14:14, 13 October 2012 - Monoskop

Dog from the Freeway 125
there is banality and there are well-kept secrets. By the way, Keegan is more
than a little coquettish, but that’s no great comfort.
8
Of the many armies fighting in Vietnam, there is an additional one that deserves
attention. The Americans sent so many scientists to Vietnam that they
could be considered a separate branch of the armed services. These included
sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, ethnologists, and
even communication researchers. One of them, named Pike, wrote a quite conventional
book about the Vietcong which on the surface appears to be quite deficient.
The author replaces genuinely useful organisational sociology terminology
with terms from the science of communication: interviews, surveys,
documents, statistics, influencing factors, and variables. How it all accumulates!
Hardly any books are published using this material, more often they are
papers which are copied from microfilm or typed, wrapped in a piece of cardboard.
They are not issued by publishers, but by agencies or foundations
which launder money for the military or university authorities. The early imperialists
in Asia, Britain, and France at least commemorated the cultures they
despoiled in books – a book can still be a valid tombstone.
The unceremonious American writings were produced to argue, accompany,
and justify the Americans’ smaller war in Vietnam. Science in the spirit
of soap advertising – what would a Vietnamese do if you gave him one hundred
dollars or shot his mother. Despite a few references to history, ethics, or
religion – which can also be found in advertising – the authors deal only with
the immediate present and future. The Americans do not know Vietnam. The
scientists cannot speak Vietnamese and have only come to Vietnam after being
called there by the army; called to help in the task of establishing a regime
loyal to the US – one which is considered pretty lightweight but tough. They
don’t speak Vietnamese, and they don’t have any desire to learn new words.
Their words remain the same when applied to new objects. The heartless impoverishment
of intellect that characterises most American Vietnam Studies
makes them hard to bear.
You know of course that I am American. I am in Vietnam for rather interesting reasons.
In this war there are many people who don’t approve of the position of the
United States. It’s important to us that we come to understand those who disagree
with us. I am not from the armed forces, I am a social scientist, a psychoanalyst. I
have nothing to do with military intelligence, I am not interested in political or
military secrets. I [...]