Submitted for Lileks’ approval, or: the Last Good War
Here's a pretty old post from the blog archives of Geekery Today; it was written about 19 years ago, in 2005, on the World Wide Web.
Thanks to Amanda, I recently found James Lileks’ new hobby, Patriotica, a loving collection of genial homefront propaganda from World War II
. Lileks’ tone is jokey and sometimes downright satiric. But he makes it clear enough that that’s just his usual campy, self-deprecating schtick, applied at the level of his nation-state; part of the point here is that he’s collecting WWII propaganda because, deep down, he believes in it, and he thinks we have something to learn from it. And it’s clear enough that his audience on the Right is getting the message. (As he comments in the Daily Bleat
: New update to Patriotica here, a sad reminder of the days when nearly everyone agreed there was actually a war on, and it had to be won.
As a fan at the Independent Women’s Forum puts it, Those were the days when our media supported our troops!
Pro-Victory
writer Dadmanly
wistfully remarks: For all those who think that the current administration is
)over-hyping
the Global War on Terror, a little reminder of how they REALLY knew how to whip up the masses in WW II.
Let’s everyone get in on the campy collecting fun! Here’s some submissions I’d like to see Lileks put in Patriotica. I’m sure you can soon find these collectibles from the Last Good War on loving display in Lileks’ collection.
We begin with Private Joe Louis clearing it all up for us. We’re going to win because we are acting as the Sword of God:
Next, there’s nothing quite so genially amusing — especially for conservatives — as absolute government command over the economy. Obey the price controls, and make sure you get your meat ration, citizen! (We’ll be taking the rest of it.)
On a similar theme, we have the following adorable bit of naked attempts at intimidation, in order to whip the masses
into line:
Here’s some more choice bits for Lileks, also on the topic of intimidation. Specifically, a genial reminder from the government to shut the fuck up, citizen.
That last image is actually pretty famous. This one isn’t quite so famous, in spite of being a classic combination of two great themes of American World War II propaganda: overbearing commands for silence, and violent racist caricature.
Speaking of which, here’s several more I just can’t wait to see in Lileks’ gallery. Submitted for his approval, without further comment.
… Yeah.
I really fucking hate World War II propaganda.
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Is it pointless even to mention that the idea of fighting “until every murdering jap [sic] is wiped out” advocated genocide as the cure for ‘murder’? I’m a quasi-Nietzschean and it’s not my issue, but am I the only one who sees a slight ethical illogic there?
Shades of Anne Coultier or the Ayn Rand Institute!
Oh yes, “The Good War”…. when white Americans could unite together in respectable hatred with good consciences.
P.S. Some of think Americans could learn something about civilization from Japanese culture.
I’m not sure what you mean when you say “Americans could learn something about civilization from Japanese culture.”
It’s true that the American government’s conduct of the war in the Pacific was unremittingly barbarous, not only in rhetoric but in reality. Besides the endless stream of violent racism in propaganda and pop culture, there was also the starvation-siege and the terror bombing of the Japanese home islands — which killed somewhere between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Japanese civilians.
Those were atrocities and there is absolutely no excuse for them, which is why I have tried to expose them for the evils they are. But the “Japanese culture” that produced the militarist regime, the terror-bombing of Shanghai, the Nanjing massacre, the brutal sexual enslavement of women across Asia, etc. — sponsored by the government, glorified in the official press, and excused and denied to this day by some of the powerful and influential men in Japanese society — has nothing to “teach” anyone about compassion, civilization, or righteousness.
None of this justifies, excuses, or ameliorates the atrocities committed against Japanese civilians. But if there are comparisons of inhumanity to be made, well, there just are no winners.
When I see this stuff, I really have to wonder if people were actually so imbecelic or cowardly as to believe it or contain their disagreement.