Posted on 03/06/2010 10:05:05 AM PST by jimbo123
To the young Tom Hanks, history was as dull as an algebra equation. For Hanks — a classic baby boomer, born in 1956 — World War II was just a string of long-ago muzzle flashes in black-and-white. Yet he did have a more direct connection to the global cataclysm. His father had been a U.S. Naval mechanic (second class) in World War II. But Amos Hanks wasn't the type to tell his son tales of bravery and sacrifice. "Growing up, I always knew Dad was somewhere in the Pacific fixing things," Hanks says. "He had nothing nice to say about the Navy. He hated the Navy. He hated everybody in the Navy. He had no glorious stories about it."
-snip-
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?"
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
“I will never understand why these idiots don’t keep their opinions to themselves and just rake in their money.”
It’s about wanting to be ‘more’ than an actor. Back then they enjoyed their careers, made their money, and knew they weren’t expected to run the world and didn’t care. These days however, actors portray ‘power people’ and want to be taken seriously, as serious people.
” the game Japanese soldiers would play with babies in China, the Philippines and elsewhere, by throwing them up in the air and trying to skewer them with the bayonet on their rifle.”
I remember hearing they practiced their swordsmanship on the POWS, but this is new to me.
Tom, you f**king idiot. If you had any decency or desire to present the REAL history of the WAR in the Pacific/Asia-1932/1945 you could make a miniseries or an entire 2 hour movie of what the ‘’Japanese people’’,i.e His Majesty, The Emperor of Japan’s Imperial Army did to ‘’the people’’ of Southeast Asia and to Allied prisoners of war!
“USS Arizona ablaze at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941’’. And with, 1,144 young men who never stopped being nineteen so Tom Hanks could grow up in freedom and become a stupid-ass, America-hating Hollywood douche-bag.
or for that manner the on the Germans by the Russians- I want to thank you for that comment. Not alot of people realize what happened to the germans after the war... Many woman were raped and murdered and many starved.... To many it was “what they get” but they were still humans..
Dougie took over American History magazine for a short time and instantly did a Reagan hit piece, followed by a glowing piece about the Hollywood communists who made a movie in Mexico, followed by a “riveting” article about Kerry in ‘Nam. It’s been years, but I’ve never purchased another issue.
Another macabre bit of WWII trivia.
Koreans were treated as second class citizens by the Japanese & played out their suppressed aggressions on POWs.
Jeez. Each time I hear about how civilized the Japanese are compared to us ‘barbarian’ Americans, I’ll remind them of Bataan. I heard once that sometimes the Japanese scientists would strap a soldier over growing bamboo and watch as it grew through the soldier.
I don’t think Hanks realizes that if such people were ever to take power, Hanks would be first to be ordered to start cranking out propaganda films or get shot and his kids confiscated and sent to a more ‘patriotic’ family. In any social situation, actors and actresses would automatically be at the bottom of the barrel.
It wasn’t really until Midway that they were defeated, either. It’s an interesting perspective, that first 6 months of the war. Midway isn’t talked about enough as the first pivotal turning point, it was before El-Alamein or Stalingrad.
Prior to Midway, the Axis had won every battle.
Just do a search on the terms “Jack Swigert Apollo 13 Houston” and you’ll find references to it.
It was never a big deal to Swigert or Lovell. They were pros and the mission was what was important. Hanks was probably only thinking about hogging credit because he was the star.
However, it is another telling example of the power of popular entertainment media to define people’s perception of reality, and to distort or falsify the historical record and mislead people. Do your own experiment and ask among friends and acquaintances who said that line. Almost without exception they’ll say Lovell and it’s due to the power of that movie.
Reading the words of Japanese soldiers who participated in these acts is sickening but a must for anyone with an interest in WWII. Here is just a sampling: Link
almost...The Battle of Britain while not a turning point like the ones you mention was fought to maybe a stalemate. No one would call it a victory for Germany.
Same with the Coral Sea. Midway was the first significant victory for the Allies.
I agree.
He's swallowed the Blutarskian school of WWII revisionism hook, line and sinker.
Which would make the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy just innocent bystanders, don't ya know...
"We had fun killing Chinese. We caught some innocent Chinese and either buried them alive, or pushed them into a fire, or beat them to death with clubs. When they were half dead we pushed them into ditches and burned them, torturing them to death. Everyone gets his entertainment this way. Its like killing dogs and cats.
-- Asahi Shimbun, Japanese soldier, describing Japanese atrocities during the Rape of Nanking.
I’ve read about it and what frightened me the most is how friendly the Japanese were until they started butchering people. Registering the females and then brutalizing all of them. I remember reading that they handed a starving child a candy bar laced with anthrax. Among so many other horrific things. I really can’t blame the Chinese for hating the Japanese.
I don’t thnk these celebrities understand that they would not be among the ones in power if a genuine fascist took over.
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