Carry Me Home (109 page)

“We have examined both stories in regard to the war. We have seen how and by whom the combined story was told, where it was accurate, where skewed from reality. We have seen the impact of story on America. We’ve felt the impact. Hell, we are the impact!

“Because of this, we have indicted the media on the charges of collusion, misrepresentation, conspiracy, malicious skewing, and incompetence.

“Remember back to a time when we were young, when we were enthusiastic. Didn’t we believe in our decency? We have always been decent men. In having gone, in having served, we affirmed our ideals, our belief in the value of every human life, in the value of freedom, democracy, self-rule and self-empowerment. Many of us made this choice in the face of ‘anti-war-ism’ and with the full knowledge that we may be wounded or killed. But we went, fought. We upheld an ethical obligation to human rights, and the ethical principles of freedom and democratic aspirations which we believed were the inalienable rights of all humans.

“For this we have been assaulted because the mistelling of our story is an assault upon us. For a decent person to be accused of deplorable acts is devastating. Yet the story told of our involvement has been the story of atrocities, of drug abuse, of racism, of dispirited and incompetent fighting, of cowering at night and bullying by day—all for an immoral cause.

“The media and the Left have usurped the moral high ground, and have held it tenaciously for thirteen years. Yet it is a lie. In the early sixties, some of America’s most influential journalists, feeling betrayed by LBJ, lost sight of the cause of freedom. Their personal meaning was debased. They projected their own loss of meaning as if it were universal. That is the origin of many of the myths we’ve exposed. That is the reason for the denial of victories and valor. That is why victories, valor and altruism have been lost in the national myth-making process.

“Every one of you here knows of the problems of evil and the possibilities of virtue. The media set out to convince the world of the destiny, the inevitability, the fate of Viet Nam. Essentially they labeled the American effort evil, the communist effort virtuous. The universe is not the Great Machine of the Mechanistic Determinists of centuries past. Predetermination, fatalism, manifest destiny, the lack of free will, and the inability to impact situations for the good are lies that soothe the complicity of the liar.

“We have shown how, by omission, by biased selection, and by ethnocentric focus—AND because of greed as defined by Nielsen ratings—the media-created myth destroyed the American sense of duty that characterized the great bulk of our fighting men in Viet Nam. We have shown that the media’s concentration on American shortcomings and failures was, beyond reasonable doubt, a conspiracy; that this conspiracy has altered the American myth and thusly the American character in negative ways. The tragedy here is that into the void has seeped skepticism, intolerance, and hatred. We tell ourselves we are no good. We are evil. We are sick. We kill infants and civilians. And we accept and assimilate those characteristics as part of our national character. We fret about what we’ve become, and the scapegoat for that fretting is the American veteran!

“Once idealized as a melting-pot of opportunity, American society has become a victim of altered self-perception, has been purposefully polarized by the media to its ultimate gain in both wealth and power.

“We have shown that ‘antiwar’ was not antiwar; that ‘conscientious objection’ was not conscientious; that ‘idealists’ without action or understanding hold no ideals; that the ‘moral high ground’ of the media is a veneer hiding a soulless and greed-motivated multibillion-dollar industry—a mind junkie that few can resist.”

Bobby interrupted. “One minute left, Tony. Speed it up.”

“Oooo. Ah ... The results of the misinformation we’ve come to believe as our story is that we no longer believe in freedom—that will be the downfall of America. Our cause is dead. What is left is money. What is left is, ‘What’s in our national interest.’ The liberty of others is not our concern. We no longer believe in sacrificing to maintain government of the people, by the people, for the people. Our only belief is in economic determinism, the power of money. This is penultimate. It will shatter and we will fall.

“This is not to say we did not make mistakes over there. Nor that some of the lessons we’ve learned aren’t valid. It is to say that the one paramount thing America has grasped from our involvement—call it the Viet Nam Syndrome—is that we can’t, won’t and shouldn’t fight for freedom, for others or for ourselves. I maintain, the abuse of power in the pursuit of freedom does not justify the abandonment of that pursuit. Nor does the abuse of freedom justify the elimination of freedom. Choosing to
not
defend freedom, integrity and human rights leads to abuses, atrocities and holocausts far worse than war. In war there remains an element of hope; under tyranny, hope is destroyed.

“The media’s role and tactics have been to hold out to us images of suffering and need, then once action has been taken to depict pitfalls and failures, to criticize via negative dialectics that attack the solutions of the problem solvers without offering alternatives. In this way the critic becomes immune to criticism, the media’s projection of its own moral mountain fortress is secure. For the nonmedia what is left is hopelessness. And the hopeless, the disempowered, are easy to control.”

“Time,” Bobby said.

“Just one more point,” Tony pleaded.

“We’re running late,” Bobby answered.

“Knowing what really happened there,” Tony plunged on, “what we did and didn’t do, who we fought and what they did and didn’t do; knowing who we are; knowing that we contributed to this country and the world; it insulates you from all those subtle attacks and all those insidious references and then no one can ever again make you into a second-class citizen. Thank you.”

Tony shuffled to the prosecutor’s table. His head was down. The barn was generally quiet. Tony felt terrible, felt as though he’d failed miserably.

Gary Sherrick rose. This was the moment many vets had anticipated, some with loathing as if they were in an NDP awaiting an enemy assault, some with glee as if payback time had arrived.

Sherrick paced his words. “Walter Cronkite is an evil man.” Sherrick chuckled. He raised his eyes to the rafters. “Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Harry Reasoner—evil, evil, evil.” Sherrick crossed his arms, let his gaze descend to the men in the loft. “Who amongst you,” his voice rose, his head came down, he spun, locked the jurors in his stare, “believes this?! Who here believes NBC, CBS, or ABC had men in Hanoi who met with the communist information minister and reported his propaganda as the sole truth? Or even the sole story?! Were there reports of communist programs? Of North Viet Namese policies? Of Hanoi’s perspectives? Of NLF plans?” Sherrick paused. Then he barked out, “Certainly! The prosecution acts as if the U.S. media should be the propaganda ministry of the U.S. government. Is that what you want?! Is that who you want to control your story? Are you willing to give the government your mind?!”

Again Sherrick paused, stood still. Then he stepped toward the jury, and just above a whisper said, “Gentlemen, think what you are doing here. Collusion with the enemy. We have seen evidence that the media reported Hanoi’s perspectives but we have seen no evidence, let me repeat that,
no evidence
, of collusion. Not once did the prosecution even suggest that network officials or film directors met behind closed doors with communist leaders to plot against America’s role in Viet Nam. One American actress sitting on an antiaircraft gun is no more collusion than one actor coming down from his mount with his clay tablets and declaring our cause just.

“These incidents are but single grapes in entire bunches; but one sheet of glass amid an entire visible collector array. What of films; what of academia? The prosecution has equated academia with Noam Chomsky and D. Gareth Porter. These are but two men of an entire group. Whether they are right or wrong you cannot convict academia of conspiracy on the expressions of a few individuals who may hold views which oppose your own. Do these men not have every right to their opinions, every right to express those opinions?

“On misrepresentation leading to polarization, particularly racial polarization, the prosecution has acted as if Africans were not brought to America in chains to slave in fields for whites—as if the cause for polarization is not deeper than the prosecution’s own temporocentric perspectives; as if, had the racially motivated fraggings not been reported, three hundred years of repression would have been forgiven and forgotten. Please, tell me ... No, tell yourselves, who is misrepresenting The American Story.

“We have been told that there existed a media conspiracy against the government, that this conspiracy caused the debasement of the cause, the loss of hope and meaning, and the ascendance of brain-dead politicians and slick willies. The defense has consistently demonstrated that the media do not, did not, and have not ever spoken in one thematic voice—which would be necessary for conspiracy. We have also examined alternative explanations for the debasement of the cause, and these include the perspective that the cause was indeed debased from its inception. That the administrations may be the stimulus behind the loss of hope and meaning is more plausible to me than laying this charge at the doors of this information branch which is so vast not all the condos in Pittsburgh have enough doors ... well, you get the picture.

“What of malicious skewing? We have seen evidence of misinformation, this is true. And we
have
seen evidence of skewing and of ethnocentric reportage. The defense does not deny this. But this is not the charge. The charge is malicious skewing resulting in damage to democratic aspirations.” Sherrick snickered. “Perhaps we could rewrite the story and title it ‘The Malice of Walter Cronkite.’ Would that please the prosecution? Humph! Is there malice in attempting to stop bloodshed? Is there malice in bringing into our living rooms proof positive of the failures of our own government policies? NO! This is not malice. This is the identical idealism of which Tony spoke. And if the democratic aspirations of some Southeast Asians were damaged, well, as Hieu said, most of his countrymen were blind to democratic aspirations—”

Bobby interrupted. “That’s not what he said, Gary. The jury will disregard that comment. Wrap it up now.”

“Hmm. Okay. Lastly I want to address incompetence. Who here is infallible? Who here has never made a mistake? You can point to errors and call the media incompetent but that also is not the case. Indeed, the American public has never been so well informed. We are awash in a sea of data, of stories, of information which covers an entire three-dimensional spectrum. We are today the most informed people on earth.

“Think, Gentlemen, about what you want. Hieu described a world in which there are no independent photographers. Where only the state releases information. Is that what you want? That is what you will have if you convict the media.”

“Have you reached a verdict?” Bobby asked.

“Yes, we have, Your Honor,” Calvin Dee answered. The entire jury stood. They had deliberated and written the verdict together. “On the first four charges—collusion, misrepresentation, conspiracy, and malicious skewing of information—though we find that the evidence presented substantiates each point, and that many myths do exist, we find the charges to be too sweeping, and the prosecution’s argument of media causation to be unsubstantiated. The media are therefore found to be not guilty. On the fifth charge—incompetence to fully and accurately inform our society—we find the media guilty as charged. Further, Your Honor, we, the jury of High Meadow, recommend that the media, because of their greed and foolishness, be sentenced to be the information branch of a polarized, overly yet poorly informed, disintegrating society which will continue to make mistakes in its decisions based on skewed information, will continue to act based on ethno- and temporocentrically limited stories, will continue to assess, re-act, and follow blind paths based on erroneous data the media feed this society.”

O
N FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
, 1981, one day after the IRS declaration of insolvency, the Treasury Department moved in without notice and seized all bank accounts that had Bobby or Sara Wapinski’s name, including all corporate accounts, their personal checking, their small personal savings, and the three accounts Bobby had opened in his name “In Trust For” Noah, Paul, and Am. The seizure removed all monies from the accounts, left High Meadow, EES, The Institute, the farm, and the Wapinskis, unknowingly, absolutely penniless. On Monday, the ninth, Sara attempted to cash a twenty-dollar check at Mill Creek Falls Savings Bank but was turned away without explanation.

On that same day Bobby returned to RRVMC for an Agent Orange screening retest. Why he’d put it off I don’t know, or maybe I do. Maybe I’d have done the same. The doctor had called him numerous times, had ceased trying to get him, instead had talked to Sara. Half an hour after Bobby’d left, federal marshals arrived with demands that all property and all rights to all property be surrendered to the federal government. They politely demanded that everyone exit the barn, empty handed (including not even being able to take the warm Styrofoam cups of coffee Van Deusen and Mariano had walked in with half an hour earlier), then they proceeded to padlock the barn doors. That some property belonged to individuals other than Bobby made no difference. Eviction notices were served on every person at High Meadow.

By midafternoon Bobby had still not returned. However, Mark Tashkor, Jesse Rasmuellen, and Lucas Hoeller all had come, had argued with the marshals, had set off in different directions to challenge the orders, to file appeals, to obtain a stay of the seizure proceedings. Anything to buy time.

Nothing worked. Nothing worked completely. As the weather turned cold, as Bobby returned to RRVMC again and again for more tests, more needles, blood samples, and rechecks, vets began to leave High Meadow. Some of the newbies checked into RRVMC’s new PTSD program. (Posttraumatic stress was now officially recognized by the psychiatric community, and thus by the veterans hospital system, as a distinct disorder.) The hospital enthusiastically accepted any vet claiming PTSD problems—because its new, expanded funding was directly proportional to the number of PTSD-vets it serviced. RRVMC encouraged all its Nam vet patients to lay the blame for
all
their problems on their Viet Nam experience—an outgrowth of the funding process and Binford’s research.