Can a Vietnam Veteran Really be an Ethicist?
Dwarfed by the U.S. presidential election, the news of President Bill Clinton’s visit to the People’s Republic of Vietnam concluded with his announcement that the animosities between the United States and Vietnam were at an end. For many of us, his visit was a reminder of times when the animosity felt most intensely was domestic and internal. For many of us, some degree of tension remains. Some months ago, I made a presentation to the American Museum Association, and received an inquiry, the tenor of which I have gotten a number of times over the last decade or so. The inquiry on this occasion was gentle and well-meant. And though I was spared the grief many received from the American public when they returned home from their tour in Vietnam, on at least one occasion a few years ago, the questioning I received was public, intense and derogatory. I include here the initial inquiry and the dialogue that followed in the nature of a Socratic reflection: Question: I do find your program int
