I often wonder what kind of a person I would've been if I had been born in a different time.

I was always a very obedient kid, if I had been a non-Jewish German in the 1930's would I have been a Nazi? If I had been a Jew, would I have joined the resistance or would I have been to fearful? If I had been an American would I have supported America's isolationist policy before Pearl Harbor?

If I had been a Southern Belle in the 1800's, would I have wanted emancipation for slaves?

If I had been a woman in the early 1900's would I have been a feminist?

If I had been a peasant farmer in Vietnam in 1950, would I have wanted communism?

We have the benefit of hindsight and learning from history, but what if we hadn't? Who would we be?

As I said, this is not a new ponderance for me. However, I have been thinking about the Vietnam war more.

We have always learned that the Vietnam war was a mistake. We entered another country's civil war where we had no business because they should be allowed to self-determine.

I have been doing a little reading about the war (not much) and I don't think I ever realized how much of it stemmed from WWII. And, with that knowledge, I wonder if I would've supported the Vietnam War. I think if I had been an adult during WWII, I definitely would've.

Once we knew that a man like Hitler could exist, once we knew the power of nuclear weapons, once we experienced the Korean War and The Bay of Pigs, it seems like fear of an empirilistic superpower (yes yes, I know the US fits that description too, but we don't fit the end of the sentence.) taking over and denying freedom and democracy would be a very serious threat.

I am a little unclear about what part the U.S. played in inserting an friendly gov't in Southern Vietnam, but we definitely played a role and I don't think they were very effective and I think that might have been a big reason for the loss. I mean, you'd think they could've provided the kind of guerilla warfare knowledge the Viet Cong had but then again, the Viet Cong were from the land and most of the people from the South were city entreprenuers.

Anyway, it seems that we always do a really crappy, crappy job installing governments. And I suppose installing does remove the democracy we are supposed to be crusading for.

But I digress. I don't really have enough information at my fingertips, but I do wonder if I would've supported the Vietnam War and when I would've stopped.

I need to rent the documentary The Fog of War when I get home and maybe read McNamara's book.