The Jane Fonda Apology
I do not accept Jane Fonda’s long overdue grandstanding apology.
Young American men and women went to Vietnam for a number of altruistic reasons, one of which was the mere fact that their country asked them to go.
Fonda did not have a monopoly on those sincere reservations that many Americans shared about entering or escalating an undeclared war; presumably, many were willing to give their lives while sharing those very same thoughts.
However, unlike most Americans, Fonda held the title, with its attendant responsibilities, of being a celebrity, and she presumptuously, if not unethically, used this otherwise apolitical attribute in a manner that would have legally constituted treason had Vietnam been a declared war.
There is a great difference between protesting at home within the system and providing celebrity propaganda abroad in aid of the enemy.
Why apologize now? Except for advancing the personal interests of Jane Fonda, I fail to see any benefit being served by such an apology.
CHRISTOPHER E. ANGELO
Beverly Hills
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