Week 5: "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence" Response

Joshua Rivera

Asian American Studies 2 – A01

Week/Blog #5

In “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence”, Darrell Y. Hamamoto suggests that the racial tensions during the Vietnam War is one of the root causes of these psychotic individuals. Similarly, I would argue that the Vietnam War itself is only a partial cause and not a holistic one. Instead, it is the media and governments’ glamorization of the victory of any war and the negative portrayal of the enemy side that leads to violent crimes. With regards to the Iraq War, the United States declared its intention of invading Middle Eastern countries in an effort to fight against terrorism. As a result, domestic abuse of Middle Easterners and their presumed connection to terrorism began to spread. This is paralleled by the Vietnam War and how the United States tried to fight for the spread of capitalism. Asian-Americans then became the enemies of American society because of their geographical origin. The government in both situations argued that their cause for violence is just which lead to the patriotic feelings and the desensitized mindset of some American citizens. Consequently, these individuals sometimes targeted their individuals by race as a way expressing their support and anger caused by the government.

Question: To what extent should the military be represented in the media and how should they be portrayed?