Dbq Essay On Life Magazine

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Document 1 is a picture extracted from Life, a professional pictorial magazine primarily diffused to upper and middle-class Americans. Document 2 is a caricature from the Berkeley Barb, an underground student-run weekly newspaper. These documents each support a competing vision of US involvement in Vietnam, with the first approaching it from a very patriotic, conservative, pro-war point of view, and the other promoting anti-war feeling. Document 1 was published in 1969, right on the heels of the Tet Offensive of 1968, when the communist Viet Cong forces orchestrated a surprise attack during the Tet New Year celebration on South Vietnamese troops. Although it was a military defeat for the communists, this event profoundly shocked the American…show more content…
Primarily, it is clearly geared towards its receiving audience, namely well-to-do traditional American families. As a result, it definitely holds a biased position that requires it to appeal to its readers and pander to popular opinions beyond simply informing the general public of newsworthy events regarding the war. The second document also exhibits bias, although of a completely different sort. This underground newspaper promotes radically different, liberal, anti-war ideas and is obviously not geared towards ameliorating its professional image or really pandering to its audience. Its unofficial status makes it less put together while perhaps ensuring greater freedom of information. These two documents are both radically opposed in their approach to American intervention in Vietnam, in the manner in which they express their opinions, and in their historical context. One is violently pro-war and basically insults anyone that does not have their “heart in the US,” or that is against the war, while the other promotes strong pacifist ideals. The first message is diffused through the glossy picture of a widely read magazine, while the other is exhibited through a crude caricature in an underground, illicit publication. Finally, the first document is published during a wave of anti-communist feeling before the “Vietnam syndrome” really
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