Week 8: Generational Challenges - Ryan Tom

The legacy aspect is huge within national aesthetics. Although the brand/aesthetic is crafted by a select influential few (danish designers, inspirational kings & strategy advisors, government officials), the brand lives and breaths through future generations.

The legacy as described by Dr. Cohn hurts future generations since it is the next generation that is living with the horrors of war. The usual narrative is that as time moves on, wounds from the war heal. Losing a home, losing a country, losing loved ones--those all heal as time goes on. Agent Orange introduced war horrors such as birth defects that continue to impact current generations--not letting their post-war wounds heal. What makes things worse, is that wounds of war can heal within a generation, like with Kim Phuc, Napalm Girl. She was severely burned by napalm bombs but she was able to being a foundation to help others--this is not true for the generation of children impacted by Agent Orange.

Having large everyday obstacles stops them from looking toward new hopes of the future. If a generation is preoccupied with making it day-to-day or overcoming obstacles that set them back, how can they invest in a new vision for the future?


Happy Napalm Girl, Kim Phuc, Today.



Egan, N. W. (2016). How the Vietnam Wars' Napalm Girl Found Love, Hope and Forgiveness--and helps others do the same. People. Retrieved February 20, 2016.

Cohn, M. (2015), Agent Orange: Terrible Legacy of the Vietnam War. Huffington Post. Retrieved February 20, 2016.