Week 8: Vietnam II (Julian Merino)

The issue of Agent Orange has been on the table for several decades now with no official follow up for the victims. During the Vietnam War, Agent Orange was dropped on the land and its people as a form of chemical warfare against the Vietnamese. Marjorie Cohn explains in her article, “Agent Orange: Terrible Legacy of the Vietnam War,” Agent Orange contained a chemical dioxin which caused severe damage to the land, water, greenery, and people that were exposed to it. People began getting cancers and giving birth to babies with various birth defects. The United States had branded Vietnam as a Communist country where neighboring countries could also fall victim due to a domino effect, one country succumbing to the ideology. Apparently it was the United States’s mission to combat them and keep Communism contained. The National Aesthetic of Vietnam tied to this horrendous mark in history continues to keep them as a third world country. Vietnam has been branded as a society unable to live democratically and raise a healthy nation. What would it take for the United States to own up to this horrific instance and pay reparations to the families still in Vietnam suffering from dioxin? Do they marginalize the problem because they want to hold onto their power where Vietnam is still seen as bothering the United States?

Cohn, Marjorie. "Agent Orange: Terrible Legacy of the Vietnam War." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 01 May 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.