Harm's Way

2004-9-26 17:49:00

John C wrote:
I realize that you are trying to paint a negative picture of Kerry, but I want to make sure that the broad brush you are using does not spill over into tainting those who served honorably in the US Navy, and those who fulfilled honorable missions. Three of us five brothers came of age during the Vietnam war. We were born in 1945, 1946, and 1950, respectively. Vietnam touched all of our lives.

JJ:
Now John you must have realized that these are fighting words - stating that I am trying to paint a negative picture of Kerry. Let me assure you that If I were really trying to do so the article would have been written much differently than it was.

Bias occurs when you use warped or untrue information to twist things to your favor, or speak only of one side of the equation leaving the other out.

For instance the media shows their bias against Bush by glowingly reviewing gossip columnist Kitty Kelly's anti Bush book, Michael Moore, Dowd, Ivans and others, yet not giving one review on the anti Kerry book "Unfit to Command" which has been number one on the New York Times list for four weeks.

I gave the positive and negative of Bush and Kerry. Whenever one does this one will always come off in a more favorable light than the other (depending on the readers point of view). This does not show bias, for the two men are different and the analysis will reveal two different people.

What does how bias is distortion and I would challenge anyone to show me where I distorted anything.

It is a legitimate question to ask why Kerry joined the Navy (actually the Navy Reserve) when he was anti war as a student. He also spoke against the war to his fellow soldiers when in the Navy. I found it to be an interesting question as to why he would volunteer for the services when he was apparently anti military and anti war. I believe I found the answer.

A reader also asked me then why did he volunteer for the swiftboats when they went on dangerous missions. The answer is given in his approved biography by Boston Globe reporters which states: "Kerry also believed a swift boat assignment would keep him away from the frontlines of combat. Then Kerry is quoted as saying, "At the time the boats had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing. Although I wanted to see for myself what was going on, I didn't really want to get involved in the war." Now concerning the joining of the Navy, national guard or other services I did not indicate that all who joined these services did so to escape the horrors of Vietnam. Many before and since Vietnam have joined these branches for a number of reasons. I was stressing that during the late Sixties these were popular alternatives to avoid combat. Neither alternative was a sure thing but one had a good chance to avoid harms way.

I think it really shows the bias of the media that so much attention is placed upon Bush joining the National Guard and flying planes to avoid combat when he had about the same chance of going into harm's way as did Kerry who joined the Naval reserve.

After Kerry returned home from Vietnam he was still in the Naval reserves and some claim he missed as much time and meetings as Bush, but the media does not seem interested in investigating this or using forged documents to disgrace him.

In the Sixties I do not recall even one associate or friend who volunteered for combat service in Vietnam. Even though I am sure there were some they were few and far between. Almost all males my age were concerned about saving their own skins. You'd be surprised at how many seemed to develop back problems or something similar. The main reason for this was that it seemed unclear to the youth as to why we were there and what we were fighting for.

What's gone and what's past help Should be past grief. William Shakespeare