rant · moment 8 of 16
The Draft, Vietnam, and Long Island's Post-War Bubble
from Many Feathered Bird · #68
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minTim recounts his father's draft lottery story and reflects on how Vietnam, Watergate and Iraq eroded trust in institutions, then pivots to how Long Island was built as an isolated postwar bubble that still carries a nostalgic, cheap-money, idyllic self-image.
- 24:19Tim argues that modern soldiers enlist thinking they're doing the right thing, but they're not actually fighting for their country in these conflicts.
- 24:43A friend questioned his own culpability when asked to help beat up a guy who was sleeping with someone's wife.
- 25:15Tim's father lost friends in Vietnam and has been checked out ever since.
- 25:29During the Iraq War, people believed the government wouldn't just lie about weapons of mass destruction, but it did—which changed the texture of the times.
- 25:41The 1950s and 60s represented the most effective era of propaganda in American history, selling an idyllic version of the country that fell apart quickly.
- 26:05The post-war bubble offered cheap money and easy jobs to white people and the majority—you could work at a Ford plant without finishing high school and still own a house.
- 26:19Long Island is now desperate and haggard, showing its age, but residents still cling to that post-history feeling of the golden era.