A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

Over the past few days there have been thousands of messages of support on my blog, Twitter, Facebook. I am so moved by what feels like a growing community. What can be more important than community in this fragmented world we live in? At times, we can feel so isolated. The best part of social media, I think, (beside the spread of information that main stream media may ignore) is that we discover there are many others out there who can buoy each other up, support each other in difficult times.

That is not to say that everyone totally agrees with me. They don’t, and they say so. But many of those with differences do not express those differences with profanity, obscenities and mean-spiritedness. They embody the American spirit that we can and should live together with our differences and respect those differences and try to hear each other through those differences. Living in Georgia for almost twenty years taught me the importance of listening—compassionate listening—to each other. I have dear friends whose political leanings are very different than mine.

There have been a few people who make comments on my blog restating the lies about my trip to North Vietnam and what they think happened there. I do not print those. I have no intention of continuing these falsehoods. I intend, very soon, to write a long blog about what DID happen during that controversial trip of mine. I know this will not stop those who have an agenda from continuing the lies but this blog will, at least, give the full story for those who are interested. Stay tuned….and, again, thanks to the many who have reached out to me on this blog, Twitter and Facebook.

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36 Comments

  1. hello Jane,

    It is very good to hear that you support system is in good order. I write on another blog with a person with great polictial and personl experience. He holds a higher office and has spent years in harsh prison condition for his continuing belief in what is right. I find that your unfair treatment is not some vague idea, but a real fact in your life, a very unfair view of you. It good that a community as grown and learned over this unfair act to cast a light on that action.
    Without Truth there is no Justic. The compliant media and an effective disinformation programme at work, on a every day system. This is arrogance of the highest form. The film maker Federico Fellini was right when he said: “Censorship is advertising paid by the government.”

    with love and care,

  2. I have discovered that I can love people that I have never met (and never will) and that people love me the same way. During times of duress I have received support from people all over the world and in return I want to give support. I was so distressed when I saw what was happening to you and it hurt me as if it were happening to me. I wanted to rally ’round and join arms against the unfairness & insensitivity. I saw so many others with the same instinct. You are well-loved, not because of your fame, but for your kindness, humour and your own sense of Community!

  3. After reading that QVC had canceled your appearance, I sent them a message letting them know that I would never make another purchase with them again. I hope that makes a difference. Keep up the good fight.

  4. Jane…thank you for doing this blog and sharing intelligent, important thinking and feeling with so many people of all beliefs and cultures around the world. You are an inspiration to everyone who believes in freedom of speech as well as human dignity for all.

  5. I’m also experiencing all the advantages of social networks, however, there are major drawbacks about it, too.

    I can’t wait for that blog post. I think it will be a very important entry and it will be hard for everybody but there are times when you have to do a thing no matter what.

    Off-topic: have you read the story of Horrible Bosses? If I were you, I would be upset about it as hell. If you don’t know yet, then see for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

  6. Thanks for keeping us posted, Ms. Fonda. And thank you for your grace, smarts, & wit. Your courage of your convictions is truly inspiring. God bless you.

    love,
    Bernardo De Paula

  7. hi jane,
    my experience in Vietnam, at Saigon in 1966, that it was a military/industrial/political complex…i was privy to some operators on the black market making 5-10 thousand/week..i was encouraged to muster out in Vietnam and get some of the action..wouldn’t cut out for it..anyway, you was set up as political cannon fodder as a diversion…also, the taxman was probably at your doorstep often during those years

  8. OMG I’m on vacation in Sicily, Italy (what better place to talk about political differences,eh!!) and I haven’t read your blog for a few days. I’m shocked by what I’m reading about the QVC cancellation.

    Not being an American and having been born in 1969 I don’t really feel I can comment on anything about the war, but I just want say that I am shocked that there are still repurcussions for you in 2011.

    I can only begin to imagine how deeply upset you are by all this.

    Anyway, as you so rightly said, community is what it’s all about and maybe you needed something like this to happen to show you that you are loved and that you have so much support from us all. Community is maybe all we will have left and that is sooo important. And I’m happy to be a part of your community, if only electronically…!

    With love from sunny Sicily
    Jason

  9. This is exactly the respect of differing opinions that I was explaining in the other blog about QVC. I think I sent a regular post and not a reply to your response to me so I’m not sure that you saw it. It was quite lengthy. Anyhow, you said exactly what I was thinking Ms. Fonda.

    “That is not to say that everyone totally agrees with me. They don’t, and they say so. But many of those with differences do not express those differences with profanity, obscenities and mean-spiritedness. They embody the American spirit that we can and should live together with our differences and respect those differences and try to hear each other through those differences.”

    I very much appreciated you posting my comments in the other blog even though you and I disagree on some political issues we also agree on quite a few. Never once did you disrespect my opinions, although there was a poster that instantly saw red when I stated that I aligned politically with the tea party in some aspects. I do however align very much with the liberal perspective on social issues. It’s okay to hold strong beliefs on many issues.

    I think if more people from opposite sides of the political system could have civil discussions and not instantly go on the attack we’d get somewhere in this country.

    On a side note. Out of curiosity where are all the anti-war protestors that were so adamant about President Bush being a war monger at? I’ve seen no huge anti-war rallies against President Obama. Seems to be a bit hypocritical if you ask me. I’m curious as to what your thoughts on this might be Ms. Fonda?

    If you’d prefer to keep your blog strictly about the QVC incident I understand I’m just really curious to hear the progressive opinion on why there isn’t much push back against the new Libya conflict and the drones being sent deeper into Africa.

    I was very much going into Iraq and I want ALL of our soldiers to be brought home immediately but I guess that’s a pipe dream. I guess as long as Obama is executing these wars then all is well from the hard core anti-war crowd. Interesting!

    Have a peaceful day and good luck with your new book.

    Sincerely,
    Your conservative fan
    Valarie 🙂

    • I meant to say I was very much AGAINST going into Iraq and I want all wars to end and our soldiers to come home now. Don’t get me started on Libya. Why is it okay to kill women and children with drones? Where is the anti-war left on this? I hear crickets.

      Peace to you Jane. 🙂

      • Valarie, explain the ‘crickets’ to me. Or are you meaning that you, literally, are hearing crickets? xx

    • Valarie,As I understand it, Quadafi was killing his own people who were resisting his dictatorship in the wake of the Egypt uprising. I think there’s a wait-and-see attitude. As yet, I don’t think it is viewed as “going to war,” But if it continues I think (and hope) that there will be protests. I do know that there has been a major push from anti-war folks against Obama when he increased forces in Afghanistan and an on-going pressure from same to without from that country. xx

  10. Beautiful message. My life would have been very much poorer had it not been for your films… your books… your exercise tapes.

    Your detractors are simply seeking a vessel in which to pour their disappointments and bile.

    I wonder how many soldiers’ lives you – and others like you – saved with your opposition to the invasion and occupation of Vietnam.

    You are a true artist, and a true hero.

    xx

    • Thank you, Michael. I get thanks from many Vietnam Veterans and many are my friends. xx Jane

  11. Jane,

    Unfortunately some people will never “get it”, your story, your truths, but there are so many that will and do. That is where the sense of community is coming from. Walk and talk with us and perhaps those on the fence may follow…if they don’t – they just may need more time…

    It seems that any more time you spend on retelling a story that is painful and personal and has been told might be too much time spent on it unless you are truly feeling the need to do so once again.

    “Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don’t worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.” – Sara Paddison

    On another note, the free publicity you received for the book is fantastic! (Silver lining) I worked for Sara Blakely (Spanx) for four years, in public relations. The capitalist in me is happy about that.

    Very very best to you! This too will be successful!

    Marty

    • Thanks, Marty. I will quote that Paddison statement again. I adore Sara Blakely. Met her at a fundraising pyjama party a decade or more ago. xx Jane

  12. Thanks for bringing up the concept that people can engage in a healthy debate (and disagree) without resorting to profanity or harming the opposing party in some respect (all too often the case in this era). Disagreeing but maintaining friendship and respect is a mode of behavior that has been diminished in recent years, and the health of our society has been diminished in kind.

  13. Besides her marvelous works as an actress, the best things Jane ever did were all her statements 40 years ago.

  14. I stand with you in admiration Jane for having the guts to express and back up your beliefs. The Vietnam nightmare was a vast, expensive and painful mistake and everyone either admits to that fact or are willfully blind to reality.

    The QVC demographic, older, female, conservative, would naturally express their jealousy at a powerfully evolved woman like yourself while blaming you for their own cowardice not standing against the war and the suffering it cost our brave military and their families. QVC’s cancellation did more to promote your book than any segment they could have broadcast and I congratulate you.

    • Mark, but for the most part, Mark, it wasn’t the QVC demographic (their normal viewers) who made the angry calls. They were organized by the far right

  15. Jane – you have explained what happened 40 years ago so many times and so clearly, that I no longer feel this is about you, in the sense that you can do anything about it by writing another definitive statement explaining, once again, exactly what happened. I offer the suggestion that you meditate on it and consider not letting your site become embroiled in this phantom contriversy that feeds other peoples needs, not yours or your sites

  16. Jane,

    Any of your critics and doubters should simply read “My Life So Far”. It would shut them up and encourage them to move on with their lives but they’re either so small-minded or blinkered it would probably be wishful thinking. I just don’t see how some of them still have a gripe with you, especially considering there’s nothing to be angry at you for to begin with.
    Even though I am only 32 I can’t wait for your next book and what I can learn from it!

    Ryan x

  17. Don’t worry Jane!! We believe you.

  18. Dear Jane, THANK YOU in Portuguese is “OBRIGADO”(pronounce: ohbreegahdoo)! Muchas Gracias is Spanish, a language very similar to Portuguese!Just because I(with the help of some friends) intend to bring you to visit BAHIA sometime in the future, it is better if you learn the right way!”obrigado” for being so nice in your Blog, to make it became like a “comunity” that I, even here far away in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil, am very happy and proud to be a part of.God Bless you.

  19. This is more of a technical question than anything, though let me agree with Jane about community–whole-heartedly. I’ve told many people about your blog. When something is right, it rings true. that’s it.

    OK, here’s my technical question: I’ve left I believe two posts and neither were ever posted. Could I be doing something wrong? I said nice things. Or, do you only post some because you have too many followers to post them all?

    • Camille, I post just about all my blog comments. hmmm. Let me look into this and get back to you. Thank you for calling this to my attention. xx

      • Thanks, Jane! i’m just so thrilled to have finally made a connection. Please don’t waste your precious time on me.

        Let me say that your blog tops anything like it I’ve every seen. My background is in educational technology and I have a book coming out soon about using social networking in the classroom to connect students with real people who work in science, technology, engineering, and math (especially woman, as role models for girls). So i’ve seen lots of blogs, Nings, Facebook sites, and so on. I’m too busy to follow it all because I write fiction and narrative non-fiction and am trying to reinvent myself after losing my job (unfairly of course) in my late fifties. So I’ve chosen only one to follow, and that’s yours.

        You set a great example for teachers who might be learning how to blog; for bloggers who need to learn how to blog; and for people who need to learn about generosity and soul. I’ve always felt that way about you, the soul part. From the moment I saw you in Barefoot in the Park (I think that was it…), and KIute, I recognized you as the special person you are. You’ve had a giant life in so many ways, not always as wonderful as people on the outside looking in might think, I’m sure, and you’ve make good use of every minute of it. (Loved your memoir.)

        Too bad you couldn’t have taken over for Oprah, though I know you don’t have the time. This blog is the Oprah show, and more, of the blogousphere.

        Thanks again for your amazing generosity,and for putting your neck on the chopping block, from Hanoi to Hollywood, and for sharing the most interesting glimpses of this life with the rest of us.

  20. I was surprised and pleased that so many comments re Jane’s anti-war efforts were positive. More than positive, grateful and understanding, too. I just posted it on http://www.dd214chronicle.com

    It is the web site for a veterans newspaper I edit, DD 214 Chronicle, a bimonthly tabloid that serves veterans in northeast Ohio.

    If the piece were not so long, I’d publish it in the newspaper, too, but, alas, there is only so much room.

    I’ll mention the piece in the paper and hope veterans go to the website to read it in its entirety.

    If the venom spewed on Jane were properly spewed on Dow Chemical, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, and others, I would feel better about America.

    Jane, if ever your travels bring you through Cleveland, you’re invited for dinner. My wonderful wife makes chicken paprikash and spaetzles. As soon as you walk in and inhale, you’ll say, “Oh, the heck with my diet.”

    John H. Tidyman, editor
    DD 214 Chronicle
    11B40
    1/52nd Infantry, 198th Light Infantry Brigade
    Americal Division
    Vietnan 1968-69
    [email protected]

  21. I just saw the beginning of this post in my email reader and love the spirit of community you described. Not that QVC ever had much of my business, but it is a *certainty* they have lost me as a current and future customer.

    Jane, I wanted to add a “Me too” to Camille’s technical question above. I joined your blog over six months ago and have noticed that my comments also were not published (I have left perhaps five). In one comment I gave the url for my own blog, and thought that perhaps that one was blocked because you–understandably–are not here to promote other blogs. I totally understand and wouldn’t do it again. But perhaps there is a glitch that has deleted some comments.

    I’m off to read your latest post about Hanoi, and will share it on my Facebook page. (I am also adding your blog to my own blog’s blogroll.)

    Full support to you,
    Lydia

    • I am disturbed, Lydia, that you say your comments were not posted. Generally, I post all comments except those that simply perpetuate the same old lies. Enough already. I will look into this.

      • Hi, Jane……this is about the issue with QVC. I am not a blogger, so I hope that I am doing this correctly?! What confuses me is you saying that you were not a Vietnam activist. You most certainly were, and that’s fine, though saying you weren’t is wrong. I am 63 years old, and I remember it well! I think that QVC was wrong in caving to the pressure, but one can always buy
        your book elsewhere! It’s all about the bottom line….both for QVC and for you, capitalism at its best! SERIOUSLY

        • Patti, I don’t believe I ever said I was not an anti Vietnam War activist, because I certainly was. It was in hat context that I went (as 300 other Americans had before me) to North Vietnam.

  22. Where my comments certainly did not perpetuate the same old lies, they sure weren’t worth extra work on your part. It appears that whatever glitch was there for a bit is now repaired, because my comments (Camille’s too) are here now! Thank you and please do not be disturbed. 🙂

  23. Although I wrote what amounts to the first part of an essay, or a long personal letter, or perhaps even some other creature of literature or letters that has no name, mine, too, never reached the visible light of day. I tried to convince myself it was a “moderator” consideration, given the length, but from recent comments above, it appears there is a glitch in your system. A relief.

    “lauroriad9”
    (aka: djs)

  24. Anyone who takes the time to study the Vietnam War knows it was fought by young men between 18-21 yo. We put a premium on American Women back home and especially beautiful young women like Jane Fonda. It was never so much about the gun site, but being stabbed by a beautiful American Actress with iconish family roots at home. Your name became the bashing board for many ills and more so today than the 70’s? In 40 years we all have things we wished didn’t happen, but we move on hopefully.

    Semper Fi

  25. It would seem that many of us love Jane so much, appreciate the time she spends to pursue this good work along with must be gureling work in the entertainment business, we don’t want her ‘wasting’ any more precious time on blog trouble-shooting. Jane, I hope you know how much we appreciate what you are doing here. I, too, am a busy writer, and as I said have time to follow one blog. I choose yours.

    If we find our posts are getting lost in the ditch again, we’ll let you know.

    Thank you. And thanks Lydia, and David Syracuse, too. What a nice community we have forming here. By the way, I grew up on one of the Finger Lakes near Syracuse.

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