RUTH COPELAND & FUNKADELIC -"GIMME SHELTER" (1972) video

This is the story of Viet/Now. The United States government first supports a dictator in a foreign land most Americans know little about. They argue that this country has to be defended to stop an evil threat which will take freedom away like dominoes falling. An American President uses flimsy evidence of a threat to Americans to mislead his public into supporting the war. The media sells the story. A charismatic General heads the campaign with the backing of Congress. The public is full of pride but little knowledge. Young men are drafted into service, mainly from poor and minority areas. They are thrown into alien places to fight for and against a different culture that they can't distinguish. While the poor fight amongst the poor, corporations make record profits by creating military hardware. When atrocities happen, some in the media start to report it. The youth of the world, sympathetic to their soldier peers and angry at the war machine, begin to speak out against the war. This grows to include parents, clergy, unions, teachers, and seniors. The war is sold as protection of democracy, but those who question it are branded traitors. The soldiers are used as a "baby shield" to foster national pride while hiding the motivations of the current administration. A civil war, between generations and idealogies, splits America as well as other nations supplying soldiers for the war. The President responds to these events with more force. Troops are escalated to massive ...