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lifestyle, fun and divertismentTuesday, January 6, 2009
WW II US Propaganda
Friday, April 11, 2008, 2:50
- The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
- Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause: wartime propaganda.
- Propaganda Roman Catholic Church A division of the Roman Curia that has authority in the matter of preaching the gospel, of establishing the Church in non-Christian countries, and of administering Church missions in territories where there is no properly organized hierarchy. (American Heritage Dictionary -)
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skinnie boy jones said on Friday, April 11, 2008, 4:53
never can be too careful ’bout them pesky japs.
and boy oh boy to women blab
…but why would they say anything about the prostitutes they are warm and loving hard working women
Zack Katz said on Friday, April 11, 2008, 9:30
Well, you’ve got to hand it to the government for creative solutions to a problem!
ms said on Friday, April 11, 2008, 10:52
What’s with the blurry pics here. I’ve seen all these posters before on the internet and none were blurry like this before. scanning problem, or compression?
LM54 said on Friday, April 11, 2008, 11:13
Reply to Zack:
More like the government needs to create problems so they have something to blame us for rather than taking responsibility themselves…
Tim Hollis said on Friday, April 11, 2008, 12:57
Good collection of posters here. I’ve done some photoshopped images utilizing WWll posters as vehicles for satire. I thought I had seen them all, and am glad I hadn’t. Thanks for sharing.
Amadeus said on Friday, April 11, 2008, 20:46
Worked pretty effectively too, my grandma is still shifty eyed around Japs.
Andy said on Saturday, April 12, 2008, 21:15
Another great example of our government telling us what they think will make us do what they want….to hell with the TRUTH……….I LOVE our country, but the manipulative forces in charge can kiss my a** !!!!
David Mackey said on Saturday, April 12, 2008, 22:13
Good collection of posters. Interesting.
Anon said on Saturday, April 12, 2008, 22:24
“Jap” is a slur Amadeus, if you think its less offensive than the n word then there’s a problem.
John Callaghan said on Sunday, April 13, 2008, 12:43
Overall the site bought back a lot of memories.
On the day WWII started with the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, I was 4 days into my 5th year of life. When the war ended I was a couple of months short of my 9th birthday.
During this time I grew up fast.
There was a lot of propaganda and the people believed most of it.
The term “Jap” which seems to offend Anon was used freely at that time. This is the term that was in general use 60+ years ago to describe a sneaky enemy who pulled a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor killing over 2,000 Americans. This cowardly enemy did not use the term “surrender” in their language. So because of their contempt of this act and the people who participated in the act of surrending (Battan Death March) they beat and killed a lot more helpless, unarmed Americans. What would you have called them at that time ?
kevin said on Sunday, April 13, 2008, 21:29
now its….
(war is peace) We are fighting them there, so we dont have to fight them here. if it has calmed down in iraq, we cant leave, because we are on the verge of success… if it gets worse… we cant leave…..
(freedom is slavery) Our liberties make us vulnerable to terrorists. We MUST give up rights to be safe. Let the protect us with the patriot act. if you have nothing to hide, why would you care if they protect us by listening to your phone conversations or reading your emails?
(ignorance is strength) They Hate us for our freedom. ANYONE WHO QUESTIONS THIS ADMINISTRATION OR THE WAR IS UNPATRIOTIC. TRUE PATRIOTS dont question their government (or their god). LIBERAL intellectuals are the problem.
and we are buying this shit today too.
Dave K. said on Sunday, April 13, 2008, 22:27
I’m amazed that in all of this high-falutin’ commentin’ that no one’s pointed out that there’s a war on now, and no one’s being asked to sacrifice except for the soldiers.
BMauk said on Sunday, April 13, 2008, 23:30
Love your country, fear your government!
steve said on Monday, April 14, 2008, 7:59
Well… it looks like the PC group wasn’t well formed yet back then….and of course…hadn’t tried to hammer everyone into a hole they were comfortable with… according to everything you read the US was a much better country then… they may be on to something..and for those that think Jap and nigger are 2 words you should never use… get a life and grow up… they are just words….and until we “white” folk stand back up and take our country back… we better get use to the “niggers” and “japs” running our country into the ground….now everyone be sure to focus on my use of those two words…and ignore the real problems in our country today… then you can qualify to be the democratic party presidential candidate……
Thos Weatherby said on Monday, April 14, 2008, 17:11
Sixty five years ago the country was behind the winning of WWII. Rubber, butter, and most metals were some of the things that were rationed. Womens makeup was rare. Gas was rationed. You could get 1 lbs. of butter per month. Might take you 4 to 5 months to replace your auto tires. This was true sacrifice. Today we can have a war and people still go to the mall to shop. The biggest complaint is your medium steak was cooked well done. Count your blessings. The true sacrifice today are our men and women who volunteer and give their lives, so some of you can continue to complain about how bad things are.
Shallow . . . . .
Nubbie said on Thursday, April 17, 2008, 13:24
May I remind Mr. John Callaghan that WWII started in 1939, just because the US entered the war in 1942 does not change that fact.
The world does not revolve around you.
Steve K said on Thursday, April 17, 2008, 21:53
“THIS IS THE ENEMY” with a dagger through a Bible is ironic - the Nazis proclaimed themselves Christian loudly and often. The Party was strictly a “family values, law and order, restore Christian values” affair. As a practicing Christian my advice to one and all is, do not trust any politician who plays the religion card. The more they talk about it, the less likely that they “are” it.
justme said on Thursday, April 17, 2008, 22:41
Jeez… Americans really need to study logic and argument. The propaganda posters were a chilling reminder of what gov’t is capable of, the comments illustrate the reason why they can!
John Callaghan said on Friday, April 18, 2008, 12:51
To Nubbie: Your right WWII did start in 1939 in Europe. We had no direct involvment. On Dec. 7th 1941 whe Pearl Harbor was attacked we became involved. On Dec 8th 1941 when FDR made his “Day of infamy ” speech we declared war on Japan, shortly after that we declared war on Germany.
J. Taylor said on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 17:50
The propaganda from WWII and the Cold War era was way over the top … it’s like they had a high-school football team writing it.
Nowadays they’ve really got it down … the anti-Muslim hatred is seething, there have only been two attacks on U.S. soil, yet everyone is terrified of an imaginary group of terrorists … all the while, supporting the murder of hundreds of thousands of “towelheads” overseas, because it’s a breeding ground for violence.
Murdering hundreds of thousands of people, because they promote violence. And having people support it. Now THAT is good propaganda …
Bran said on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 13:39
Even forgetting the conspiracies that surround both Pearl Harbor and 9/11, the US is still horrifically barbaric.
Consider this, it took generations of prejudices against the Jews for the NAZI party to get them put into prison camps. It took a single act from the Japanese military for the US as a whole to do the same to pretty much anyone who looked Japanese.
Also consider that after the fire-bombing of Tokyo, Japan was nearly crippled and many historians attest that they were on the verge of surrender, when we attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki–both of which were primarily civilian residencies. Each of our atomic bombs took about 80k lives instantly, and thousands more later on from injuries and radiation poisoning.
We should also not forget our fire-bombing of Dresden, where we killed roughly 175k people, many of whom were civilians and many of whom were American soldiers who were prisoners of war.
In Iraq alone, the civilian death total estimates range from 150k to over 500k–at minimum, more than 40x the death total for American SOLDIERS. These were not enemy combatants, they were innocent people trying to survive.
John, you act like all of that racism (which has not disappeared because of propaganda like this and the video “My Japan”) is justified. Racism is never justified. Because of that mentality and propaganda like this, violence and prejudices against Asian Americans still exists–Vincent Chin (1982), the Denny’s incident (1997).
Propaganda and sacrifices are more subtle now. A couple snide comments from a newscaster here, a bin laden target there, a few freedoms here, the do not fly list there. No, there is plenty of propaganda now and plenty of sacrifices now. We’re the frogs in the room temperature pot, and it is getting warmer.
Eric said on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 19:47
This was back when they knew how to win a war. I wonder if we would have the same fortitude, the same resolve to win another war like WWII if an Adolf Hitler rose to power today.
Or would we be so careful to consider our opponents’ feelings and sensibilities that they would march over and destroy us while our lawyers were deciding if we were treating our prisoners of war fairly and letting them watch enough television?
Have you ever read about what the Japanese did to the Chinese prisoners of war? It rivaled the Nazi concentration camp experiments.
I don’t consider myself racist, I personally love the Japanese people and have a great respect and admiration for them. Hell, when I was a teenager, I wanted to BE Japanese. I think I have more appreciation for the Japanese culture and people than the average American does.
That said, we are lucky that the government put out posters that generated public sentiment that solidified our resolve to win that war, because it would be a very different world today if we hadn’t.
Brendan said on Thursday, April 24, 2008, 18:12
Nice 1984 reference, I agree.
It’s interesting how we can look at these and think about how rediculous they seem now, but back then they had a dramatic effect.
Makes you wonder, what are we buying into today that we don’t even notice or question?
Hm.
Brig22 said on Sunday, April 27, 2008, 2:29
Quite John Callaghan: “”The term “Jap” which seems to offend Anon was used freely at that time [...] What would you have called them at that time ?”
That wasn’t Anon’s point. The derogatory terms that were so generally in widespread use then are considered unacceptable by today’s standards.
And that “sneaky” attack was far less a surreptitious assault than some are still to led believe. In fact, by military standards that U.S. accepts today — particularly, pre-emptive aggression — the Pearl Harbor strike was an admissible one.
David said on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 3:59
Did no-one else catch the blatant opportunism in “PRODUCE TO THE LIMIT! THIS IS YOUR WAR!” with the clenched fist of labor against a back-drop of smokestacks? I can’t think of ever having seen a better example of opportunism and recuperation in lock-step. It just reeks of, “Come on, you can trust us, militant workers! We support your fight! And right now your fight is against workers from Germany and Japan! So get back to work! And work hard!”
Pelagius said on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 19:05
You should not be surprised that a government or a country fighting a war for its own survival produces propaganda posters. After all, equally extreme adverts appear in today’s daily newsapapers about less vital matters. That our rulers correctly expect that a propagandist appeal to the vilest prejudices of its electors will be effective tells us as much about our fellow voters as it does about our governors.
jim sadler said on Thursday, May 8, 2008, 6:42
The posters aimed at prostitutes have to do with military history. During the Civil War sexually transmitted diseases were so common that large numbers of troops were out of action for treatment purposes. In the WWII era having to take soldiers out of action for a few weeks was a definite threat to the war effort. Those posters served a real purpose.
As for the term “Japs” the nature of that war was so ugly that Japan is lucky that we did not exterminate their entire civilization following our victory. The brutality of Japanese soldiers was so great that almost any level of revenge would be hard to fault.
Perhaps the Chinese, more than any other, felt the true evil of unrestrained violence and torture by the Japanese. People should study what the Japanese did in China before forming any judgments at all.
Abdul----Syria said on Thursday, May 8, 2008, 22:48
the west propaganda 2 control and killing other nation it’s old practice…what about sadam nuclear weapons?
more than 1 million iraqi was killed…why?
now it’s SYRIA turn….
http://www.moonofalabama.org/cia-syria-show.html
there is no nation made wars ,lies and killing more them in history of humanity, and they still continual.
David said on Saturday, May 10, 2008, 22:06
Title of blog: “WWII U.S. PROPAGANDA”
Propaganda
(prop·a·gan·da )
–noun
1. information, ideas, or Rumors Deliberately Spread widely To help or Harm A person, group,
movement, institution, Nation, etc.
Think about that and then think about these posters. You take from it what you want as long as you leave with Your own piece of mind.
David said on Saturday, May 10, 2008, 22:14
Title of blog: “WWII U.S. PROPAGANDA”
Propaganda
(prop·a·gan·da )
–noun
1. information, ideas, or Rumors Deliberately Spread widely To help or Harm A person, group,
movement, institution, Nation, etc.
Think about that and then think about these posters. You take from it what you want as long as you leave with Your Own Piece of Mind.
P.S. what the Japenese did to the Chinese was very cruel with the concentration camps and what not not to different from what Hitler did to the Jewish people, but an eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
asdf said on Friday, May 23, 2008, 21:27
Since when is Jap a slur? It means “japanese” It’s an abbreviation. Granted, it’s never used politely, but come on. If that’s the worst anyone is called, that’s not bad.
It’s like being called a Yankee. Oh no, I’m so offended. Boo hoo.
jerry said on Monday, June 2, 2008, 20:20
I got a kick out of Abdul from Syria. So a WW II propaganda poster is the same as Saddam and weapons of mass destruction? If anyone is guilty of using propaganda to kill, its the radical muslims predominant in Syria (Saddam’s ally). How many Christians has the brothers you support killed in the name of Allah? It isn’t Syria’s turn - Syria has been blowing people up for over a century - murdering in the name of Islam even before explosives… You should not talk about ‘the West’ when the “Middle East” tribes have been murdering since day 1.
Sean said on Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 21:56
So this is where the Yahoo chat boards ended up?
I wondered about that.
Joe said on Sunday, June 8, 2008, 7:33
What crappy, blurry pictures. A disgrace.
scott b said on Friday, July 4, 2008, 18:07
Jap is no way as nasty as the N word………. We were fighting a very nasty enemy. Jap is no way nasty but a shorten version of Japanese……. If you want to be polictical correct…….. maybe they should have called then Asians…….. DA…………???? It was war and it took everybody to help in the war effort……. Nothing like today where everyone is into they’re own little world. People were scarred of the Japs and Nazi’s taking over the world….. did i say taking over the world.?????? Japan today is one of this country’s closet allies…….. times have changed…… Please do not play the political correct game when were using terms used in the period. They really called them NIPS….. now that’s a politically incorrect term…….. but then again when speaking during that time period in history ……. not that overly nasty……… Please read about they’re war tactics and the war crimes they did to Allie and civilians………………….. At the time frame these words were never politically incorrect ! That’s the time in history……… Real History…… get into the mindset then ……… not today’s !
TurntheScrew said on Monday, October 27, 2008, 9:15
hmm…interesting. We’re often quick to point the propaganda finger at the Nazi regime, but yet…looks like we had it to. Thanks for the share.
nornerator said on Tuesday, October 28, 2008, 18:42
I am surprised by how well this propaganda seemed to work on many of the commenter’s here.
The US knew the Japanese were planning to attack Pearl Harbor and we let it happen so that we could get involved with the war.
For those of you unaware, the “history” taught in American high schools is nothing more than propaganda. Take a few college history courses and see what you can come up with.
Propaganda now is completely embedded into our culture. That is why it appears we don’t have propaganda, its integrated with our news seamlessly.
Democrat/Republican
Two parties one goal.
Media is owned by corporations whose responsibility is to their share holders not the public. Many of the corporations that own our news networks have war contracts. Keep this in mind if you choose to turn the television on.
murky waters said on Thursday, October 30, 2008, 12:05
Wait, so, you mean to say that governments are not always honest with their people, that they blow things out of proportion to satisfy the needs of the Deep Pockets that are in bed with the Industrial/Military complex and they’re feeding us genetically engineered corn to boot? Balderdash! War is an entirely wholesome activity that makes men out of boys. (This has become a necessity because of the trend public schools are tending toward recently, making men out of girls and neuters out of boys.) Without war, (and genetically engineered food) we would die out as a species! Oh yeah, and the Earth is 6,000 years old. Take that science!
O’Cain/McBama in ‘08!
But, seriously, we’re screwed. It’s not even worth debating anymore.
Scott said on Friday, October 31, 2008, 7:56
I remember studying most of these as ‘texts’ in college English…very insightful into the mindset of the day.
Jim Kersey said on Monday, November 3, 2008, 13:14
I remember those posters as well as the times quite vividly. I was in junior high school when in December, 1941 we were all herded into the auditorium to hear President Roosevelt on the radio asking Congress for a declaration of war. They were the war years and every American was involved in the national defense in one way or another, even us teenagers. Unlike today, we were ALL called upon to sacrifice (food rationing, collection of scrap iron, gasoline rationing, shortages of all sorts, a national speed limit of 35 miles per hour!, etc., etc.) and posters of this sort were very useful in keeping us focused on winning the war. They served the nation well in those days!