Jane Fonda apologizes - Page 2

I was pointing out the incredulity of forgiving youthful discretions when they happen in the 30s or 40s, but not forgiving a persons actions that occured in their 20s. Shows a huge bias IMO, especially an anti woman bias.

If any of you want to see more about Jane Fonda and hear from her herself, she is on 60 Minutes tonight!

WOW! So....everything thats important is in history books? As I'm sure you've read by now, Fonda went WAY PAST protesting. There were many many protesters of the war, but few IF ANY were as disrespectful to the TROOPS as she. EVERY Vietnam soldier knows about her.
A LOT of people care about this. We don't all care about the same things.

Well obviously a good many people, perhaps the majority have gotten past her actions of 40 years ago. They flocked to her multitude of movies and purchased/rented her exercise videos. It takes a lot of energy to hold onto anger, less stressful to forgive a true youthful indescretion.

You may consider it a true youthful indescretion. Thats your opinion to which you are entitled. Many disagree.

Sure, she's a popular actress.

My point really was to say WHO CARES to someone's topic is just kind of...not nice. My opinion.

An excellent point on the Vietnam Vets Marge. I have quite a few homeless vets as clients now...but then talk is cheap. Where is all the outrage regarding that. And as far as WHO CARES...let's face it, most people have moved on. We are not talking about Hitler here. We are talking about a women who held different views than she did 40 years ago. At 49, I can think of many views I had in my 20s, that don't hold water for me now. If people need to get themselves in a lather over this, sobeit, it's your blood pressure, not mine.

Alright.. I fared very poorly in my history classes and while I vaguely understood who Jane Fonda was I did not realize that she had gone to vietnam, and APPLAUDED at attacks against the US, ETC. And frankly, I'm appaled. How Awful.

I don't see how you can compare Sean Penn to her when read her actions. he is actively protesting, and that's his right, but she shouldn't have been allowed back in the US in my opinion (they've kicked people out for less.).. that was slander and it was fraternizing with the enemy and for all that I care about religion... She's going to burn in hell for belittling the fallen and tortured soldiers as she did.

And what on earth does bulimia have to do with political stances and basically telling people that the risking of their own lives was not worth the airfare to bring them back home.

Thanks guys, for teaching me something I didn't know-

D

I'm having trouble deciding what I think about this....so I'll try to explain my position as best I can...

I think that she was wrong to applaud at a plane being shot down by the "enemy". Regardless of whether you agree with a war, the death of any soldier (even enemy soldiers, IMO) is NOT cause to applaud. It's unfortunate that someone died, not a cause for celebration. It is THIS point that makes me feel she OWES an apology.

I don't think going to Vietnam was wrong. I don't think visiting the North Vietnamese was wrong, because if she didn't believe in the war, she didn't believe that they were enemies. As far as the effect on soldier moral goes, it is NOT the responsibility of those who oppose a war to keep the troops feeling like they're doing the right thing IMO (I'm not making a judgement on Vietnam here, just speaking generally).

If she gave them any information about American soldiers, locations, plans, etc then that is NOT COOL. But just a visit without helping the "enemy"....is that really traitorous? I say no (I'm sure there are MANY who will be all over me for this, but that's ok - you are all entitled to your own opinions, just as I'm entitled to mine).

I'm going to end by saying that I do agree with the statement that, regardless of whether you believe in the war or not, the soldiers serving in it deserve respect for their bravery.
However, I don't mean that they should not have to defend their actions - though by defend, I don't mean criminally. I mean by saying that "I believed in what I was doing", for example. I think that all you can do is what YOU believe to be right at that moment.

Ok, hope I'm not going to be thrown in with the sharks for this opinion....(nervous laughter )

No sharks here..hey not even a teething goldfish!

That's interesting. I was born in 1972, the year she went there, and I think I've always known about Hanoi Jane. Probably because my father is a Marine. But he was out by the time I was born.

Fonda's apology and regret goes only so far. Though she "regrets" the visit to the anti-aircraft gun site, she does NOT regret making broadcasts on Radio Hanoi. She was hardly some misguided young woman who didn't know what she was doing. She was a spoiled actress so full of herself that it wasn't enough to criticize the US at home, she had to do it up close and personal with the enemy themselves.

Whether or not Fonda personally considered the North Vietnamese HER enemy doesn't matter. They were killing American soldiers and were enemies of the US. That should have been enough to preclude any fraternization with them.

She had a right to her opinion about the war, but along with rights come responsibilities. Her first responsibility was to ensure that nothing she did would cause harm to any US serviceman, no matter how vehemently she believed it was wrong for them to be in Vietnam. Her "visit" gave aid and comfort to the enemy by undermining the US military. Do you know what the North Vietnamese did to our POW's?

Fonda's actions are unforgivable. In the end, her opinion was more important than the lives of US soldiers. Her self-serving "apology" just happens to coincide with the release of her book. The woman has no shame. She's a disgrace.

I'm just extremely thankful that on judgement day my God will be judging me (and any mistakes I've made due to the fact I'm human) rather than you folks.

I'm not a religious person per se, but I've always been taught not to judge others as it is God's job not mine. Also I was raised to not criticize others until I had walked a mile in their shoes.

I sincerely hope people know the person I am today is not who I was in 1960 and that is God's plan, we all grow and mature.

From reading this thread and the replies, I can tell some of you have never erred or made mistakes like some of us other humans and I tell you - you are really lucky.

I'm so afraid you are right. A great deal of the fighting and tensions in the world today are not due to current events, but more to what happened in the past and have been passed down from generation to generation. In most cases it happened to great-great-great-great, etc. grandparents and has absolutely nothing to do with the modern day world. Unfortunately I believe that is why we will never have peace in our world. Too many folks carry too many grudges that often are not even their own but have been handed down from past generations.

Sad, sad situation.

If you start a thread on homeless vets, you may see a lot of outrage, but no one was responding to that because, although its related, thats not what this thread is about. Every time someone would mention Teri Shiavo, my dad would ask - what about all the starving kids in the world? Same idea.

As far as "who cares" and people moving on... just because you have an opinion on Fonda doesn't mean you're dwelling on what she did or getting in a lather over it. Of course some people do. Others haven't heard of her. One poster who had NOT heard of her is the one who said WHO CARES. I might not care about something that happened before I was born, but I think I would just skip the post rather than respond that way.

Like I said before, people care about different things. Some people hate Johnny Cochran and others feel he was just doing his job.

I can understand why people are upset with her. To say she's unforgivable is over the top, though, IMO. As far as whether her apology is sincere, I don't know whats in her heart.

Peace.

Linda, you're absolutely right. While reading the last few posts, I was thinking about how China and South Korea are trying to block Japan's ambitions to gain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. There are mass protests and petitions - China wants to gather 30 million signatures and hand them over to Kofi Annan. While I can certainly understand that both countries are upset that some Japanese textbooks softpedal Japanese atrocities prior to and during WWII, I really wonder when the hatred will end. The war has been over for almost 60 years, and for the most part, those responsible are dead.
There are so many other examples that it's just depressing to think about.

And Ireland is still infighting about religion (makes you wonder what religion is really SUPPOSED to be about!)