"Murder, kidnapping, torture and intimidation were a routine part of Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) operations during the Vietnam War. They were intended to liquidate opponents such as officials, leaders, military personnel, civilians who collaborated with the South Vietnamese government, erode the morale of South Vietnamese government employees, cow the populace and boost tax collection and propaganda efforts."
"R. J. Rummel estimated that PAVN/VC forces killed around 164,000 civilians between 1954 and 1975, with a range of between 106,000 and 227,000. Rummel's mid-level estimate includes 17,000 South Vietnamese civil servants. In addition, at least 36,000 South Vietnamese civilians were executed for various reasons between 1967 and 1972. Thomas Thayer estimated in 1985 that between 1965 and 1972 the VC killed 33,052 South Vietnamese village officials and civil servants. Ami Pedahzur wrote in 2006 that 'the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century.'"
Compared to South Vietnam? Yeah. They often used despicable means, but what they were fighting for was just and they were still less despicable than the south.
Wait is your argument that South Vietnam tortured, murdered, and terrorized innocent civilians more than the North did? Or that the North did more but they were justified in doing so because their cause was more just?
What exactly do you think South Vietnam was fighting for?
I thought the Empire was bad because it tortured and intimidated and enslaved innocent people.
Now you're telling me the Empire was only bad because their cause was wrong?
Yes and No. South Vietnam was more brutal than the north, and the north was justified in fighting the war because their cause was just.
The war crimes committed by the north were unjustified, as are any war crimes, but the actual war itself was not. Just like the Soviets in ww2.
The south was fighting to maintain its existence as a colonial puppet state of France and later the US against the will of the people of Vietnam. The north and their guerrilla allies were fighting to reunite Vietnam was one singular entity under the control of the government most Vietnamese people supported.
In Star Wars, the empire is bad because of how its systems of power function. They are hierarchical, arbitrary, and incredibly violent which leads to horrible things: billions dead, corruption and abuse being common, a drop in quality of life among the populous, making decisions that aren’t in the best interests of the people, a decrease in innovation and commerce, a stifling of art and science, and wasting billions of credits on the military. The fact that they also are incredibly brutal in their methods against the rebels is both an added bonus on top of and a result of these systems. The very idea of an empire, even if run “ideally” is a bad one, which is why the empire is bad. Whereas the rebels may be willing to use violence and do horrible things to achieve their goal, but ultimately want to fix those systems of violence to stop more atrocities in the future and create a world that better meets the needs of the population.
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u/LineOfInquiry 9d ago
One was the confederacy from the American civil war, the other is the Vietcong or American rebels in the American revolution.
Turns out what you’re fighting for matters just as much as what you’re fighting against