Interestingly, and I am not sure if I agree with this thesis or not, but the article linked in Vigil's original post also says:

..."It [the Vietnam War] also offers an uncannily well-timed reflection of our current societal fractures — a kind of origin story for the culture wars that still have us asking: Which side are you on?

'The seeds of disunion we experience today, the polarization, the lack of civil discourse all had their seeds in Vietnam,” Mr. Burns said. “I can’t imagine a better way to help pull out some of the fuel rods that create this radioactive atmosphere than to talk about Vietnam in a calm way.'"...

Still, I had a modern Japanese history prof in grad school, some 35-40 years ago, who was probably quoting someone else, who said, "History is a seamless web." Hard to argue with that...