Letters to the Editor
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Re: Ken Burns' The War: And how about the Latinos, and the Japanese-Americans?
How was the issue of leaving out (many thousands of) Latinos' participation in WWII resolved? Did Burns stick Latinos' involvement into short breaks, as was conjectured some months ago, or add integrated material into his already-made series? Or ignore the controversy?
And what about the many Japanese-Americans who joined up even though their families were stuck in concentration camps (or because they would have been too)?
I had resolved not to watch this series because:
1) Ken Burns romanticizes war, and
2) He probably still has not done right by other than white guys who fought in this war.
Maybe I'll hear from somebody.
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it would be nice if you people knew history
>>Slavery was the basis of their economy--and their riches--and they felt they had the right to enslave others to stay rich.<<
most white southerners did not own slaves. most white southerners who did own slaves owned fewer than five, and were not rich. [my gg grandfather owned exactly five slaves as of 1860, and his son fought for the union.] so you think slavery is why most southerners fought for the south? slavery made some few southerners wealthy; it did not make the south wealthy. on the other hand, new york dominated every phase of the cotton trade from plantation to market. 40% of the profits from slavery went to new yorkers, who were the wealthy southerners' bankers, factors, brokers, insurers, etc.
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What's wrong with being dumb?
Education (primary & higher) is relative to its economic advantage. When a man can achive better than mean wages w/ only a HS diploma - why be smart? Americans can be fat, dumb and rich by an order of magnitude over highly educated Europeans.
We Americans have a can-do attitude that is un-matched, it's infectious. Why the hell are the Mexicans and Asians pouring in?
When is pays to be smart, we'll do it.
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some revisionist history
Natch, I haven't seen the Burns opus yet, but I'd guess that he validates the canard that America was somehow at center stage in WWII.
Some very acute, revisionist history in the last few years has *proven* that America's role in WWII was a sideshow.
We did not save the world for Democracy. Joseph Stalin did. The war in the East was the main event. Without Stalin, Hitler would have over-run all of Europe, and if Hitler had made a deal with ol' Joe and stuck to it (instead of abrogating it in his invasion of the Soviet Union), we'd have had real trouble preventing an invasion of Britain.
The only reason we were able to land at Normandy was because ol' Joe was keeping Hitler's generals busy with over *100* combat divisions in the East.
In short, the story America believes about WWII is in many ways a fiction. It'd do us good to understand our place in that war, but we won't. We never do like a truth that makes us less than we think we are.
Don't get me wrong, the US military fought bravely and well in that war...but our effort, and loss, was modest compared to what the Russians suffered in defense, not just of themselves, but all of Europe.
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Silenced - if only
"But at least we never believed in Stalin or Hitler, which is something I can't say about the people in her part of the world."
Which part of the world is that? Oh you must mean those two entirely separate countries Russia and Germany? Perhaps you thought Stalin and Hitler ruled the same country or that Europe is an actual country?
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More revisionist history
You could also mention that if the japanese had not attacked the US might not have participated in the war at all.
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>>We did not save the world for Democracy. Joseph Stalin did.<<
stalin? stalin the socialist dictator? stalin helped destroy hitler, but we "saved the world for democracy" from joseph stalin. marshall plan? berlin air lift?
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if only
The only country to have dropped the atomic bomb can talk!
only The country to have dropped the atomic bomb can talk!
The country only to have dropped the atomic bomb can talk!
The country to only have dropped the atomic bomb can talk!
The country to have only dropped the atomic bomb can talk!
The country to have dropped only the atomic bomb can talk!
The country to have dropped the only atomic bomb can talk!
The country to have dropped the atomic only bomb can talk!
The country to have dropped the atomic bomb can only talk!
The country to have dropped the atomic bomb can talk only!
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Point taken...but YOU did re-elect Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfield
Yes, the United States has contributed much to the world.
No, you're not all simpletons and racists. Yes, some of my best friends are Yanks.
But you elected one of the scariest, vilest regimes imaginable to lead you. And then, after it was obvious to the world just how vile they were...you elected them again!
In the 21st century!!
Don't be surprised that the rest of the world can't bear to look at you, or take seriously your "Greatest Nation" fantasies.
You're like a beautiful, deliciously ditzy high school girl who turns out to be a run-of-the mill psychopath.
Your ancestors had some good days, but Geezus, turn off the History Channel and watch the news.
On the BBC or the CBC.
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WhoNinvitedHim (certainly no one here) ---
Oh.
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The Greatest Generation was a lot better than the bunch around today...
As an European living in the U.S. who can't vote and therefore personally has no stake in U.S. politics, I find it highly amusing that all the liberals taking the time to comment on Heather's review just use an intelligent article as a spring-board for Bush bashing.
The liberals in here obviously see themselves as so intellectually superior to everyone that thinks differently than they do. I know quite a few Republicans who are sick and tired of the stupidity of the Bush administration and will admit it. I also know a number of Democrats who will admit that they were sickened at the stupidity of Clinton and his administration. The real idiots in this country are those on the right who will defend Bush and bash Democrats just because they are Republicans, and those on the left who think Clinton was a wonderful president and will bash Republicans just because they are Democrats.
From what I've learned about Burns' documentary, and from what I know about Americans in WW II, present day Americans should pay good attention and learn from the predecessors. Surely, they had their political views as well, but they didn't just run around saying that Republicans/Democrats (choose the party to revile) are stupid/worst ever/criminal (insert your own favorite word), and if my party isn't running things, the country is going to hell and I won't play until people who see things MY way are running government. Back then, Americans realized they had a serious challenge, and that overcoming it would require that they work with their fellow Americans. What would have happened back then if soldiers said "I won't serve in this company because the Captain is a Democrat" or if the Rosie Riveters had said "I'm not going to work on this assembly line because the foreman is a Republican?"
America is facing a number of challenges that, while far less bloody, are going to have as significant an impact on the future of this country as those faced by the WW II generation: Affordable health care coverage, quality education , social security for all, a solution to immigration, resolving the conflicts in the Middle East (including Iraq), etc., etc. Wouldn't it be better to work jointly on solving the problems the country faces rather than engaging in infantile name-calling and arguments about which administration was the worst ever?
The thing that Europeans who know the U.S. well find the most ridiculous about this country is how immature and unintelligent the political dialogue has become. Maybe we should be watching a re-run of Burns' The Civil War instead of a new documentary about WW II, because the way people in this country are acting makes one believe that it's the former period of this country's history that's more relevant to analyzing the situation today.