Show Hysteria and Vietnam All wars are rough General William Sherman said War is cruel and you cannot refine It it In that sense the war in Vietnam Is no different from any other war there is pain suffering suffering suffer suffer- ing bloodshed brutality There is also gallantry heroism dedication and self self- sacrifice All of the emotions the very best that is in man and the very worst can be found in war that is why so many great novels and plays have revolved around a story of conflict But relative to Vietnam there is one element at least here on the home front which seems unusual and that thatis is an irrational hysteria in the minds of some which has in turn led to extreme extreme ex ex- violence in the streets But the truth is that we have experienced times of warfare far tar worse than the one In in which we are now engaged For example in in nine years of conflict conflict con con- in Vietnam American casualties have numbered close to 44 The Thc people people peo peo- pie of South Vietnam have suffered far more military casualties and at least as many civilians men wo woo men and children who have ha been murdered by the communists in cold blood At Gettysburg Pennsylvania by comparison comparison com com- parison in the War between the States in one three three day day battle bittle alone there were casualties In that terrible five years from 1861 1801 to 1865 1805 there were killed in the North and in the South One of our correspondents speaking before a youth group recently found that the youngsters who happened to tobe tobe tobe be of high school age were so astonished aston aston- by the figures that they were sure that the speaker was mistaken Somehow in their minds the Vietnam conflict had been inflated to the very worst the most awful the bloodiest and thus the most immoral war in history These were sincere young people but their response was one bordering on true hysteria an unwillingness unwillingness un un- willingness of the mind to accept reality real real- ity The truth is however that while no war is good the Vietnam war is far from the worst |