From: groucho!thinh@uu.psi.com (Thinh N. Nguyen)
Subject: [POL] Re: Re: DIALOG (DDie^.n Bie^n Phu?)
Originator: anh@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Organization: SCV Relay
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 18:07:54 GMT


Responding to my posting, Doug Nguyen wrote:

* Sender: uupsi!crchh25.Saigon.COM!ddnguyen (Doug Nguyen)

> I say that if you are those people supporting Vietnam's idependence
> Then You got it. Stay there and do not come here as an economic refugee.


Hi Doug:

Of course I support independence in Vietnam. I also support independence in
every countries in the world. What is the point of creating a country if it's
not independent. However, it takes more than independence for me to support a
government. I don't support the communist government in Vietnam at this point,
if that is what you are trying to get at, because I believe that there are still
rooms for improvement in areas such as freedom and democracy. I also believe 
that it was more independent than the former S. Vietnam.

About being an economic immigrant, does being a "political refugee" makes you 
any better than those who settle in the US through different circumstances? By
the time you and a person from Mexico become US citizens, both of you have the same
rights and respect the same law but he can go home whenever he likes. American 
are, in general, the kindest people I've seen but the only reason the US government 
allowed us to live in the US was because they wanted to show the world (actually 
third world countries) that they would take care of people who fight for them loyaly. 
Nothing more, nothing less. 

For me, being a refugee only make me wonder what we did wrong in S. Vietnam 
that we were driven out of the country by our own people and place ourself in 
the mercy of US government for help and protection. Did the elite being so unfair 
to the poor because selffishness and greeds thus resulted in the downfall of S. 
Vietnam? Did we listen to the cries of the over-suffer peasants before it was too
late or we were too busy with corruption. Are we being too similar to the "noble 
savages" that ran to France after 1954? I left Vietnam under different situation 
than it is today and eventually became US citizen more than 10 years ago. I have 
different obligation now and don't know whether or not I'll be able to be a 
Vietnam citizen again. If I do, it would be my decision and nobody can tell me 
where to live and what to do.

You reminded me of those rednecks in the South who always tell me to go back to 
my country. Whether you like it or not, you better get used to me because I 
am not going anywhere unless I wanted to. It's very likely that I paid taxes in 
this country before you got here and my children will have to pay for the deficit 
that generations of American created, so no one in this country can tell me to go back 
to Vietnam. Furthermore, I wouldn't be here if American didn't go to Vietnam first. I 
would be very happy if that was the case, but no one can change history. Being an 
American is much more than fighting the communist hard and loudly so the 
government won't suspect you of being an economic immigrant. Being Vietnamese 
means you have to try your best to work with other Vietnamese of different religion, 
ideology and background to improve the land that hold the remains of your ancestors.
What we can learn from being an American to do for Vietnam will make us worthwhile 
Vietnamese-American and not just a bunch of professionals living in exile.

sincerely,
Thi.nh ngo.c Nguye^~n

Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese