Little Saigon Controversy Resolved!

It's over! Hurray! There's a compromise. I won't go into details because posters on this topic at VWK have done a marvelous job. Many thanks to:

• Zach for posting the details in the solving the controversy thread.
• MT for posting a link to the San Jose Mercury News article on the agreement that ended this mess on the Ly Tong hunger striker posting.
• Everyone who participated, whether you read and lurked, or if you jumped into the fray with comments.

We had lots of contentious, but productive debate on the original thread. I'm sure you didn't think you'd get your opinions out on a food blog and I didn't think the blog would evolve in this way. However, I'm glad it has and did. We learned lots about ourselves as individuals and as a community.

Go and cook and share good food with family and friends and mull over this historic chapter in Vietnamese American history. For me at the end of the day it boils down to this: We don't look, cook, and think the same! That's a good thing.

Comments

[vietguy]

Well, what did i said in my previous post. We will prevail. For those of you who showed disrespect to Ly Tong and the Vietnamese community , slap your faces a few times and wake up. Thanks to Zach and Michelle for patiently explained to those stubborn anti-Little Saigon. Those anti-Little Saigon just too naive to think that we fight just for the name, but dont really see the big picture that we want to accomplish here for today and for the future (and perhaphs not just for our voice in SJ). About Madison, i dont know why i had this weird feeling when i first talked with her in the poker game, for some unknown reason, i just feel that this girl is not trustable and seems to have some issues. That was like half a year ago, before these messes happened. Anyway, but that is irrelevant. However, i heard that she just get married a few months ago with this very rich guy from Vietnam, and she even said that she used to go back to Vietnam to lecture about politics. Huh? lecture about politics in Vietnam, that is unreal, but maybe that was just a rumor. If the guy that she married to is the same boyfriend that she went with to the poker game, then yeah he is the exchange student from Vietnam. Maybe, when some people labeled her as working for the communist, they might know something about her that we dont. I am very sure her true identiy will be reveal one day. Anyway, I would be careless about her life.

Andrea Nguyen, I didnt know that you were a trojan; by the way, i think your Viet kitchen website is awsome.

Whoever Vietguy is! Your comments are so stubborn. You don't unite people...Slap here and slap there! Please. You need to look at your comments and don't think only one way! Grow up!

For Ly Tong, please! Can he really survive without food in 30 days? We are not kids to believe in that...please be more realistic. Once was an honorable, but not anymore.

[Zach]

To the previous poster regarding Ly Tong's hunger strike. Though you might not believe it, but you cannot put down someone just because you haven't gathered all the facts. For the first 20 something days, Ly Tong gave up food but he still drank water. For a person with moderate hydration, they can survive without food for a long time. It's been cited that other hunger strikers were able to give up food for even up to 40 days. How long you last depend on your health, metabolism, age, etc. Gandhi at age 74, were able to starve himself for 21 days. Ly Tong is only 63. (http://www.sciam.com/biology/article/id/how-long-can-a-person-sur) Check out that link for more details.

As for water, depending on outside factors as well, but it's been reported that a person can survive without water from 8-14 days. Of course some people survive shorter due to poorer health. Ly Tong only gave up water for about 6-7 days. He himself predicted he could only last a day or two more before things take a toll on him. Ly Tong right now is in the emergency room at Bascom Hospital in San Jose.

So my dear friend, though hard to believe, it's not impossible. You don't have to be a kid to believe it, I'm a grown professional adult and I believe it because I read up on scientific journals.

[Zach]

Oh and the link for how long you can survive without water is: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/219905/how_long_can_a_person_live_without.html