LLouis
Don't accept all this death and then justify it. It is wrong! Your friends should be alive...they should be enjoying dinner, and arguing with their kids, just like you are.
What do you know about it? Who the hell are you to say that?!
LLouis
[pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket] You see this, man? This is my draft notice. In two weeks, I can go to jail, I can go to Canada or, I can go get shot, full of holes, like your friend Brian Cooper. You keep thinking the way you do, Mr. Arnold, and these two [points to Kevin and Wayne] will be next. And I just hope that's what they want.
Who was right, and who was wrong? Well, I'm supposed to be an adult now, and I still can't completely figure that one out. But at some point, late at night, near sleep, the ideas and the disagreements sort of dissolve, and you're just left with the people. And people were no different then, as they've always been. And always will be. Young girls get their hearts broken. Men and women suffer alone, over the choices they've made. And young boys, full of confusion... full of fear... full of love and courage... grow up stealthily in their sleep.
One of the boys on our block was killed in Vietnam several weeks ago.
LLouis
Oh, I-I know. I mean, uh, Karen told me. Another meaningless death.
LLouis
I-I just meant that... it's just a shame, uh... a kid has to die for basically no reason.
I don't think it's meaningless... when a young man dies for freedom and for his country.
LLouis
I just have a little trouble... justifying dying for a government that systematically represses its citizens.
Oh, honey. Try the potatoes - I put grated cheese on them.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
KKaren
It means the United States government is responsible... for the oppression of blacks, women, free speech...
Well perhaps, little lady, you'd like to go live in Russia for a little while... huh?
LLouis
Oh, uh... I think what Karen is saying is that...
Look, buster! I happen to believe that freedom and democracy... have certain advantages that Communist dictatorships don't, and that is what Vietnam is all about!
LLouis
No, man, that's what they brainwash you to believe it's all about. They... [sighs] ...they turn people into brainwashed morons.
My hunch was that my father would not let being called a brainwashed moron at his dinner table... go unremarked.
So... you think I've been brainwashed, do you, Louis?
LLouis
No. No. Look... I think anyone... who supports the American war effort in Vietnam...... is having the wool pulled over his eyes.
LLouis
Just like they did with Korea.
What the hell do you know about Korea? I was in Korea. I lost a lot of good friends there.
KKaren
Daddy, that doesn't have anything to do with what we're saying.
And they weren't brainwashed! They were brave men who weren't afraid to fight for what they believed in. Now if you're afraid to fight - why don't you just say so? Why don't you just admit you're chicken?
LLouis
You're damned right! I am chicken. I don't want to die like your friends! What do you think that you achieved over there? Hmm? Do you think that those people are free? They're not free, man. Except to buy Coca-Cola, and... uh... [smirks] ...Nestle's Quik... get loans from Chase-Manhattan National Bank...
LLouis
You were used, man, and your friends were used.
KKaren
Daddy, you never listen to what we say! Some of what we say is true!
LLouis
Don't accept all this death and then justify it. It is wrong! Your friends should be alive...they should be enjoying dinner, and arguing with their kids, just like you are.
What do you know about it? Who the hell are you to say that?!
LLouis
[pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket] You see this, man? This is my draft notice. In two weeks, I can go to jail, I can go to Canada or, I can go get shot, full of holes, like your friend Brian Cooper. You keep thinking the way you do, Mr. Arnold, and these two [points to Kevin and Wayne] will be next. And I just hope that's what they want.
