Atrocities on the Innocent = Ratings.

John R. Macarthur’s “Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the 1991 Gulf War” mentions the corrupt behavior imposed on innocent civilians during wars. Women were mutilated, or raped like Belgian girls.

Al though it is no secret that being an innocent bystander can still put someone in danger, it is ethically incorrect for a journalist to not write stories from sources who do not give important details including last names, contact information, and an address. As a journalist, one must stick to several key principles in order to not lose credibility as a source of informing the public.

At the time of the Gulf War, a 15 year old volunteer in Kuwait known as “Nayirah,” told the press that Iraqi soldiers were pulling infants out of incubators, and then letting them die on the floor. (Page 58) The severity of the story, made it important to not forget any details that could lead to chaos, and possibly cost the career of the journalist, and reputation of the newspaper or publication company.

As several had speculated, it turns out that the story was fabricated, and the hospital volunteer worker was actually the daughter of Kuwait Royalty.

Chapter 2 of Macarthur's book also mentions how one reporter wrote a story that lists a source who went by the name "Cindy" and did not give away any other information including their last name, age, or address.

As a student whose written for journalism courses, I was always advised not to use sources or quote individuals that were not willing to give out their last name or contact information (to check accuracy of their story or arrange a future interview) because it is difficult to determine the "truth" behind their story.

No matter how much attention a story may receive for the content it contains, one should not focus solely on the "newsworthyness" of a story, because it will give them special recognition. It is worse to later find out that a previous controversial story was nothing but a series of lies or speculation, written for the purpose of making the "bad guy" appear much worse than they already do to the enemy overseas.

Defeating Barbarism with Dehumanization

In Paul Fussell’s Wartime, Fussell notes that Americans were involved in some very shameful and inhumane practices during World War II. Besides a dirty war of words and imagery demonstrated through propaganda, American acts during the war proved that we were also fighting an extremely-foul war in the most literal sense; some soldiers were using body parts as souvenirs, and acceptably so, as “Japs” were not considered a human, or in other words a worthy “white man.” Fussell demonstrates this point, as well as the exact reasoning for dehumanization of the Japanese in the following quote:

“The Japs are like animals…They take to the jungle as if they had been bred there, and like some beasts you never see them until they are dead…What harm, then, in cleaning, polishing and sending home their animal skulls as souvenirs …(pg.116 - 117).”

For Americans, this point of definition of the enemy is a dangerous place to have arrived. As Americans, our mission more or less, was and still is, to save the world from inhumane politics and practices in societies of which we have been handed or rather, taken the “burden”. Yet, the example that the U.S. had set, especially at this most despicable moment of cruelty, by exploiting, dismembering and defiling other human beings, is not one of honorability and rationality, but of filth and brutality. The dehumanization of the Japanese went too far beyond persuasive words and catch-phrases, when soldiers sent home body parts as keep-sakes and this, speaks volumes about the malice of war where in the trenches, almost anything goes.

Women of America: Your Country Needs You

Rosie the Riveter is an icon, representing American women who worked in war factories during World War II, these women took new jobs and sometimes the places of the male workers who were in the military. Conditions were sometimes harsh and pay was not always equal. Rosie the Riveter was a classic hero who helped set in motion the popular image of women in the work force during World War II. The surfacing of women doing a “man's” jobs led ultimately to the Women's Movement. There were huge campaigns of propaganda posters and flyers that went around supporting the idea of women entering the work place while men were away in the war.

The United States government initiated a nationwide propaganda campaign to assist in persuading people at home to do anything they could to help in the war effort; from buying war bonds to actually joining the military. The propaganda material included songs, films, flyers, and many posters. All these things gave emphasis to the importance to be nationalistic being positive towards the war. People developed hate toward the enemy; while the government was conveying messages of patriotism as well as suspicion, they were also transferring messages to women to take the place of the men who had left to help fight the war.


This image gave incite to so much interest in the women's labor force, that about six million women joined the work force and military while the war was going on. Even though there were many women in the work force, many jobs were chosen as "women jobs" such as secretaries’ clerks and teaching. The government then launched a campaign that, stressed the need for women to leave the work force and go back and tend to the home when the men returned. This was so the men could regain their jobs to avoid a depression. Although women were encouraged to give their jobs up they now knew and had the confidence to pursue careers outside the home.

-EF

Wartime Blunders

In chapter three of Fussell’s “Wartime” the careless, ignorant, and embarrassing mistakes of world war two are discussed. Known as blunders, Fussell discusses the damaging and traumatic effects of friendly fire and fire on civilians. He states “the world survives only by assuming that error is not going to launch the rockets or detonate the hydrogen bomb” but in this chapter it is evident that there were tremendous and catastrophic errors. (Fussell, Wartime p. 26)

Arthur T. Hadley, who fought in a infantry unite, talks of how they “had shot down so many of our own planes that its antiaircraft machine guns all had little tags on their triggers saying: this gun will only be fired under command of an officer” (Fussell 22). It went beyond just the error of shooting down allied plains though; soldiers shot allies on the battle field, civilian cruise liners were sunk, insufficient technologies were being relied upon, and training errors resulted in mass causalities.

A majority of these errors resulting in death were simply written off as “killed in action”, Covered up to some degree and hushed by the military. Although in some cases it may have been necessary to cover up an accident that could reveal training tactics and war strategies, it is wrong to conceal an incident to save oneself of embarrassment. It makes you think how many more incidents caused by error occurred that were never revealed?

The "Good Life" in Post War America

Chapter 15 of PR!, “Public Ultimatums” by Stuart Ewen discusses wartime advertising propaganda which depicted a product-defined vision of the American future.  In October 1943, NAM leaders formed the Committee for Economic Development (CED) which designed “a post-war chart for American industry” (Ewen, 342).  In effect, they worked to find jobs for former soldiers and help manufacturers sustain the highest level of employment and production as possible.  To safeguard American business, NAM began to focus on lower class immigrant, instead of the middle class, since they were soldiers who would be returning to America from the war.

Businesses addressed these groups through wartime advertising.  Companies produced public relations ads which emphasized corporate participation in the war effort and depicted pictures of postwar America as a society where modern appliances such as TV’s, washing machines, were the birthright of all Americans (Ewen, 343).  Ads also used family images to promote consumption as the “good life” which would be easily attainable for all citizens after the war.

"The Remote-Controlled War"

"Wartime"
Paul Fussell

The book "Wartime" by Paul Fussell, is a collection of the psychological behaviors of the second World War. In it, he discusses the initial mission and notion of the war, both from the American perspective and the British. He furthermore, discusses how the war transforms from "light to heavy duty." There is no doubt, that the government always likes to project war, as a quick and easy job, so that they can easily mobilize the citizens, who would go into the battlefields and fight the actual war. However, this campaign of "easy war" was strongly used in the Second World War. For example:

"At first everyone hoped, and many believed, that the war would be
fast-moving, mechanized, remote-controlled, and perhaps even rather easy. In 1940 Colonel William J. Donovan, later head of the American Office of Strategic Services, was persuaded, as he wrote in a pamphlet Should Men of Fifty Fight Out Wars?, that, instead of marching to war,
today's soldier rides to war on wheels." - Fussell, Pg. 3

This above paragraph quoted directly from Fussel's book, puts forth the initial
notion of what World War II would be like. The recruiting line was not just
"fight for your country," but rather "fight this war, for it is an easy job."
The entire campaign underestimated the complexity of the war. However, as time
went on, the Defense Department realized the seriousness of the war, as Fussel
explains:

"Still hidden in the future were Bataan and Guadalcanal, Saipan and Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Dieppe, Normandy, Cassino, and the virtual trench warfare of
the European Winter of 1944 - 45."

If one compares how the war strategies have changed during the American history, it would be quiet intriguing to see how the tactic of painting the war as "easy and quick," has been the paramount of the War strategists. The Vietnam were was also portrayed as a "quick and easy" job. Also, the current war in Iraq, was continually illustrated as a war that would be "easy." Furthermore, the government convinced the people, that America will be greeted as the "liberators." Unfortunately, just like any other previous wars, the government was dead wrong on selling both notions to the American people. In conclusion, it is significant to understand the phases of the war, and how propaganda plays a vital role in molding the minds of the citizens, for no war is "easy and quick." The government will always put it an "easy and quick" label on every war, for they are not the ones who fight on the grounds, it is the blood of young men and civilians that sheds throughout the war.

ENDING DISASTROUSLY !

“ . . . . military bright ideas have a way of ending disastrously. “



This quote is certainly a true quote based on some of the examples in the chapter. For instance I recall the poorly made undersea pipeline to bring fuel to Normandy. It was a great idea but no one thought about what they should do if it had to be repaired underwater. This was very difficult to do in those days especially in the middle of a war! Even foolish little personal mistakes could end in disaster. It was very stupid for the young soldier written about in the article to put on an enemy uniform in the middle of a battlefield and then wave to his friends . . . from a distance! It is not surprising to the reader that he ended up being shot dead by the same friends he was joking around with and the pilot who used live bullets during a practice exercise almost killed friendly soldiers.

I was very interested in the poem at the beginning of the chapter. The book gives many reasons for disasters happening in the military like recognition problems, fear and bad planning. The last verse of the poem seems to identify the main reason why so many bright ideas end up disastrously:

Carentan O Carentan
Before we met you
We never yet had lost a man
Or known what death can do.

This is the way it is with wars in history everywhere in the world. The people who fight them are young and inexperienced. They have no practice at fighting a real war. Before their first battle they have never lost one of their group. Today, for instance, a young man’s only experience with combat may be in video games where the dead guys get up and fight again the next time you play the game and the hero kills a hundred men without ever getting hurt themselves. When this mindset is carried over by inexperienced soldiers into battle they surely are in danger of turning bright ideas into disasters! The young soldier who put on an enemy uniform in the middle of a battlefield is an excellent example of the consequences of the lack of experience that most soldiers bring into the real war they are fighting. Not every military situation can be resolved so easy as they are solved in video games and the movies.

Emotional War Copy

During World War II, there were different techniques that were created to help fund the war. One technique that was developed was the use of War bonds. War bonds were what the people could buy that would help with the expenses of the war. These too, like any other product, needed advertisements.

There was language used in many of these advertisements that could make one wonder whether the company was pushing the use of emotional language to get the attention of the reader. In EMOTIONAL WAR COPY (based on an interview by G. A. Nicolas with Clyde Bedell, sales manager, The Fair, Chicago), the author describes why the company used such language in their advertisements. “If emotional advertising copy is not very -good it is very bad. It either grabs right hold of the heart and impresses the mind – or is sickly, sloppy of mawkish” (EMOTIONAL WAR COPY).

An organization was created in Chicago to regulate the advertisements used in their media. They were called the Chicago Retail Merchants Association. They decided the type of language that should be used in these ads. They also decided the most effective set up for these advertisements. The ads would start off with a very moving story such as a letter from a soldier to his mother while he was away at war. This took up about ¾ of the page and then towards the bottom would be where they would ask for the support of the people. The Chicago Retail Merchants Association thought “readers who didn’t care to finish the copy after starting it, might logically, after wondering what it was all about, glance toward the bottom and see another starting point and thus get the burden of the message there.”

Clyde Bedell, who was the Chairman of the Chicago Retail Merchants Association, was also the author of How to Write Advertising That Sells. “After two advertisements had appeared, an agency principal saw Mr. Bedell at a country club and belligerently said the copy was entirely counter to all the theories expounded in his book” (EMOTIONAL WAR COPY).

Is it that the war causes the public to be viewed differently? Would everyone be moved by these sad emotional stories and would this lead them to automatically purchase these bonds? These advertisements were basically insulting the intelligence of the public. Bedell wrote a book on advertising so he knew how to approach the public, “It is far more important to know your prospect than your product. If you know human nature you can sell anywhere and almost anything” (Bedell, How to Write Advertising That Sells). However, he went against his beliefs to get a sale. Though the campaign was success there is no way to measure if it was because of these adds.

"Precision Bombing," what an Oxymoron

Fussell opens up chapter 2, of Wartime, with saying it was a natural thing to believe in a panacea for the war, when in actuality, there is none except for more men to be killed. Though, Americans believed that the "technological expedients" would be a remedy for winning the war. The introduction of the B-17 the Flying Fortress, a precision instrument, was "the mightiest bomber ever built" and was "equipped with the incredible acurate Norden bomb sight, which hits a 25 foot circle from 20,000 feet."

However, this precision instrument could have been more precise. The whole notion of these planes being able to fly great altitudes during the day, would "make daylight raids with a greater margin of safety than any other bombin plane" but Americans couldn't have been more wrong. These planes had "the poorest target yet developed." The fact that these bombings proved to be entirely inaccurate.

"Precision bombing" became to be known as an oxymoron within the the air force, as well as humorous. But the humor was not seen nor undestood by the people at home reading in Life or The Saturday Evening Post.

The Allies and the Germans were both horrible at precision bombing, however, the Germans were the first to propagate the belief that they could hit any target they set forth. The American air forces were slow into catching on to this propaganda, up until the practicing of "area bombing."

After the introduction of "area bombing" more and more targets were hit, such as Buckingham Palace, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Area Bombing Will Win the War

In chapter 2 of Paul Fussell's Wartime!, he explores how B-17's and their precision bombing was immediately tailored to the masses as the ultimate weapon that would win the war and prove that American ingenuity and technology would prevail. Amongst it's proposed merits was "the incredibly accurate Norden bomb sight, which hits a 25-foot circle from 20,000 feet." Unfortunately, this was not always the case.

In actuality, high altitude bombers, both Allied and Axis aircraft had been terribly varied in their accuracy. Ironically, media and survivors had more to do with keeping up the idea of the accuracy of the bombers than the pilots and bombardiers themselves. Many stray bombs were labeled direct hits by the victims of the blunders.

While many military officials, as told by Fussell, refused to believe the reports that were contrary to the operational claims, the inaccuracy of bombers and the cold, hard facts were not lost on an important few: Robert Oppenheimer, William "Deak" Parsons, and the Ordnance Division at the Los Alamos Labs.

In an article called The Rules of Civilized Warfare, Sean L. Malloy traces the development of the atomic bomb. From the very beginning, the issue of targeting ability was addressed, if not by Washington then by engineers. While various delivery methods were explored at first, a high altitude bomber at 30,000 feet was eventually decided on. The bomber, a B-29, was allowed 10,000 extra feet in order to give it a chance to escape the air-burst weapon that would be the most powerful ever seen.

The actual target itself was also determined by factors of the high altitudes bombing shortcomings. While a strictly military target would have been ethically advantageous, it was decided that in order to ensure success of the 2 billion dollar (in 1940's dollars!) top secret project, a large target needed to be used: cities that surrounded military interests with the center of the city being the ground zero.

Lastly, Fussell reminds us that even though rationalist praised the accuracy of the bombers, he also states that "man did not control wind direction and force." A testament to this is the fact that the city of Kokura has been sparingly forgotten in history. On August 9, 1945, pilot Charles Sweeney of the B-29 'Bock's Car' proceeded on his bombing run with Kokura as the primary target. By luck of fate, fires in the nearby town of Yawata had lingered across the land and obscured the city, forcing Sweeney and his atomic payload 'Fat Man' to proceed to the secondary target:

Nagasaki.

Negative Profiling

All stereotypes are bad, there is no such thing as a negative stereotype. Even if someone would say that an ethnic group is smart, it is profiling the individual before you know anything about them. This practice has been going on for too long. Even today, racial slurs are being uttered. Some believe that we do this to separate race and religion.

While America was at war with Japan during the second World War, American soldiers put everyone into categories, even American civilians. Civilians couldn't understand what the soldiers were going through, so they were "foreigners". The Japanese, or Japs, were looked at as an animal. This type of propaganda was used to make the American soldiers to hate the Japanese enemies and have one common goal.

"Because they were animals, Japanese troops had certain advantages over Americans. They could see in the dark, it was believed, and survive on diet of roots. The very tiny-ness of the Japanese was another reason for contempt. They were little the way insects and rodents are little--little but nasty." (Paul Fussell, Wartime, page 119)

While at war, we had similar feelings toward the Germans. Although we weren't directly at war with them, the Americans were alittle more passive with them. They were human beings, but a cold and sinister type of person. We knew they could not be trusted because they were in alliance with the "rodent-like" Japanese.

Type-casting is somewhat childish. America was one little kid, Japan was another and the world was the playground. By using this type of propaganda that Japan was of another species, it raised American morale. We even do this today. Because of the trouble we are having in the Middle East, we are quick to judge someone of that heritage. This is an ongoing problem that I do not see ever getting resolved.