S Brian Willson: Please Don't Thank Me for My Service
Channel: Ed Mays
Date: 31/07/2020

As often stated by the renowned social critic, Noam Chomsky, the US population is the most highly indoctrinated on earth.  S. Brian Willson joins us from his home in Nicaragua to discuss current events through the lens of white exceptionalism and privilege.  Recently he wrote: “The "Trump cult" is really a revelation of the cult of the white exceptionalism that has permeated our society since the 1600s (City on the Hill). Trump is a caricature, or avatar for who we really are…”

Born July 4, 1941, the U.S. American Vietnam veteran, author, peace activist, and trained attorney, became a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace after he witnessed massacres of entire villages by US and South Vietnamese air strikes.  This, he says, caused an “epiphany” which “exploded in my head and heart, toward suicide ideation…”  He came to question everything he had ever been taught and to explore the depths of American cultural mythology through the forced unraveling of his own conditioning.  “U.S. policies and practices have been conducted with such a double standard and in such a self-serving manner, and with such insensitive and brutal ferocity, as to be virtually beyond comprehension to most residents within the United States of America.”  As a trained lawyer and writer, he has documented U.S. imperil foreign policy in nearly two dozen countries.

Willson became famous in 1987 when while engaged in a protest against the shipping of U.S. weapons to Central America in the context of the Contra wars, he and other members of a Veterans Peace Action Team blocked railroad tracks at the Concord, California Naval Weapons Station. An approaching train did not stop, and struck the veterans. Willson was hit, ultimately losing both legs below the knee while suffering a severe skull fracture with loss of his right frontal lobe.

Three days after Willson lost his legs over 10,000 people gathered for a non-violent protest in his support and against arms shipments to Central America. For years after the incident, anti-war protesters maintained a 24-hour-a-day vigil at the weapons depot.

In 1988, a documentary, "The Healing of Brian Willson" was produced by Idanha Films.  In 2016, a documentary, "Paying the Price For Peace: The Story of S. Brian Willson (and other activists)" was produced and directed by filmmaker Bo Boudart. He has written three books: “On Third World Legs”, 1992, “Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson” 2011, and  “Don't Thank Me For My Service: My Vietnam Awakening to the Long History of U.S. Lies” was published in 2018.

Join us for a deep dive into the American psyche that is revealed in the context of now.  This discussion will be broadcast in two parts.  The second part also contains a talk by Willson in Eugene, Oregon 2016 on the occasion of the “Paying the Price For Peace” film release.

Both parts are contained in this Youtube post.
Look for S Brian Willson on FaceBook.  Recorded 7/23/20

***************************

Pirate TV is a 58 minute weekly TV show that provides the book talk and lecture content for Free Speech TV.  Pirate TV challenges the Media Blockade, bringing you independent voices, information and programming unavailable on the Corporate Sponsor-Ship. These posts are for YouTube and are usually longer than the broadcast versions.  You will notice that I don't monetize my videos.  I'm irritated by constant interruptions as I'm sure are you, and I would like to have a say over sponsorship.  If you would like to pitch in to support this work, consider a donation:  http://www.edmaysproductions.net/piratetvsubdirectories/support.html or PayPal: piratetvseattle@gmail.com