"We advised them to do what they think proper against the war"
About this Quote
The line lands like a shrug with a knife behind it: soft language masking a hard strategic aim. “We advised them” sounds almost pastoral, a gentle nudge from someone claiming the reasonable middle. But the real work is in the vagueness. “Do what they think proper” hands the listener a blank check, flattering their autonomy while quietly steering them toward a single destination: action “against the war.” It’s persuasion disguised as permission.
That’s classic Hanoi Hannah, the North Vietnamese radio voice pitched at American troops and audiences during Vietnam. Her broadcasts weren’t just taunts; they were psychological operations built to exploit fatigue, moral doubt, and the growing credibility gap back home. This sentence performs that mission efficiently. It avoids overt ideological lecturing and instead borrows the language of civic conscience. The implication is: if you’re decent, if you’re rational, you already know what to do. It’s a trapdoor beneath the listener’s self-image.
The subtext also reveals a canny reading of American culture. “Proper” is a loaded American word: it suggests propriety, morality, even patriotism. By pairing it with “against the war,” she tries to reframe opposition not as betrayal but as the responsible, even honorable, choice. That framing matters because it aims past the foxhole and into the living room, echoing the era’s protests, draft resistance, and disillusionment.
As celebrity propaganda, it’s not about winning an argument; it’s about making doubt feel like integrity.
That’s classic Hanoi Hannah, the North Vietnamese radio voice pitched at American troops and audiences during Vietnam. Her broadcasts weren’t just taunts; they were psychological operations built to exploit fatigue, moral doubt, and the growing credibility gap back home. This sentence performs that mission efficiently. It avoids overt ideological lecturing and instead borrows the language of civic conscience. The implication is: if you’re decent, if you’re rational, you already know what to do. It’s a trapdoor beneath the listener’s self-image.
The subtext also reveals a canny reading of American culture. “Proper” is a loaded American word: it suggests propriety, morality, even patriotism. By pairing it with “against the war,” she tries to reframe opposition not as betrayal but as the responsible, even honorable, choice. That framing matters because it aims past the foxhole and into the living room, echoing the era’s protests, draft resistance, and disillusionment.
As celebrity propaganda, it’s not about winning an argument; it’s about making doubt feel like integrity.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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