Many thanks to Tom for his invaluable insights!
Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?Big Hollywood's
No matter how many times you read this passage the context is clear. By “different” Hanks is clearly referring to race, culture and religion, not ideology.Please read the rest.Really, we wanted to annihilate the Japanese because they were different, because we saw them as “yellow, slant-eyed dogs that believed in different gods?” I thought it was due to the fact that “we viewed them” as barbaric imperialists who had attacked us first and wanted to enslave the world.
But there’s no reason to speculate about America’s motivations during WWII because history has proven Hanks wrong. We had every opportunity to annihilate these “different” people. Instead we chose, at great expense, to rebuild Japan and return the sovereignty of that nation over to the “yellow, slant-eyed dogs who believed in different gods.” Or, as most people prefer to call them: our newly liberated allies.
And to answer Hanks’s question: No — annihilating people who are different sounds NOTHING like what’s going on today.
h/t: Hot Air
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10 comments:
Hank is simplifying the issue with what the troops on the ground were being taught, and yes the troopers were told about the worst in Japanese. Cartoon pamphlets were created showing the Japanese as almost chimp-like, rat-like etc. The reason the government did this was to de-sensitize the troops so they would kill the Japs without hesitation. Now the Japanese were easy targets of this caricature with their horrible acts both in Pearl, Wake, China, and Indochina. They were the ones who believed they were different and a superior race. This allowed them to treat other humans as less than human.
Tom is a lefty entertainment millionaire who thinks that his work in World War II movies and TV qualifies him as an expert on same. He gets nuttier with each passing year.
American Power tracked-back with, "HBO's 'The Pacific'".
The Hanks quote wasn't all that surprising... a simplistic analysis tailored to be analogous to a current political outlook. What was the floor stopper was the cogent, measured, well reasoned response of Nick Nolte(?!). My heavens, did that guy ever get out of rehab? I couldn't believe he could author such a well thought response, not to mention that it is directed to the highly respected and influential Tom Hanks. I mean, isn't the guy still hoping to work again someday? I absolutely had to read the rest.
Come to find out, it was not out of control actor Nick Nolte that authored the piece, but Big Hollywood editor in chief John Nolte.
What, that was funny? Okay, pundits - you got me on that one!
Oh, good grief. Is my face red. Correcting it now. Thanks.
I so wish it had been Nick Nolte.
Good stuff all the same.
Hanks is off the rails. We attacked the Japanese because they are "yellow"? WTF? I couldn't possibly have anything to do with their bombing Pearl Harbor in an unprovoked military strike, now could it?
Following Hanks' "logic" shouldn't we still be at war with Japan? And all of Asia? What a boob.
Not another dollar of my hard-earned cash goes to this bozo. Ever. (I'm just glad that I already spent the cash on When Harry Met Sally and Forrest Gump. Heh.).
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Well, yes of course, but his comments are not primarily directed to disparage our efforts against the Japanese. The statement is off the rails for both time periods, but his actual point is for the here and now, and he is attempting to chide us, dismissing our nations efforts to protect itself in its efforts abroad and here stateside against what Hanks is thinking of as an ill considered distrust and hatred of the unknown.
The operative sentence in the quote is:
"Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?"
No, Tom, it doesn't. In fact, it doesn't sound anything like yesterday either. It is one thing to look back at the war in the Pacific with the certain knowledge that we won the war handily, and at great cost to the Japanese, and another thing entirely to have actually lived through those events with the uncertainty of the future, the deep ache in the gut with the news that are Pacific fleet was utterly destroyed as it lay at anchor in Pearl Harbor, our young men burned and drown to death before many could even get topside and dressed, the staggering blow of the first six months of the war when the news was of defeat after defeat to an enemy that we had hardly taken seriously prior to the outset of hostilites. Wake Island..the Philipines...the surrender in the Bataan Peninsula..the Bataan death march... the harsh reality of the news of loved ones lost in far off places fighting against a brutal, fanatical enemy that would rape and kill the local women, behead your captured military personnel and send their soldiers off on suicide missions for a cause that was totally empty and devoid of any good.
Well, okay Tom, there are some similarities. The question is will we respond to todays threat with the clarity of purpose, political unity and willingness to sacrifice that will be necessary to win the struggle ahead. Based on the way you are thinking about what is at stake here, the answer would be No. Good news is, there are lots of us who have been paying attention, and we have not given up.
Thank you sir, but you do not speak for me. I rather think Nick Nolte would provide more insightful political commentary.
If the the Canadians became imeperialistic, suddenly and deliberately attacked us, how would we respond. Well according to Hanks, we would not respond, because they are so like us.
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