DC Tom Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Yes, I do. But seriously....what the Japanese did during WWII goes VASTLY unnoticed. Because for the most part it wasn't as systemized or bureaucratized like mass bombing raids or the Holocaust. Japanese atrocities for the most part tend to officials turning a blind eye to a hell of a lot of small individual incidents (not universally, of course - Nanking springs most immediately to mind). Even the Bataan death march was less state-sanctioned atrocities than they were a large number state-tolerated or -ignored individual actions. And yes, that is in very large part to Japanese racialism and the brutality instilled in the Japanese military culture at the time. That just makes it easier to ignore compared to Allied wartime actions...i.e. "Well, they didn't know any better. WE should have, though..." The bottom line, though, is simply that war is a miserable experience. This sh-- has always and will always happen when wars are fought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RkFast Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Because for the most part it wasn't as systemized or bureaucratized like mass bombing raids or the Holocaust. Japanese atrocities for the most part tend to officials turning a blind eye to a hell of a lot of small individual incidents (not universally, of course - Nanking springs most immediately to mind). Even the Bataan death march was less state-sanctioned atrocities than they were a large number state-tolerated or -ignored individual actions. And yes, that is in very large part to Japanese racialism and the brutality instilled in the Japanese military culture at the time. That just makes it easier to ignore compared to Allied wartime actions...i.e. "Well, they didn't know any better. WE should have, though..." The bottom line, though, is simply that war is a miserable experience. This sh-- has always and will always happen when wars are fought. Ok, but it seems this sort of stuff, even in much less brutal examples does NOW fall under the 'responsibility' of the State and the State gets a lot of heat for these things, no matter how small. For example, Abu Gharib. Of course, Abu Gharib was carried out by soldiers smack dab in the middle of the "front" and not marooned and even forgotton on some far off island. But it seems like every soldier these days who even kicks a dog is front page news. Maybe its due to the changing times. I think if YouTube exsisted in WWII, people would be pretty shocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Ok, but it seems this sort of stuff, even in much less brutal examples does NOW fall under the 'responsibility' of the State and the State gets a lot of heat for these things, no matter how small. For example, Abu Gharib. Of course, Abu Gharib was carried out by soldiers smack dab in the middle of the "front" and not marooned and even forgotton on some far off island. But it seems like every soldier these days who even kicks a dog is front page news. Maybe its due to the changing times. I think if YouTube exsisted in WWII, people would be pretty shocked. They would be horrified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Yes, I do. But seriously....what the Japanese did during WWII goes VASTLY unnoticed. By who? In China, Korea and the rest of E. Asia remembering Japanese atrocities are national pastimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Ok, but it seems this sort of stuff, even in much less brutal examples does NOW fall under the 'responsibility' of the State and the State gets a lot of heat for these things, no matter how small. For example, Abu Gharib. Of course, Abu Gharib was carried out by soldiers smack dab in the middle of the "front" and not marooned and even forgotton on some far off island. But it seems like every soldier these days who even kicks a dog is front page news. Maybe its due to the changing times. I think if YouTube exsisted in WWII, people would be pretty shocked. Being shocked is a luxury we can afford when we are unthreatened and our wars are more like weekend outings. I don't think it would have made a bit of difference in a real war when your nation is at stake. Do you really think the British public would have cared one bit when their backs were against the wall in 1941 if they had heard about some of the more unsavory things their government was doing? Or the Russians in 1942? Or the Germans in 1943? Or the Japanese in 1944? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemur King Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 What's the market saturation point for mall cop feature films? You'd think it'd be something less than 2 movies...about 2 less, by my guess. 2 killer-asteroid movies in one summer. 2 super-volcano movies in one summer. 2 mall cop movies in one summer. The last one is truly apocalyptic. A 200 million man army will be coming from the East soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Ok, but it seems this sort of stuff, even in much less brutal examples does NOW fall under the 'responsibility' of the State and the State gets a lot of heat for these things, no matter how small. For example, Abu Gharib. Of course, Abu Gharib was carried out by soldiers smack dab in the middle of the "front" and not marooned and even forgotton on some far off island. But it seems like every soldier these days who even kicks a dog is front page news. Maybe its due to the changing times. I think if YouTube exsisted in WWII, people would be pretty shocked. It's a "bandwidth" issue, of which YouTube is only a part (a small one, at that). In WWII, you had fewer reporters whose stories were distributed by newspaper, radio, film reel, and weekly/monthly news magazine (e.g. Life). There just wasn't enough bandwidth to report every single little item - given a choice between a story on German counterattacks against the Anzio bridgehead and a story about the munitions ship filled with chemical weapons sunk in a German air raid at Bari, which one do you think a film editor is going to pick to fill ninety seconds of his newsreel? Conversely, today there's SO much bandwitdh for news that news organizations have a hard time filling it - yesterday at lunch, I watched CNN interview eight different people on the impact of Obama's Cairo speech, none of whom said anything different from the others. Not only does every little thing get reported (CNN was a change of pace from the daily "missing white woman/car chase/construction accident" FoxSnooze lunchtime trifecta), but the news organizations have to hire bloviating airheads to fill the gaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Being shocked is a luxury we can afford when we are unthreatened and our wars are more like weekend outings. I don't think it would have made a bit of difference in a real war when your nation is at stake. Do you really think the British public would have cared one bit when their backs were against the wall in 1941 if they had heard about some of the more unsavory things their government was doing? Or the Russians in 1942? Or the Germans in 1943? Or the Japanese in 1944? The Russians didn't really give a sh-- in '45. Of course, after what the Germans did to them, everyone wanted revenge anyway... And the Japanese public probably supported their soldiers' actions, but Japanese attitudes were pretty much indecipherable to the West anyway. Note that while the Germans still feel guilt and apologize for the Holocaust, the Japanese still won't admit that testing bioweapons in Manchuria was a crime... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RkFast Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 By who? In China, Korea and the rest of E. Asia remembering Japanese atrocities are national pastimes. Oh yes. I work with an older Chinese woman and weve had long conversations about her disdain for the Japanese. Good stuff here. I think Ill need to dream up some nonsensical right wing hysteria to get this place back on track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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