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| Japanese Propaganda and American Mass Media |
| 2007-06-29 |
| U.S. troops have been mystified at how differently the war they fight in Iraq is portrayed by the U.S. media back home. Most just shrug it off as "politics," and yet another reason to not trust what the mass media presents as reliable reporting. But recently, the troops have been passing around an interesting discovery. Namely, that the Japanese psychological warfare effort during World War II included radio broadcasts that could be picked up by American troops. Popular music was played, but the commentary (by one of several English speaking Japanese women) always hammered away on the same points; 1 Your President (Franklin D Roosevelt) is lying to you. 2 This war is illegal. 3 You cannot win the war. The troops are perplexed and somewhat amused that their own media is now sending out this message. Fighting the enemy in Iraq is simple, compared to figuring out what news editors are thinking back home. A few times, the mass media has been bold, or foolish, enough to confront the troops about this divergence of perceptions. The result is usually a surreal exchange, with the troops giving the journalist a "what planet are YOU from" look. Naturally, this sort of thing doesn't get much exposure. When pressed, a journalist or editor will dismiss the opinions of the troops (of all ranks), because they are "too close" to see "the big picture." For the same reason, reporters who send back material agreeing with the troops, find their stuff twisted into an acceptable shape, or not used at all. Historians will have a good time with all this. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #5 Glenmore - for a while I've been thinking of the comment made by one US Navy Admiral - "It's my job to make sure that when this is over japanese (substitute arabic today) will only be spoken in Hell..." Where's that Admiral's 21st century counterpart? |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2007-06-29 21:15 |
| #4 62 years later and we still haven't totally withdrawn from Japan. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-06-29 21:06 |
| #3 It would be interesting to research whether any Congressmen called for a pull out of Iwo Jima. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2007-06-29 20:58 |
| #2 "Historians will have a good time with all this." Remember, the winners write the history books. If we insist on quitting, those books will be in Arabic. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-06-29 13:39 |
| #1 I just had an idea. Somebody with a sense of humor could do a faux propaganda radio broadcast in the Tokyo Rose manner, telling the soldiers to desert, that the war is lost, that al-Qaeda will greet them as comrades, that the insurgents have already sunk US aircraft carriers and soon will be overrunning Europe, etc. Then follow it up with a special message in pidgin English to "Arry-Hay Eid-ray, Ancy-nay Elosi-Pay, and Illary-Hay Linton-Cay", advising them that the insurgents have accepted their unconditional surrender of US forces, and to proceed with their plans for the conquest of the United States by the armies of Islam. Then "sign off" by saying "And now back to Wolf Blitzer in CNN Atlanta". |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-06-29 13:30 |