this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2026
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United States | News & Politics
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No, I think most Americans think more along the lines of "Yes, we committed atrocities in Vietnam, but it was an unfortunate consequence of war, which is never pretty." Some McCarthy-aligned Americans would follow that up with "To make an omelette (stop communism) you need to crack some eggs (kill civilians)."
Maybe worth pointing out here that being a communist country doesn't seem to have done Vietnam much harm.
What you said is exactly what dehumanizing means. And that last part is just pure evil since it justifies annihilating humans for propaganda.
McCarthy types generally think that communism is evil, and their utilitarians believe doing Little Evil to fight Big Evil is completely acceptable.