Did people during world war 2 see the japanese as we currently see the middle ea

Question: Did people during world war 2 see the japanese as we currently see the middle eastern!?

im not saying the middle eastern are bad, but you cant deny the fact that we see them differently after 9/11Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Not quite!. Certainly there are a lot of ignorant things said, written, etc!. about Muslims and Middle Easterners right now, but people can fight back and demand it stop (and they do)!.

Back then, if a Japanese person didn't like seeing signs that said "No Japs Allowed" outside of a shop, or if they didn't like the "Jap Hunting License" or other horrible anti-Japanese propaganda, they could NOT speak up!. If they did, they would likely have been called Japanese spies and imprisoned!.

Much of the American public was extremely racist, and the media made these feelings even stronger!. It was a scary and sad time to be Japanese in America!.

Muslims today DO receive a lot of discrimination in America however, they have options!. If they are discriminated against at work or hate crimes were committed against them, they can take their cases to the courts!. (It's possible that a racist jury could deem the offender "not guilty") They can get their stories out and organize to spread awareness!. Japanese couldn't do any of this in WWII!. Nobody would've cared if a Japanese person had been assaulted in Times Square!. A Japanese person who had his lights on at night could be arrested for "sending signals"!. There are many writings regarding the ridiculous reasons for arresting Japanese people during WWII!. Discrimination against Japanese was PROMOTED by the government during WWII, and that's definitely not the case today!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

probably worse!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Worse!. The Japanese were rounded up and placed in "concentration camps" during World War II!. Some Japanese men did serve with honor during the war, but most didn't get treated very kindly!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Are you kidding!? Propaganda at the time would have had us believing every Japanese soldier was buck-toothed, so near sighted they needed coke bottle glasses to see, and much smaller and weaker than American soldiers!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

No - the situation in the Middle East is far more complex!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

My father was in WWII and yes, the Japanese were viewed with hostility after the bombing of Pearl Harbor!. The older war veterans will probably tell you that the anomosity is still there!. I understand what you are saying--I do view Middle Easterners differently since 9/11!. I do feel some resentment when I see them in my country, not able to speak English and wanting a piece of "my" American dream!. It is easy for those of us who have never fought in a war to say "oh, no there was no resentment or the Japanese were treated unfairly!." But you put yourself in the shoes of our veterans or the men and women currently serving in our Armed Forces and I bet you will have a different opinion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes, i agree with you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It depends which people!.

In the 1940s, information was a scarcer commodity!. Americans in general did not know Japanese people, and could very easily believe what they were told about them, especially after Pearl Harbor!.

One of the chief instruments of US propaganda about the Japanese was the movie news!. The great filmmaker Frank Capra ("It's a Wonderful Life") directed "Why We Fight," a feature famous for its depiction of Japanese men "so similar in appearance their own mothers couldn't tell one from another!." This narration accompanied footage of uniformed soldiers doing some kind of drill!.

In contrast, today, there is a glut of information, and a dearth of attentiiveness!. We're swamped with FoxNews and Fox the yuk-yuk show channel and movie distributor!. The most sensational material makes the widest impact, and that reduces much of what purports to be analysis to a level of depth not unlike Capra's "Why We Fight!."

Those who got their news from MovieTone and those who get it now from FoxNews have similarly 2-dimensional views of "the enemy!."Www@QuestionHome@Com

I think anti-japanese feeling was probably a good deal stronger during WW2!. in 'Stet, Damnit!' Florence King writes about the reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Washington!.

'The orgasmic transports that today's retailers call a "shopping experience" swept through Woolworth's on December 8, 1941, when a man began smashing everything stamped "Made in Japan"!. No security guards converged on him and no one worried about lawsuits!. As the crowd cheered, the manager winked and said "I needed to get rid of this stuff today anyhow!."
It would have been futile to expect my mother to stay out of the fray!. Grabbing an illustrated teapot, she was about to sidearm it, shortstop-style, against the wall, but just then Granny showed up, waving a length of hat-veiling she had been inspecting when she heard the ruckus!.
"Oh Louise! I turn my back for a minute and you act like whitetrash!"
"I'm going to break every piece of junk those sneaky grinning runts ever made!"
"Then go home and break your ashtrays where nobody can see you!"
She did - and bought new ones stamped "Made in the U!.S!.A!." from Woolworth's!.'Www@QuestionHome@Com

I would say no!.

For we have yet to confine all persons of middle eastern descent!. We avoid condemn an entire race and culture, and we try to view the matter as a group of radicals hiding amongst a noble and honorable race, religion, and culture!.

I would say that the generation of WW2 had a greater fear of the Japanese people than we do of the middle eastern peoples!. After-all it was the Empire of Japan that attacked them, and not 12 fanatics flying planes into buildings!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

We saw the Japanese as worse!. By Presidential Order 9066 we placed all Japanese-Americans into relocation camps!. In the Supreme Court case Korematsu V!. U!.S!., the Supreme Court decided that the relocation camps were constitutionally permissible!. FDR's reasoning for the relocation camps was that the Japanese would be loyal to Japan and may help the Japanese invade the U!.S!. or spy for them, he also thought that they may commit sabotage!.
In 1988 Reagan apologized to the Japanese-Americans and they were given $20,000 for compensation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com