Darkest Before the Dawnby
Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers
"A lie told even ten-thousand times, never becomes the truth." ~ Mikhail Gorbachev Fact: There was no armed insurrection by the Japanese against the U.S. occupation after World War II. Please read that sentence again: There was no armed insurrection by the Japanese against the U.S. occupation after World War II. Thanks, just had to get that off my chest. The American mass media has completely devolved into pure style over substance. It doesn't matter anymore if those who appear on American TV haven't the faintest idea of what they are talking about. What matters is that they look like they know what they are talking about. The claims, half-truths, and lies being made by those in the White House and Pentagon regarding Iraq can be excused – or rather can be expected. Everyone expects the President and his men to lie. Everyone already knows that George W. Bush and friends have a pathological problem with reality. When I see or hear supposed experts on American TV or radio making outrageous claims and lying about Japan that's where I really have a problem. I had always believed – and thought everyone else in the mass media did the same – that the primary duty of all broadcasters was to tell the truth. How naïve I must have been. The most recent nonsense being spouted by the Prima Donna cast on your TV is the line:
This is usually followed by the rationalization – the blatant lie – that "Japan had an insurgency after World War II." There was no insurgency in Japan after World War II. Never happened. When the war ended, for the very first time the Japanese public heard the voice of their living God, Emperor Hirohito went on the radio. He told them:
The Japanese did what Hirohito requested. There were no shootings, no car bombings, no explosions; the Japanese did not rise up against the U.S. occupation and revolt. There was no insurrection. Those who make this claim are either lying or they don't know their history. I suspect a bit of both. I have heard before Rush Limbaugh claiming that Japan and Germany had a post-war insurrection. I do not want to make any claims about Germany – a subject that I am not well versed in – but I do consider myself much more of an expert on Japan than Rush Limbaugh or just about any person on American TV or radio and I can tell you for a fact: No postwar insurrection in Japan. Which is it for Rush Limbaugh? Is he shamelessly lying or is he just ignorant on Japan's history and knows that no one will call him on it? Well, Mr. Limbaugh, I'm calling you on it now. I have even heard Fox TV's Bill O'Reilly make the statement that "Postwar Iraqi is going better than Postwar Japan." With the insinuation that Japan's insurrection was worse than Iraq's. Which is it for Bill O'Reilly? Is he lying again or is he just ignorant on Japan's history and knows that no one will call him on it? Well, Mr. O'Reilly, I'm calling you on it now. Today, for the third time in the last few months, I heard this blatant lie – sans challenge to its validity – being made on CNN as Larry King interviewed a guest during his coverage of the Presidential Inauguration. I'm sorry, I didn't catch the name of the young man who made this absurd assertion, but he was wrong. There was no insurgency in Japan after the war. To claim that there was is out-and-out fabrication. Which is it for CNN? Are they blatantly lying or are they just ignorant on Japan's history and knows that no one will call them? Well, CNN, I'm calling you on it now. I have searched for months through Japanese language documentation and haven't found one single piece of evidence that there ever was any political violence against the U.S. occupation in Japan after World War II. There absolutely was no postwar insurrection in Japan. Here are the facts from USA Today: Iraq: 14-month occupation scheduled to end June 30 [2004]. Iraqis are to hold elections no later than Jan. 31, 2005, and write a constitution by the end of 2005. Occupation troops are attacked daily. There was no formal surrender by the former regime. Japan: Adopted a constitution 15 months after the war ended, and put it into effect in May 1947. There was no postwar insurgency. Japan formally surrendered and was much more badly damaged than Iraq after the war. Germany: Took three years to write a constitution and four years to hold elections. There was almost no postwar insurgency. Also badly damaged after the war and formally surrendered. So the question comes up, and I don't believe it is a minor one, "Will things continue to get worse before they get better?" Judging from the current state of American TV and radio and having to tolerate "experts" continually lying to the American public and not getting taken to task for it, I'd have to say that I agree:
January 22, 2005 Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers [send him mail] was born and raised in the USA and moved to Japan in 1984. He has worked as an independent writer, producer, and personality in the mass media for nearly 30 years. Copyright © 2005 LewRockwell.com |
"Things
are going to get much worse before they get better."