The Most Romantic Story In Congress
This article describes the life of Sam Johnson, who was held captive as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for seven years. While attending SMU, he married his high school sweetheart. Upon graduation, he was deployed. While flying in Vietnam, his plane was shot down, and he was captured. For seven years, he was tortured; his wife, Shirley, waited and prayed for his return. She never gave up on him and made a bracelet campaign to raise awareness of POWs in Vietnam. When Sam finally returned, Shirley was overjoyed. Sam was given several awards, and he and Shirley now have 3 children and 10 grandchildren. Despite much praise for being an “American hero,” Sam says that his wife is the true hero for her courage and strength.
The comments on this article are mostly posted by Facebook users who link to BuzzFeed (no pseudonyms here). Each of the comments are very supportive; some of them comment on the article itself, while others thank Sam and Shirley Johnson for their sacrifices. One comment, posted by John Trey Alan Starcevich III, states, “Role models for my generation to live by. Not Kim K, Kanye, and LeBron.” To me, it seems that despite the fact that most comments offer sweet support, the comment authors’ main purpose is to draw attention to their personal thoughts and opinions. Especially considering the fact that people have the ability to “like” comments, I’m sure that a good amount of people comment for support of the article while subtly wanting to earn support themselves. Regardless, I enjoyed the fact that most, if not all of the comments on this story were positive and heartfelt.
[image from: http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/2/14/15/enhanced-buzz-31984-1360872340-13.jpg]
Metaphorical Sarcasm 
I think that this story is just as much about patriotism as it is about love. This man is considered a hero in most American eyes, and rightfully so. The authors of these comments are probably commenting on his patriotism just as much as his romanticism for coming back to his wife. Most people do this to prove that they themselves are also patriotic and gain praise from that. Would you mind posting the link to the article so that I can see more of the comments?
The title links to the article 🙂
Awesome! Thank you!
I agree that the story is about love and nationalism. Most of the facebook comments (or shares) were uplifting and agreeing with the main idea behind it. However, I found it interesting that on the actual buzzfeed comments (to see them you have to dig through all the votes and hearts at the very bottom) people did not seem as supportive. They were making jokes and talking a bit about his personal life. I guess that when the people you care about can’t see what you say one is more willing to speak freely.
I love that the comments are all positive towards the article. Although there were some subtle jabs at the media for not sharing stories like this, no one talked bad about the people in the article; no one started arguments about war. While sharing the story could simply be for inspirational purposes, commenting seems to have no other use than to provide support or hint at the regression of today’s social standards.
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