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Considering that the article contains at least one straight out lie: "Firstly, the Russians had entered the Japanese war and were making striking advances through Manchuria, decimating the already weakened Japanese army." (the Soviets had not yet attacked Japan when the Hiroshima bomb was dropped) I'm pretty suspect about anything it claims.
The winners of war are the ones who write the history. And determine what, is remembered, and how it is Portrayed.
Pick up any history book for US history in high school, max, one paragraph, if that about internment camps in the US. Hiroshima, maybe a page or so, with justification as to why it occurred. They gloss over Nagasaki.
I personally resent people who in their smug self-righteousness suggest they speak for me and my worldview and who want to apologize on my behalf based on their own view. It also never fails to amaze me at the utter, stifling ignorance that people can display about any particular historical event when they were not there, were not experiencing any of it and yet make condescending judgments on people who had to deal with a nasty situation.
Perhaps these purveyors of apologies would like to apologize to the Chinese folks who experienced the rape of Nanking, the holocaust survivors, enslaved people, Rwanda genocide, and an endless list of horror stories for which no amount of justice will ever come about. Their view is so narrow and perverted that it is breathtaking. Japan's current Prime Minister believes that no apology was ever needed for the crimes of his country against so many.
The winners of war are the ones who write the history. And determine what, is remembered, and how it is Portrayed.
Pick up any history book for US history in high school, max, one paragraph, if that about internment camps in the US. Hiroshima, maybe a page or so, with justification as to why it occurred. They gloss over Nagasaki.
Just a few words about the Japanese internment camps.
In retrospect, its clear that putting all the Japanese Americans in such places was wrong. I'm a big fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet, if one were to compile a list of mistakes he made as President, I'd put signing the order to put all Japanese Americans in these camps at the top of the list. A country that has guarantees its its Constitution stating that "people shall not be deprived of the equal protection of the law" and that "no person shall be deprived of the due process of the law" has much to answer for it summarily dumps 100,000 of its citizens in what was nothing less than a prison. The United States Supreme Court actually upheld these actions in Korematsu v. United States.
Now, though, the background that all these actions occurred in has to be considered. The background was that an attack without warning had been launched by the Japanese on our base at Pearl Harbor. This attack killed about 2,500 Americans and did serious damage to our armed forces in the Pacific. There are a couple of rare instances, where Japanese submarines shelled cities on the west coast at the outset of the war. The truth is that 99.5% of all Japanese Americans were totally loyal to their country. Yet, 1/2 of one percent was probably not loyal and, given an opportunity, might have spied for Japan or committed acts of sabotage here in the United States. There were other issues too. The feeling against the Japanese people was so hateful that the safety of Japanese Americans at large in the community would have been seriously endangered. Many decisions had to be made by the President in a short period of time after Pearl Harbor. We had been forced into World War II and the President had to make many critical decisions that involved life and death consequences for thousands, perhaps millions of people. Maybe if he could have taken his time, he would not have made this particular decision. However, a decision was made to intern the Japanese Americans and the rest is history.
No Japanese were tortured, starved, or gassed in these camps. Many Japanese Americans whose families were interned in these places, nevertheless, volunteered to serve in the armed forces of the United States. Recently deceased, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is one prominent example of this. Some Japanese were released before the war ended, once it was determined that Japan was virtually certain to lose the war.
Finally, one little known fact is that many of the buildings that housed the Japanese were of fairly high quality. One was transported to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and was still serving as the Annex Building for students over thirty years after the war had ended.
What happened to the Japanese Americans was a tragedy, but much of the war involved tragedy. Some of us lost family members. Others had family members return who were physically or mentally crippled by what had occurred. The United States has since paid reparations and apologized for what happened. That was appropriate. However, the reasons why the internment occurred and its circumstances are far more involved than most people realize.
The winners of war are the ones who write the history. And determine what, is remembered, and how it is Portrayed.
Pick up any history book for US history in high school, max, one paragraph, if that about internment camps in the US. Hiroshima, maybe a page or so, with justification as to why it occurred. They gloss over Nagasaki.
Just a few words about the Japanese internment camps.
In retrospect, its clear that putting all the Japanese Americans in such places was wrong. I'm a big fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet, if one were to compile a list of mistakes he made as President, I'd put signing the order to put all Japanese Americans in these camps at the top of the list. A country that has guarantees its its Constitution stating that "people shall not be deprived of the equal protection of the law" and that "no person shall be deprived of the due process of the law" has much to answer for it summarily dumps 100,000 of its citizens in what was nothing less than a prison. The United States Supreme Court actually upheld these actions in Korematsu v. United States.
Now, though, the background that all these actions occurred in has to be considered. The background was that an attack without warning had been launched by the Japanese on our base at Pearl Harbor. This attack killed about 2,500 Americans and did serious damage to our armed forces in the Pacific. There are a couple of rare instances, where Japanese submarines shelled cities on the west coast at the outset of the war. The truth is that 99.5% of all Japanese Americans were totally loyal to their country. Yet, 1/2 of one percent was probably not loyal and, given an opportunity, might have spied for Japan or committed acts of sabotage here in the United States. There were other issues too. The feeling against the Japanese people was so hateful that the safety of Japanese Americans at large in the community would have been seriously endangered. Many decisions had to be made by the President in a short period of time after Pearl Harbor. We had been forced into World War II and the President had to make many critical decisions that involved life and death consequences for thousands, perhaps millions of people. Maybe if he could have taken his time, he would not have made this particular decision. However, a decision was made to intern the Japanese Americans and the rest is history.
No Japanese were tortured, starved, or gassed in these camps. Many Japanese Americans whose families were interned in these places, nevertheless, volunteered to serve in the armed forces of the United States. Recently deceased, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is one prominent example of this. Some Japanese were released before the war ended, once it was determined that Japan was virtually certain to lose the war.
Finally, one little known fact is that many of the buildings that housed the Japanese were of fairly high quality. One was transported to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and was still serving as the Annex Building for students over thirty years after the war had ended.
What happened to the Japanese Americans was a tragedy, but much of the war involved tragedy. Some of us lost family members. Others had family members return who were physically or mentally crippled by what had occurred. The United States has since paid reparations and apologized for what happened. That was appropriate. However, the reasons why the internment occurred and its circumstances are far more involved than most people realize.
Great post. In WW2 I would certainly have wanted to be in an American internment camp instead of a Japanese one!
You make a lot of nice points but the end truth of the matter is the Japanese were probably picked out at least partially because of their race. In WW2, some German and Italian Americans were put into camps (at least 10,000 German-Americans) but there was never like what happened to the Japanese-Americans.
The Rape of Nanking was a blasphemy. Japanese soldiers throwing Chinese infants in to the air and spearing them on the way back down with their bayonets was a blasphemy. The Bataan Death March was a blasphemy. Each beheading of a defenseless POW's was a blasphemy. To avoid utter devastation, all the Japanese had to do was keep their militarism and aggression in check.
They started it. They were the bad guys. We were the good guys.
The good guys won and the world is better off for it.
Here endeth the lesson.
Yeah, I agree with this guy. It was good we dropped the bombs to force Japan to surrender, or else a conventional invasion would have cost too many lives. Japan was the big criminal and deserved it.
And the OP is an idiot for protesting the ban of all nuclear weapons. America needs it's nuclear weapons as a deterrent. So other nations like China and Russia won't nuke us.
Just a few words about the Japanese internment camps.
In retrospect, its clear that putting all the Japanese Americans in such places was wrong. I'm a big fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet, if one were to compile a list of mistakes he made as President, I'd put signing the order to put all Japanese Americans in these camps at the top of the list. A country that has guarantees its its Constitution stating that "people shall not be deprived of the equal protection of the law" and that "no person shall be deprived of the due process of the law" has much to answer for it summarily dumps 100,000 of its citizens in what was nothing less than a prison. The United States Supreme Court actually upheld these actions in Korematsu v. United States.
Now, though, the background that all these actions occurred in has to be considered. The background was that an attack without warning had been launched by the Japanese on our base at Pearl Harbor. This attack killed about 2,500 Americans and did serious damage to our armed forces in the Pacific. There are a couple of rare instances, where Japanese submarines shelled cities on the west coast at the outset of the war. The truth is that 99.5% of all Japanese Americans were totally loyal to their country. Yet, 1/2 of one percent was probably not loyal and, given an opportunity, might have spied for Japan or committed acts of sabotage here in the United States. There were other issues too. The feeling against the Japanese people was so hateful that the safety of Japanese Americans at large in the community would have been seriously endangered. Many decisions had to be made by the President in a short period of time after Pearl Harbor. We had been forced into World War II and the President had to make many critical decisions that involved life and death consequences for thousands, perhaps millions of people. Maybe if he could have taken his time, he would not have made this particular decision. However, a decision was made to intern the Japanese Americans and the rest is history.
No Japanese were tortured, starved, or gassed in these camps. Many Japanese Americans whose families were interned in these places, nevertheless, volunteered to serve in the armed forces of the United States. Recently deceased, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is one prominent example of this. Some Japanese were released before the war ended, once it was determined that Japan was virtually certain to lose the war.
Finally, one little known fact is that many of the buildings that housed the Japanese were of fairly high quality. One was transported to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and was still serving as the Annex Building for students over thirty years after the war had ended.
What happened to the Japanese Americans was a tragedy, but much of the war involved tragedy. Some of us lost family members. Others had family members return who were physically or mentally crippled by what had occurred. The United States has since paid reparations and apologized for what happened. That was appropriate. However, the reasons why the internment occurred and its circumstances are far more involved than most people realize.
The truly ironic thing about the whole Japanese Internment was that in Hawaii - which had tons of Japanese (and where of course the Japanese attack actually occurred) the Japanese were NOT interned.
If we had had to invade the Japanese homeland, the Japanese casualty and death rate would have been in the millions. Every inch would be contested by every Japanese man, woman and child. Dying for the emperor was a blessing. The atomic bombs saved countless lives. That might be a perverse thing, but nonetheless true. Pseudo-moralists are a pain. Their narrow views while ignoring the grander picture demonstrates their voluntary ignorance.
I'd still appreciate someone addressing this (especially from the OP.)
Still waiting.
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