Politics & Power Quote by Bruce Jackson

The line punctures a comforting myth: that Vietnam was uniquely “uncensored,” a historical accident of radical transparency. Jackson’s move is to narrow the definition until it collapses. If “uncensored” merely means the government didn’t pre-approve every photo caption and dispatch, that’s not freedom so much as a technicality. He’s arguing that a war can look open while still being managed, shaped, and metabolized into something the public can bear.

The intent is corrective, but also accusatory. Jackson implies Americans like the legend of Vietnam as the last honest war because it flatters a certain self-image: we can handle the truth, and when we saw it, we stopped it. His subtext is harsher. Information control doesn’t require a censor’s stamp; it can be outsourced to newsroom incentives, access journalism, military briefings, patriotic reflexes, and the simple physics of distance. Even without formal vetting, the pipeline still filters: which images get transmitted, which stories editors deem “representative,” which frames are available to describe violence in the first place.

As a public servant, Jackson is speaking from proximity to the machinery that makes narratives seem natural. The context is a post-Vietnam media argument that repeats in every conflict: are we being shown reality or a curated version of it? His phrasing suggests the real battleground isn’t censorship versus no censorship, but legitimacy. If the government isn’t vetting, it can still steer; and if the press isn’t muzzled, it can still be led.