regimes, and been a global force for change.
What is America, what makes this specific country stand out so much? The United States is an exceptional country made up of 50, independent, free states. The country was declared as independent in 1776, and it has grown and developed so much in every way, since then. The country started as nothing and has only gone up, creating everything from scratch. From my perspective, it is hard to construct something from nothing, of course I only know this from making science projects, but in the end, the context can be perceived as the same thing.
