[kmeade]

replying to myself...

I want to make the point clear that I am not defending the Japanese internment. It was certainly an evil act. One of many evil acts committed by nations around the world. That's what war is -- a sequence of evil acts. On some level, we should be ashamed of all of them.

What I object to is the cowardly labeling of the internment camps as "FDR's" This is a propaganda technique. We've seen it recently used very effectively with Obamacare. The reality is that internment was the result of a complex series of events, concerns, and government actions. If you try to associate it with an individual, I will be strongly suspicious of your motivations.

[CamperBob2]

What I object to is the cowardly labeling of the internment camps as "FDR's" This is a propaganda technique.

Read the article. That's who the orders came from.

[kmeade]

I don't get comments like this. You honestly think I didn't read the article?

You are referring to Executive Order 9066 which, incidentally, could not be enforced without subsequent passage of Public Law 503 by Congress. (note: The law was passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House)

We're not talking about something that originated in the FDR White House. It was the result of a long (but fast) government process triggered by the attack at Pearl Harbor. It was a government-wide effort (and certainly a very questionable one.) To label the program as "FDR’s Japanese Concentration Camps" is grotesquely partisan.

Thank-you though, because I did go back and re-read the article. I just now realized that "FDR’s Japanese Concentration Camps" is a phrase written by the article author, as click bait. Sad.

[tptacek]

You seem to be on tilt about this "attributing Japanese Internment to FDR" thing. That's a controversy that really seems to have originated with you. I'd assume the rest of us are pretty well aware that the USG was broadly culpable for concentration camps.

[kmeade]

So, you're telling me I should calm down. (smile)

Yes. "On tilt" Nice gentle phrase and a sensible comment.

As I noted above - I just realized that I was basically responding to click bait - so mea culpa.

But that doesn't mean my points weren't legitimate :^)

Finally, I wish someone, someday would start a discussion about our post-war relationship with Japan. I mentioned it in my original message. What happened was so cool. I'm not aware of anything like it in modern history. And it can take a bit of the "evil" sting out of the Japanese Internment history, if you want it to.

[tptacek]

I'm pretty casual with the expression "on tilt" because I occasionally play poker. If I managed to express something more than I meant to, I'm sorry for that.

I agree with you that our relationship with Japan after the war is pretty fascinating --- I think you could say something similar about our relationship with Germany! My takeaway from that is that we Americans should have a lot more humility about our own role in the world, because countries can turn on a dime from one pole to the other.

But one obstacle you'll have to pursuing that conversation in this thread is that a lot of people will read it as an attempt to downplay the disgrace of American concentration camps. Since those camps were very recently cited by American politicians as a rational for registering Muslims, it's a hot-button issue.