I was chatting with a Vietnamese guy on a flight today whose family was part of the southern government (I was reading PSL’s Socialist Reconstruction book and it triggered him). He ‘fled’ ~15 years after the war ended. He was ranting to me how upset he is that his daughters have become socialists. His family was closely watched due to suspicions that his father was a US spy after leaving reeducation, but most of his problems with the government were about bemoaning land reform. He read an enormous amount of communist literature in school as it was required. He kept telling me how he thinks it’s like a cult where people don’t question the government, and everyone is brainwashed. Unlike the US where everyone has economic freedom (lol).
Ultimately I think the diaspora genuinely has more knowledge about their homeland than the average person. The problem is they can’t see past their deeply ideological views of feeling personally harmed by their homeland and wishing violence against the government they think wronged them
This is quite similar to the Iranians I know, who grew up in the country before migrating to Europe. What really gets me is that they seem to believe that things will be better for Iran if US/Israel win.
I have to ask them sometime how the coup against Mosaddegh fits into their worldview…
I was chatting with a Vietnamese guy on a flight today whose family was part of the southern government (I was reading PSL’s Socialist Reconstruction book and it triggered him). He ‘fled’ ~15 years after the war ended. He was ranting to me how upset he is that his daughters have become socialists. His family was closely watched due to suspicions that his father was a US spy after leaving reeducation, but most of his problems with the government were about bemoaning land reform. He read an enormous amount of communist literature in school as it was required. He kept telling me how he thinks it’s like a cult where people don’t question the government, and everyone is brainwashed. Unlike the US where everyone has economic freedom (lol).
Ultimately I think the diaspora genuinely has more knowledge about their homeland than the average person. The problem is they can’t see past their deeply ideological views of feeling personally harmed by their homeland and wishing violence against the government they think wronged them
This is quite similar to the Iranians I know, who grew up in the country before migrating to Europe. What really gets me is that they seem to believe that things will be better for Iran if US/Israel win.
I have to ask them sometime how the coup against Mosaddegh fits into their worldview…