Yen Le Espiritu's article does a great job at showing how the government, military, and the media reframed the Vietnam war to restore the country's honor and image. In addition to this I want to reveal other perspectives that aren't mentioned.
On page 331 when the media claimed that Vietnam "opened up" to the USA is completely fabricated. Personally I feel that it is the USA that opened up to Vietnam. The USA has a history of implementing trade embargoes on countries who they don't like, whether the country have a different regime or the USA wanted to disenfranchise them with the help of other powerful countries. They were able to overlook Vietnam's government and open up trade agreements.
The establishment of the Vietnam Vet memorial in 1982 is a wonderful way to remember those who've served but who's going to remember and glorify the women and children who were casualties of war? No memorial will be erected with their names on it. It is evident that the war killed many women, children, elders, and civilians; but they aren't celebrated, only forgotten in western eyes.
It's contradictory that the media frames the loss of innocence of american military men and completely disregards the women and children who were raped and beaten by american soldiers. Through the process of restoring America's lost in Vietnam, only one narrowed perspective will be celebrated.
This is an audio from an author who discusses about America's intentional war strategy of killing civilians.
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/28/169076259/anything-that-moves-civilians-and-the-vietnam-war
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