"A wise government rounded up the shifty-eyed Japs..."

UncleBob

UncleBob

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This isn't about what you think it's about...

So, I'm not a huge movie buff. I don't commonly order movies online - but if I see something in the wild that I want, I'm much more likely to pick it up.

That's what happened yesterday - I was out shopping when I bumped into copies of the two Batman serials on DVD. The first one is from 1943... smack dab in the middle of World War 2.

Now, I knew beforehand that there was a bunch of horrible racial stereotypes in this collection - The main villain is a Japanese Scientist, played by a white guy who squints his eyes, has a horrible fake accent and big, bushy, Klingon-like eye brows.

But, I was a little taken back when the announcer, talking about the deserted streets of "Little Tokyo", a neighborhood in Gotham City, said "[...] a wise government rounded up the shifty-eyed Japs."

Just *wow*. To be honest, I'm surprised they released this un-cut. I'm even more surprised I bought it at a Toys R Us (hope some parents didn't buy it for their kids not knowing what's in it...). I'm not advocating for stuff like this to be edited in any way... just thought it was interesting.
 
:roll:

http://www.batman-on-film.com/review_mreinhart_batman43.html

"Batman is an odd but fascinating mixture of Batman comic mythos, World War II propaganda and cheaply crafted cliffhanger clichés."

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rLV-ZuNPwJ4/R-Gi7pJqazI/AAAAAAAABQE/zcwvxC-p_cg/s400/Batman015.jpg

Batman015.jpg


http://somethingisawtoday.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/090908-1957-darktimesfo1.jpg

090908-1957-darktimesfo1.jpg
 
Bob, we all know how you feel about the title of this thread and how it relates to the census.

I just ate a baked potato. Shall I send you the tin foil?
 
[quote name='IRHari']Bob, we all know how you feel about the title of this thread and how it relates to the census.

I just ate a baked potato. Shall I send you the tin foil?[/QUOTE]

As I said, this thread isn't about what you think it's about. Thanks for that, though.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']As I said, this thread isn't about what you think it's about. Thanks for that, though.[/QUOTE]

Well what are we discussing? That it should have been cut?

Or funny to find this in a TRU?

Almost a blog post perhaps?
 
Watch the beginning of Butch's segment in Pulp Fiction. Same shit.

Sorry I assumed what I assumed based on the thread title and every post you've made about the census and some scary gummint bullshit you have going in your head. My bad.
 
[quote name='xycury']Well what are we discussing? That it should have been cut?

Or funny to find this in a TRU?

Almost a blog post perhaps?[/QUOTE]

As I said, I don't think it should have been cut. I'm surprised to have found it at a TRU, yes...

What I'd kinda like to discuss is this: The fact that such racism existed isn't surprising. What shocked me was just how in-your-face it was and how it was just accepted that the government did the right thing.

Looking today, we've got a government that's looking to simply enforce existing laws on the books and everyone is freaked out. Could you imagine now if some high-profile Hollywood movie said something along the lines of "Our wise government rounded up the wetback 'spics"?
 
If you're going to compare gov't trust in the 1940's with gov't trust today, let's keep going.

Most people supported segregation. Brown v Board said segregation was unconstitutional.
Looking today, we've got people looking to simply make policy based on public opinion and everyone is freaking out. Could you imagine now if some high-profile person said 'The majority of Americans are in favor of vagina trees, I think we need to take a serious look at this.'

It's a slippery slope Bob. If that slippery slope was covered with lubricant.
 
Do you know nothing about the U.S. during WW2? Of course it was blatant like that, most people were fine with Japanese Americans being put into internment camps. You think that sentiment in the U.S. towards Muslims is hostile right now? It's nothing compared to the way the Japanese were hated.

As far as comics during the period go, they basically all got involved in the war. Hell, Captain America fought Hitler. It isn't a big secret, History Channel even covered it in a show once.

edit- Wait, did we just get trolled?
 
It's terrible how PC we've become. I bet you could could pull every DC comic that came out in the past month and not find one racial slur. It's absolutely horrifying.
 
fuck me, 1/9th of superdickery.com (where looploop got that picture, actually) is about old comic propaganda.

More from there!

21013acs.jpg

war_report5.jpg

exciting35.jpg

usmarines3.jpg


And, just because fuck YEAH!

1575_4_161.jpg
 
[quote name='The Crotch']
usmarines3.jpg


[/QUOTE]

The nameless man that printed "authentic stories" beneath a picture of a man-faced octopus being blasted with a flamethrower is my new personal hero.
 
Do we really know the state of mind most people were in back then though? It was a world war, none of us have experienced such a horrific thing. I think when millions of Americans are going off to fight a war, and a half a million don't come back theres got to be some fear in the air of the opposition. Im not trying to make excuses for racism, they probably printed comics like this before and after the war, just trying to capture the frame of mind of people back then and why they accepted such blatent racism.
 
I don't see much fear in those pictures. Just contempt.
It's worth noting that(from what's on superdickery.com at least) the Nazis were by and large at least depicted as normal humans, whereas the Japanese are pretty much all degenerate caricatures.
216_4_009.jpg
 
Why the heck is Superman throwing rocks? Seriously? ;)

Anywhoo, I think something a lot of people are overlooking - most of this stuff is aimed at the enemy army. While we can argue the tastelessness of using stereotypes and racial slurs against generic enemy characters (or specific enemy leaders), I'm sure we can all agree that there's a world of difference between that and the idea that every "Jap" is bad and needs to be rounded up by our wise government. Even though I'm not a fan of the Iraqi war, I would understand the need to round up those fighting against us in Iraq. But I would be deeply disturbed if the government went after the Iraqi-American population.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']I'm sure we can all agree that there's a world of difference between that and the idea that every "Jap" is bad and needs to be rounded up by our wise government.[/QUOTE]

Not if you're any good at stereotyping.
 
[quote name='SpazX']If there was blatant racism before and after the war, why do you think the war was a factor in accepting it?[/QUOTE]

I don't know much about comics, but it seems like "rounding up the shifty-eyed japs" was about the war. Were there any like that before the war? I'm sincerely asking.
 
[quote name='Knoell']I don't know much about comics, but it seems like "rounding up the shifty-eyed japs" was about the war. Were there any like that before the war? I'm sincerely asking.[/QUOTE]

Specifically rounding up Japanese people? I think that only happened once. The blatant racism in comics and otherwise was something that came long before that though. The racist caricatures aren't a result of the war or a changed state of mind, they're just appealing to an already racist audience that already accepts those caricatures as appropriate.
 
captainamerica1.jpg


Looking at this reveals one thing, that back then young male sidekicks were made to look like women with short hair.
 
All these other examples are focused on "the enemy" - The German/Japanese military, leaders and spies (fictional and real).

This line was a direct hit toward the entire Japanese race (and applause for our government for rounding them up).

Let's go back to IRHari's earlier comment about how much trust the general population has in the government. Obviously, I don't have much - but where do you think we're at now? Does the general population have a healthy distrust of the Federal Government? Unhealthy distrust? Unhealthy trust?

For a more recent example, the ramming through of the Patriot Act with little vocal opposition. Is this a case of the American Public trusting our government to do what's right or was it a case of the American Public asleep at the wheel?
 
Because Germans are White, Bob. In case you didn't notice, whites have been very adept at making non-whites look like brutes, rapists, and lazy do nothings.

Also, many Americans resisted any sort of action against Germany. Why? Because they were white brethren.

Wait, we're talking about World War II? I keed. I keed.
 
I get what Bob is trying to do, but using this as an example is just wrong. This is not a good example of why people shouldn't trust government. If there had been a huge public outcry against the internment of Japaneses Americans, maybe, but considering we had been attacked, i don't think many people saw anything wrong with it.

"But wait, we were attacked by brown people on 9/11, what if we had rounded them all up in camps too?" Despite feeling like some people probably would have been ok with it, this isn't the America of the 1940s.

We don't round people up and hold them in camps for no reason. Well, at least not on U.S. soil anyway.
 
Actually you're right, i forgot that technically it's considered to be. Either way it's still not the same thing as rounding up massive numbers of Japanese Americans during WW2.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']fuck me, 1/9th of superdickery.com (where looploop got that picture, actually) is about old comic propaganda.

More from there!


usmarines3.jpg



[/QUOTE]

Well, now we know where tentacle porn got its start.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Actually you're right, i forgot that technically it's considered to be. Either way it's still not the same thing as rounding up massive numbers of Japanese Americans during WW2.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I mean, this is a much smaller number of people. And they're brown. It's all good, then.
 
[quote name='depascal22']Guantanamo is technically U.S. soil contrary to what the Bush administration would have you believe.[/QUOTE]

Actually, hilariously enough, the Bush administration argued that Guantanamo Bay was both US soil and not US soil at different times depending on what issue they were trying to pursue.

Andrew Napolitano covered the humorous flip flops in Constitutional Chaos.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']I get what Bob is trying to do, but using this as an example is just wrong. This is not a good example of why people shouldn't trust government. If there had been a huge public outcry against the internment of Japaneses Americans, maybe, but considering we had been attacked, i don't think many people saw anything wrong with it.

"But wait, we were attacked by brown people on 9/11, what if we had rounded them all up in camps too?" Despite feeling like some people probably would have been ok with it, this isn't the America of the 1940s.

We don't round people up and hold them in camps for no reason. Well, at least not on U.S. soil anyway.[/QUOTE]

hold up....are you comparing gitmo detainees to Japanese Americans of the 1940's?
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Yeah, I mean, this is a much smaller number of people. And they're brown. It's all good, then.[/QUOTE]

......playing the part (not very well) of myke today will be our very own unclebob......
 
Please, Bob is the anti Myke. Only Bob would try to somehow make me out to seem racist, knowing that isn't even remotely close to what i'm getting at.

As I said before though, i just can't do it anymore. It's like arguing with one of the fox news pundits.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Please, Bob is the anti Myke. Only Bob would try to somehow make me out to seem racist, knowing that isn't even remotely close to what i'm getting at.

As I said before though, i just can't do it anymore. It's like arguing with one of the fox news pundits.[/QUOTE]

TO be fair, I guess I shouldn't be so hard on you. Just because I'm equally disgusted by the government rounding up 100 individuals of middle-eastern origins as I am the government rounding up thousands of Japanese individuals, I shouldn't expect everyone to.
 
[quote name='depascal22']My life got a lot easier when I put Bob and Knoell on ignore.[/QUOTE]

I bet it did. Being exposed to ideas outside your comfort zone can be confusing and scary.
 
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