Vietnam Protest Outline

Speaking Outline: Vietnam Anti-war Failures

1.   Thesis: While anti-war protests were done with good intentions, they fell flat because many of the protestors were part of a counterculture in middle America. People who associated with the anti-war movement were seen negatively and thus their cause was affected negatively. Overall, the anti-war protests did more for extending the war, as a way of middle America going against the counterculture, than they did in shortening it.

2.   Intro:

·         Thesis

·         Maybe if we want people on our side, we not piss them off?

·         Form of blasphemy w/ burning flags?

·         Disrespecting flag, vulgarity, bluntness, counterculture

3.   What is counterculture:

·         Oxymoron/paradox: GIs against war

·         Many in anti-war called “hippies”

·         What comes to mind when you think of a “hippie”

·         What is a hippie in this context?

4.   Students of America

·         Youth vs. parents

·         Younger people mainly involved with movement

·         Older generations not buying “make love not war” slogan

·         Fallacy; antithesis (contrasting ideas/love & war)

5.   Drastic Measures

·         Graphic image warning

·         Angry protestors + graphic images = more negativity

·         Wrong way to get support

·         Antimetabole: “babies” repeated

6.   Conclusion

·         Protestors meant well but too much was against them. Antiwar not taken seriously and viewed negatively due to people who made up the group and their methods of protest.