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Comments
Would like this as well. The War in the Pacific is always framed as Pearl Harbor then the US response to that culminating in BOOM and again BOOM.
Tora! Tora! Tora! is one movie that explores things from their perspective. But we dont always get that. And it doesnt go into things like Unit 731 or all the atrocities in mainland Asia.
The overarching theme is this. When one race feels superior to another. Whether that is Japan, or Germany or countless other places. They will commit awful acts against the "inferior" race.
I watched Episode 1 yesterday when running on the treadmill… really good so far. Thanks for the recommendation!
I've finished # 2 so far. I can see how it can happen, even here, if conditions were right. Not saying they are - Hitler had a depression to help him make things look bad. So far, nothing quite that bad has happened again. Excellent series, thus far.
The US has never experienced anything even remotely close to what Germany went through post-WWI. Absolutely staggering poverty, pestilence, and total social-economic ruin. No sympathy because they caused it all. But it is easy to see how someone like Hitler could come to power. By the time everyone realized he was a psychopath it was too late. Most Germans didn't even know about the concentration camps till after the war.
Really, I think your average German on the street or foot soldier at the end of the war just saw him as a strong leader trying desperately to salvage the Motherland. Only his inner-circle knew he was a maniac (as were most of them….so they probably didn't recognize his evil). The fact that all of the defendants pleaded not-guilt at the teial and went down defiantly shows how committed they were at the time, and still were till the time of their death.
I started watching it last night and it's good… even for a Netflix documentary.
Most people are not aware Japanese Generals committed acts of cannibalism during WWII. I won't go into detail, but they ate the flesh of American and British prisoners, because they believed it gave them special strength and powers. Additionally, on Papua New Guinea because of an American naval blockade the Japanese navy wasn't able to resupply Japanese troops, so they were left there to starve. When skirmishes occurred and an American soldier was killed the Japanese would drag the body over to their line and well…
I watched the second episode early this morning. It was very interesting to find out that even with the depression that Hilter and the Nazi party lost multiple elections, and that their attempt at taking control by force failed too. He was able to negotiate his way into power as Chancellor with elected leaders (Von Hindenburg) who thought they could control and use him. It was years and years of repeated propaganda, marketing, and rehearsed/staged speaking, along with the eventual conditioning of the elite's children that slowly won over and brainwashed the German people.
I was also interested to learn that his leadership style of presenting nebulous concepts to his cabinet who were responsible for crafting the power-mongering programs based on those concepts and the means of executing. I always assumed he was the sick mind behind it all, but really there were a bunch of other sick minds feeding the Nazi monster.
Yep. Crazy attracts crazy I guess. None of the defendants showed any remorse at the trial. They were all-in just like Hitler and sincerely thought they were doing the right thing for the Motherland, and the world as a whole. I kind of assumed that Hitler was a raging tyrant and his Generals and inner-circle advisors were simply too afraid to stop any of it. Turns out they were just as devoted to the cause as he was.
I haven't watched it and probably won't. I did a LOT of research on school on the Nazi's rise to power and the things that they did, trying to understand how people that were for the most part, well educated members of an modern civilization could commit such large scale horror. Like I said I did a LOT of research to the point that my sleep was haunted by nightmares for years. It a very deep rabbit hole the more I learned the worst it got and I don't think I more than scratched the surface. And the Japanese were just as bad just not as organized.
The biggest history lesson is that human beings are very easily manipulated by propaganda. That includes every one of us here.
That is a kind of blind faith in a Deity/Ideology/Identity that is hard to defeat because it cannot allow for self-reflection or self-correction, it can only dig in and move ahead harder at even the expense of your own life. That is the hallmark of cults and Hitler was a master cult leader if nothing else.
This is also why I think it is of the utmost importance that we as US citizens never be afraid to live with a hermeneutic of suspicion of our own motives and those of our leaders. Patriotism is not binary as in "Love it or leave it". There is no harm in admitting failure, flaw, error or even sin that would outweigh the actual harm of justifying acting on whatever we believe when evidence suggest those beliefs are false, harmful or both. We see those Japanese soldiers now as inhumanely brutal to their enemies, but they saw the world and humanity in a different way that allowed them to treat other humans the way they did and not be inconsistent in those beliefs. This is why I believe the foundation of objective truth as the rule of law is far superior to the rule of individual honor.
not me
That response is definitely an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, there. 😁
Unfortunately, only history can make the judgement, not you.
CD - Ah, you are referring to the need for self-awareness and I couldn't agree more. To understand the why of our beliefs is so important. Especially, in these days of division.