- Allow me to expand on my last post regarding Allied propaganda. As I watched more of Why We Fight, it occurred to me that the films were not intended to demonize the enemy, but moreso to convince the American people that these are people worth fighting. Convincing an isolationist public to fight a war in a foreign country when America hasn't been attacked was a hard sell. Pearl Harbor helped jump start the country. Thus, the message wasn't merely "These are awful people," but rather "These are awful people that we should be fighting."
- Finished the Why We Fight series. None of them were quite as unintentionally humorous as The Battle for Russia or The Battle of China. Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike, and Divide and Conquer were rather dry documentary-like pieces covering the Nazi annexation of Austria and the Sudentenland, and through the conquest of Poland, the Low Countries and France. And when I say "dry," I mean DRY. I actually had trouble staying awake through parts of Divide and Conquer, as they had a segment on German tactics in the Low Countries. Using visual aids, it actually would've been quite entertaining, except the Army officer giving the lecture was absolutely devoid of charisma. And yes, it was a lecture, the kind of lecture you might fall asleep in at school. The next film, The Battle of Britain, spiced it up a bit by going more in depth about the British, with segments were Brits interact with each other with obviously scripted dialogue. Now that I think about it, they probably made it the way they did to justify the round the clock bombing of Germany at the time. Keep in mind, as bad the Luftwaffe bloodied England during the Blitz, the RAF and the USAAF gave it back in spades. Yes, it's awful that the Luftwaffe used medium bombers to bomb London at night, as was the firebombing of Coventry. But it's hard to condemn that and then send in thousands of RAF heavy bombers at night to bomb Berlin. The firebombings of Hamburg and Dresden by the RAF were infamous, and the Germans were absolutely right in accusing RAF Air Marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris of war crimes. Today, there is still controversy in the British decision to indiscriminatingly bomb German population centers at night. At least the USAAF went by day and actually tried aiming for strategic targets.
- The last film in the Why We Fight series was War Comes to America, which basically rehashes American history and how we can achieve greatness if we unite as a people. This film made good sense... or at least it would have if it had come out earlier, like in 1942. In reality, this film came out in 1945, well after America had committed to the war, and well after it was clear that we were going to win. So instead of propaganda egging us on to fight the enemy, this felt more like a pat on the back for a job well done. It just doesn't seem to fit in the timeline. The second film on the disc was The Negro Soldier, which wasn't official part of the series. This film seemed to be aimed at blacks at home. Yes, I'll admit, I almost wrote "Negroes." This film was a bit funny in that while it emphasized that Neg- I mean blacks have always taken part in this country's wars since Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre, it completely skipped over slavery. It didn't even mention the Civil War by name. It just said "and then came 1861" and moved right along. Not even a mention of the name, whether it be the Civil War, War Between the States, or the War of Northern Aggression (funny how it's a war of Northern aggression when it was the South that fired the first shots, against Fort Sumter.) The film did, however, notably show life in boot camp during the war. Also glossed over were issues like segregation. Like blacks folks couldn't put two and two together and think "so blacks have been fighting for this country for almost two hundred years, and we still have to sit at the back of the bus? What the hell?!" To recap, no mention of slavery, no mention of the bloodiest war in American history by name, and no mention of the injustices that blacks were suffering through even as the film was made. Yeah, what can I say, it was a different time.
- I'm not too worried about the GOP losing Congress. Like Thomas Paine said, "the government that governs best, governs least."
- Speaking of the election, I think I should mention that since I started voting nine years ago, not once have I been asked to present any ID when I show up. No photo ID, no voter registration card, they just ask my name, look up my name in the book, and assume that I can't duplicate a copy of my signature which is right in the book. And since the polling sites are manned by old folks, you might actually be able to get away with coming more than once. It's absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider that the GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA was turned way from the polls today when he forgot his voter registration card. If there's one thing about NJ politics that has to change, other than the rampant corruption, is the horrifically lax voting procedures which help prolong the corruption.
- Finished the Why We Fight series. None of them were quite as unintentionally humorous as The Battle for Russia or The Battle of China. Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike, and Divide and Conquer were rather dry documentary-like pieces covering the Nazi annexation of Austria and the Sudentenland, and through the conquest of Poland, the Low Countries and France. And when I say "dry," I mean DRY. I actually had trouble staying awake through parts of Divide and Conquer, as they had a segment on German tactics in the Low Countries. Using visual aids, it actually would've been quite entertaining, except the Army officer giving the lecture was absolutely devoid of charisma. And yes, it was a lecture, the kind of lecture you might fall asleep in at school. The next film, The Battle of Britain, spiced it up a bit by going more in depth about the British, with segments were Brits interact with each other with obviously scripted dialogue. Now that I think about it, they probably made it the way they did to justify the round the clock bombing of Germany at the time. Keep in mind, as bad the Luftwaffe bloodied England during the Blitz, the RAF and the USAAF gave it back in spades. Yes, it's awful that the Luftwaffe used medium bombers to bomb London at night, as was the firebombing of Coventry. But it's hard to condemn that and then send in thousands of RAF heavy bombers at night to bomb Berlin. The firebombings of Hamburg and Dresden by the RAF were infamous, and the Germans were absolutely right in accusing RAF Air Marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris of war crimes. Today, there is still controversy in the British decision to indiscriminatingly bomb German population centers at night. At least the USAAF went by day and actually tried aiming for strategic targets.
- The last film in the Why We Fight series was War Comes to America, which basically rehashes American history and how we can achieve greatness if we unite as a people. This film made good sense... or at least it would have if it had come out earlier, like in 1942. In reality, this film came out in 1945, well after America had committed to the war, and well after it was clear that we were going to win. So instead of propaganda egging us on to fight the enemy, this felt more like a pat on the back for a job well done. It just doesn't seem to fit in the timeline. The second film on the disc was The Negro Soldier, which wasn't official part of the series. This film seemed to be aimed at blacks at home. Yes, I'll admit, I almost wrote "Negroes." This film was a bit funny in that while it emphasized that Neg- I mean blacks have always taken part in this country's wars since Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre, it completely skipped over slavery. It didn't even mention the Civil War by name. It just said "and then came 1861" and moved right along. Not even a mention of the name, whether it be the Civil War, War Between the States, or the War of Northern Aggression (funny how it's a war of Northern aggression when it was the South that fired the first shots, against Fort Sumter.) The film did, however, notably show life in boot camp during the war. Also glossed over were issues like segregation. Like blacks folks couldn't put two and two together and think "so blacks have been fighting for this country for almost two hundred years, and we still have to sit at the back of the bus? What the hell?!" To recap, no mention of slavery, no mention of the bloodiest war in American history by name, and no mention of the injustices that blacks were suffering through even as the film was made. Yeah, what can I say, it was a different time.
- I'm not too worried about the GOP losing Congress. Like Thomas Paine said, "the government that governs best, governs least."
- Speaking of the election, I think I should mention that since I started voting nine years ago, not once have I been asked to present any ID when I show up. No photo ID, no voter registration card, they just ask my name, look up my name in the book, and assume that I can't duplicate a copy of my signature which is right in the book. And since the polling sites are manned by old folks, you might actually be able to get away with coming more than once. It's absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider that the GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA was turned way from the polls today when he forgot his voter registration card. If there's one thing about NJ politics that has to change, other than the rampant corruption, is the horrifically lax voting procedures which help prolong the corruption.
posted by J. Yeh | 02:12
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