War "Slap the Dirty Little Jap"

[Pachipro]

DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY RACIST WORDS AND PHRASES.

I apologize in advance if this offends some, but this is American history, and the propaganda of the times should not be lost to history or Political Correctness lest we forget and it is repeated.

Mad Pierrot's recent thread in the Humour Section, where the cover of a comic book shows a printout that shows "Superman says You can slap a Jap", prompted me to post this little propaganda song from the early 1940's called "Were Gonna Have to Slap The Dirty Little Jap (And Uncle Sam's The Guy Who Can Do It.) It must've been done sometime in the early 40's. Media Player tells me it was done by Carson Robinson with Orchestra. (I think you can save it if you right click and click "save target as")

Listen to the words carefully and you can hear the racism and propaganda of the times in trying to whip up the frenzy of the American people in order to garner their support of the war, much like the comic book cover in MP's thread.

I wonder how much influence songs like this, and comic book covers and such had on the forced interrment of all US citizens of Japanese descent with the country's full support? It truly was a sad chapter in US history.

Songs like these are not unlike quite a few songs made after 9/11 where racial epithets where bandied about about Muslims, Iraq, and the Taliban.

Are songs like these helpful or harmful in the long run?

 

[Frank D. White]

AN EVIL BROUGHT ABOUT BY WAR(or impending war) .

In time of war, usually people must sacrifice something, their life, money, or donated time, etc. . Hate can be a powerful reason for doing something you normally wouldn't do. For each person killed by an enemy, there is a buddy,close friend, or family member left behind who will want to hold someone responsible and most likely hate them. I remember growing up in the 50's and hearing so much talk of hate for the "EVIL" Japs. Looking back, I recall very little talk of hate for the Germans, except by Jewish people. Maybe it was because they were more "like" us then Asian people?

Frank

:clueless:

 

[Duo]

While doing a research paper on the Jim crow laws in the US i came upon something very interesting. Because of segregration laws, black nurses could not tend to US white soldiers, even though they were in dire need sometimes, and were instead used sometimes for GERMAN POW's. not that's very related but I thought that was insane

 

[enix_fan]

they (us military) did have japs put up in camps too just like the jews during WW II

 

[lexico]

While doing a research paper on the Jim crow laws in the US i came upon something very interesting. Because of segregration laws, black nurses could not tend to US white soldiers, even though they were in dire need sometimes, and were instead used sometimes for GERMAN POW's. not that's very related but I thought that was insane

Interesting indeed ! Racial discrimination on the one hand, political discrimination on the other.Two kinds of discrimination allowed the system to function some how, both as an easy fix, to the benefit of, and as an insult to, the other racist German POW's. But is my qualification of the German POW's as racist doing them injustice ? :?

 

[Frank D. White]

I Think......

they (us military) did have japs put up in camps too just like the jews during WW II

they left out the ovens for people and the gas chambers?

Frank

:souka:

 

[mad pierrot]

This is going to be an interesting thread.

I'll comment more when I'm back from work.

Btw, I hope no one got the wrong idea when I posted the "Superman is a Jerk" thread in the humour section along with the war time cover. I suppose I should've made two seperate threads, eh? One about those crazy covers and one about propaganda? Anyways, good topic, Lexico.


:sorry:

 

[TwistedMac]

There's an interesting question here too..

Is racism ok just because there's a war on?
I'd say yes. If the Japanesewere trying to shoot me in the head, I somehow don't think being politically incorrect and downright nasty to them is all that bad.

It's not like they're gonna go home and cry over me screaming "DIRTY JAPS!" over their machinegun fire.

And there is nothing that unites people as much as a common enemy and common hatred. Put two people that hate eachother in a room with a third person they hate more and those two will give you some great teamwork and be best friends until he's gone.

If you're trying to win a war, getting your men to work together is important.. and it's easy to do by creating racism and making them bigots.

The problem is telling them to stop that after the war after having fed them this brainwashing for all those years. It just can't be done in a snap.

 

[lexico]

they (us military) did have japs put up in camps too just like the jews during WW II

I don't know much about WWII in Europe, but didn't the Germans also treat the non-Jewish POW's fairly, not much different from say how a German POW would be treated in a British prison camp ?
Wasn't the problem with German treatment lie in mistreating the non-Caucasians, Jews minority peoples, and the disabled with extreme discrimination ? :?

 

[TwistedMac]

their treating one race ok forgives nothing.

It should not even be considered extenuating.
How they treated the English is common sense and chivalry. It shouldn't even be noted. It would be like a little kid saying "but I didn't hit her at all yesterday" as an excuse for always beating on his younger sister.

How they treated the jews and the rest should be noted.

 

[Sensuikan San]

While doing a research paper on the Jim crow laws in the US i came upon something very interesting. Because of segregration laws, black nurses could not tend to US white soldiers, even though they were in dire need sometimes, and were instead used sometimes for GERMAN POW's. not that's very related but I thought that was insane

Yes - sadly, that is a true statement.

I have read several articles and watched several documentaries on the subject of segregation in US forces during WWII, and it's true - African-Americans were just a rung or two lower on the ladder than German POW's!

If you're an African-American - just ask your Grandpa.

I read of a USO concert that was held at a US army base which shared training space with a POW facility. Black American troops were allowed seats at the rear of the hall. German POW's were allowed to view the proceedings from the front!

In truth, very few countries are without racism, overt or covert. In time of war of course, this will almost always show itself - possibly an outlet of fear and frustration.

Yes, the US and Canada had internment camps for (many of them American and Canadian born...) Japanese families - and conditions weren't that nice. But Frank is quite right ... they did leave out the ovens and such !

What I find obnoxious in the Japanese-American and Japanese-Canadian experience is the greedy, opportunistic way in which property was seized - or paid for at 10 cents on the dollar - exactly the same as the Jewish experience in Europe!

I had a Japanese friend in Toronto, born and brought up in Vancouver who was raised partly in one of those camps. (Tak - who became an architect, didn't even speak Japanese !)

His parents lost a fishing boat, a car, a truck, a small store and an apartment.

They received ..... after the war ..... $500 (Canadian) !

They returned to Japan ........

Britain too was not guiltless in this regard.

After 1939, many refugees of German, Austrian, and Italian descent (many of them Jewish) who had fled continental Europe, were interned along with Pro-Fascist enemy aliens from the same countries. Some of them had a hell of a tough time ! Some were even murdered in the camps.


(Will you folks of African descent forgive me and allow me this one-time usage of the "n" word...in this context....?) And since every country has its 'niggers' you could be well advised to see a video I have somewhere of a British propaganda movie made in 1940 regarding Irish neutrality.

It's quite disgusting ! It portrays the people of Eire as being cowardly, backward, stupid, ineffectual sub-humans who have totally "let the side down" in a moment of crisis. It is filmed in harsh contrast grainy black and white, with carefully selected scenes - almost identical to the Anti-Semitic movies being made in Germany at the same time !

....and at a time when ... volunteer Irish pilots were flying Spitfires in the 'Battle of Britain' and when young Irish guys were flaunting their own country's law and joining the British Armed Forces !

(I may be corrected, but it is my information that... By 1944, the "British" Royal Ulster Regiment boasted no less than 60% of its strength as being volunteers from The Republic of Eire.)

I'm afraid that racism exists everywhere, and in times of war - it will erupt like lava .... we just have to accept that as a fact ... like it or not.

Sadly,

?W????

 

[bossel]

I don't know much about WWII in Europe, but didn't the Germans also treat the non-Jewish POW's fairly, not much different from say how a German POW would be treated in a British prison camp ?
Wasn't the problem with German treatment lie in mistreating the non-Caucasians, Jews minority peoples, and the disabled with extreme discrimination ? :?

There was great variation in treatment of POWs depending on rank, race, ethnicity, religion & ideology. Communists & Jews got the worst treatment, I think.

 

[Sensuikan San]

Bossel is quite correct.

Ask any ex USAAF vet who was a POW ...... and Jewish !

Or any of the guys who were in Stalag Luft III!

?W????

 

[No-name]

Pachipro- it's such a cheerful little song.

Racism is ugly, no doubt, no excuses. It served our country in the short term, but it was nasty. My mother graduated from High School in a camp in Arizona. She became a WAVE nurse, made chief. My uncles served in the signal corps and as interpreters. Seems a bit alien to me that they would serve a country that hated them.

 

[lexico]

Communists & Jews got the worst treatment, I think.

It was said somewhere that the Russian royalist refugees in Germany had spread slanders that "the Jews in Russia were all communists", and that there was a general fear of Jewish nationalism from the German point of view. How much truth is there in this statement: was there a widespread prejudice that "All Jews are communists" ? Was that the major cause of the persecution of the Jews ?

 

[Pachipro]

Pachipro- it's such a cheerful little song.

That it is sabro and quite a catchy tune. The only problem (maybe it was good back then and that was its purpose) is that if you listen to it a few times in a row, the damn thing stays in your head all day! :bikkuri:

 

[No-name]

I think I'll slap myself.

 

[lexico]

Are songs like these helpful or harmful in the long run?

Back to the original question, I think the answer would be obvious.
Immediately useful for tactics and short term strategy ? Selectively yes, but still greatly damaging. For example if I asked how much such racist propaganda must have contributed to pave the way for the easy decisions

1) Japanese-American civilian camps
2) conventional bombing of populated Japanese cities
3) A-bombings
4) aritrary, summary, nepotist mistrials of IMTFE
5) shift of US-Japan policy in the Cold War era
6) inclusion of Japan in the Axis of Good

In all these major decisions, the long-term well-being of the Japanese people were invariably subordinated under the interests of the US, and the dehumanising propaganda of the original post served the purpose quite effectively. But does Japan have much say given the givens ? It's not all in the past, and the chaos created by it is still lingering, lurking in the uncertain future when Japan may have to pick up the tab. All very self-serving for the US.

 

[Maciamo]

I wonder how much influence songs like this, and comic book covers and such had on the forced interrment of all US citizens of Japanese descent with the country's full support? It truly was a sad chapter in US history.

Nowadays, the US has Hollywood to raise fears of terrorism (and alien attacks, just to be sure the average American is parano enough when the time comes for the US government to use these fears to justify the invasion of another country). It's quite funny to see that from outside. Many people around the world watch Hollywood movies, but I guess everyone feels like me that it's a form of self-centered paranoia as the bad ones (be it aliens or terrorists wanting to explode a nuke in LA) always attack the US and nobody else. The message is clear, if you fear an alien attack on Independence Day (soon !), leave the US, as aliens will never attack any other place in the world. This was just to explains how ridiculous these paranoia-inducing movies could be (and yet they profited Bush after 9/11). Another funny thing is that in American English, "alien" means "foreigner".

 

[Glenn]

The message is clear, if you fear an alien attack on Independence Day (soon !), leave the US, as aliens will never attack any other place in the world.

Ah, but the aliens in "Independence Day" were all over the world. They didn't just attack the US. It just so happens that the focus was on the US. But then again, most movies take place and focus only on the country they are made in, are they not?

On a side note, one thing about "Independence Day" that I came away with was that it's really nice living in a small town. The aliens certainly weren't too worried about Donaldsonville, Plaquemine, or White Castle when they attacked the Earth.