Interesting Read... Options

[Silver]

one other thing if i lives in japan and the war happened and i was put in an internment camp (like the ones we had) i could accept the fact of leave or be put up and away till the war ended...i can accept that fact not like we treated them horrible and beat them with shoes...long as i wasnt being stuffed in a oven...*ahem*

[holden_caulfield]

Personally I think that the difference between relocation and internment is like the difference between forced exile and prison. Still, I suppose we could safely posit that 110,000 Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes against their will, whether they were relocatd or interned.

Not that I'm really arguing with you guys, I think we can all say, with the exception of Silver, that relocation was a pretty horrible thing, even if it did produce marginal benefits (if they can be called even that).

And Silver, if what you said is true,

one other thing if i lives in japan and the war happened and i was put in an internment camp (like the ones we had) i could accept the fact of leave or be put up and away till the war ended...

then you're a panzy for allowing your country to treat you second-class.

[holden_caulfield]

And yes, Druid, war produces crazy things. It's sad.

If only we could settle all our differences with a good, clean scrim.

[Frosty]

And yes, Druid, war produces crazy things. It's sad.

If only we could settle all our differences with a good, clean scrim.

Yeah, the only wars should be on video games for sure.

[Silver]

And Silver, if what you said is true,

one other thing if i lives in japan and the war happened and i was put in an internment camp (like the ones we had) i could accept the fact of leave or be put up and away till the war ended...

then you're a panzy for allowing your country to treat you second-class.

Not second class, I have a choice. Looks like most subjects that were put in camps were suspected of esponiage and aliens. most others were asked or told to move to another part of the country. if I was a Jap-American and were at was with Japan again, I seriously would be looking over my shoulder. I wouldnt want to be mistaken as an agent or jap soldier. I would feel the same way if I was german, but unless ue go to war with Scottland I dont have to worry.
and what do yopu think should have happened? We let forieners walk around the country and have access to everything? eh... I myself if I was a fresh off the boat then I would understand why I was put back on the boat and shipped back. Then again I wouldnt be American I would be Japanesse and would have fought for the Empire.

If I had kids I would do what ever that it took to protect them....living in a prision or where ever I had to I would do. No arguement, really its a matter of personal opinion.

This post has been edited by Silver: 07/01/05 5:17pm

[Druid]

My last post was done in a rush as I was heading off to work.
I wanted to clarify a few things.
When I said interment was based on prejudice, I misspoke to an extent that I don't think prejudice was why it happened but prejudice among the general public went a long way to allowing it to happen.
Most people mistakenly think it was a reaction to Pearl Harbor, this is where a lot of the bias came from but the real turning point was when several ships where attacked along the coastline. One of the news stories about an attack on an oil tanker hand people up in arms because the story wasn't specifically about the tanker attack as this was happening fairly often, what enraged people was how the submarine crew turned it's deck guns on the people in life boats after sinking the tanker.
Then in February of 92 there was an attack by a Japanese sub that shelled and oil refinery at Santa Barbara California. This became a turning point, no longer did people think they where safe just because they where on the mainland.
The government and a large part of the general population in California believed the refinery attack was a preamble to a possible or likely Japanese invasion.
Which was understandable if you considered the attack on pearl harbor was to destroy our ability to repel such an invasion. It's hard for us to picture it now but within days of the attack on Pearl Harbor, miles and miles of barbed wire was strung along the coast, coastal cities where under mandatory blackouts.
Rumors where common about small advance forces landing at remote areas along the coast.
If you put yourself in that frame of thought, here is the reality you would have to face just as they did when they made the decision for interment and relocation.
The government's own study said 90-98% of the Japanese-Americans were loyal and could be trusted. The problem was it would only take a handful of saboteurs to cause great damage to the war effort in the event of an invasion.
Here are some of the problems they faced.
1) A small group could bring California to it's knees by simply setting brush fires.
2) Destroying a few dams would leave a quarter of the population without drinking water.
3) Destroying a few bridges would tie up war supplies needed to repel an invasion.
Case in point to how ill prepared we were for an actual attack on the coast, in California there was only 16 fighters assigned to defend the whole state.
NO One thought it would happen until it was way to late.

With what we know now it's easy to make the point Interment was wrong and never should of happened. I myself would say the same thing but only because hindsight is 20/20.
If I put my self in the position of the people who had to make the decision and I mean really in their position, with only the information available at the time and the circumstances involved, I would of supported interment and relocation.

[holden_caulfield]

I agree that most of the prejudice came from the people, not the government. Roosevelt seemed to be more genuinely concerned with national security than with race politics. Then there are those stories you hear of Japanese homes and shops being vandalized, burned down, etc.

I guess this is another question of power balance: how much power do we give to the government in the name of national defense? If one takes it to the extreme, we get something like Oceania in Orwell's 1984, a police state that hides behind the aegis of nationalism and the defense of the people.

Just a thought.

Wasn't there a story of a Japanese sub that got stranded in Santa Monica?

[Blakjak]

Wow, this went in a totally different direction than I had hoped. Too bad, I was hoping some christian fundamentalist would speak up.

[holden_caulfield]

Wow, this went in a totally different direction than I had hoped.  Too bad, I was hoping some christian fundamentalist would speak up. 

Sorry Blakjak. Maybe we need to egg them on...

[Blakjak]

Druid's too smart to stick up for his fellow Kansan on this issue lol. jk Druid