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> pilot crash-landed on Ni'ihau on his way home from bombing Pearl, and a Japanese immigrant and a couple Japanese-Americans decided to take his side and help h

> pilot crash-landed on Ni'ihau on his way home from bombing Pearl, and a Japanese immigrant and a couple Japanese-Americans decided to take his side and help him (treason, of course) Why is that treason "of course"? Seemingly, they were unaware of the events and just tried to help a fellow human being. That should never be treason. Also, since you bring it up as a response to the story, are you justifying interment camps for specific ethnicity based on one event? Otherwise your comment seems borderline off-topic.

NoImmatureAdHom 3y ago
If you read the Wikipedia article the situation will become clear. I bring it up in response to the story because it's an obvious part of the narrative about Japanese internment camps in the U.S. in WWII that is suppressed because it is inconvenient and uncomfortable. That doesn't mean we should ignore it, though. Obviously, this event makes the actions the U.S. government took look more justifiable. The fact that it happened so quickly after hostilities started is also striking. The idea that Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans are more likely to turn against their adopted country than, say, German or Italian immigrants seems more plausible in this light, and that helps understand the decisions made by people in power (in addition to stuff you already know, like Japanese is a very different language to English and culture to American, far more different than either German or Italian, and Japanese people and other East Asians are much more easily visually distinguished, etc.). And, I will reiterate, in my mind it doesn't justify interning tens of thousands of citizens on the basis of ethnicity. It seems obviously wrong to me, either you're a citizen and you get the same rights as everyone else, or you're not. Discriminating on the basis of ethnicity is...racism? Not quite, but I suppose that's the word people use. It is a stain on the country's history. On reflection, I think what really grinds my gears is that shaping the public consciousness with lies and half-truths is so effective...
- opwieurposiu 3y ago
  You also have to keep in mind the mood of nation after this attack. The USA lost it's invincibility. At that point in time was by no means assured that the allies would win the war. In fact, we were losing it.
  - krapp 3y ago
    A similar thing happened after 9/11. Xenophobia went rampant, people started to call Islam a "religion of evil" and call for every Muslim in the country to be rounded up and expelled. Politicians called it an existential crisis and wanted terrorist suspects stripped of their Constitutional rights because giving them a fair trial was just too dangerous. The US normalized torture and set up a concentration camp for Muslims. Media was wall to wall propaganda, from "24" to "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue." I'd also consider the Red Scare and McCarthyism - fear of Communists used as a proxy to harass and suppress Jews and homosexuals and purge them from society. Every time the US experiences a test of its values it seems to abandon them immediately. The cultural fear and hatred of the other goes too deep.
xen0 3y ago
The Wikipedia article linked literally says that they were not "unaware". It's right there in the second paragraph. > The pilot then told the Haradas about the attack and the two agreed to help him. Nishikaichi and Yoshio Harada overcame a guard and escaped to destroy the plane and papers, then took Niihauans Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele and his wife Kealoha "Ella" Kanahele prisoner.
slibhb 3y ago
You clearly didn't read the article. At first they were unaware of the events but when the pilot explained to the Japanese-speakers that he had just come from bombing Pearl Harbor, they took his side.

NoImmatureAdHom 3y ago

If you read the Wikipedia article the situation will become clear. I bring it up in response to the story because it's an obvious part of the narrative about Japanese internment camps in the U.S. in WWII that is suppressed because it is inconvenient and uncomfortable. That doesn't mean we should ignore it, though. Obviously, this event makes the actions the U.S. government took look more justifiable. The fact that it happened so quickly after hostilities started is also striking. The idea that Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans are more likely to turn against their adopted country than, say, German or Italian immigrants seems more plausible in this light, and that helps understand the decisions made by people in power (in addition to stuff you already know, like Japanese is a very different language to English and culture to American, far more different than either German or Italian, and Japanese people and other East Asians are much more easily visually distinguished, etc.). And, I will reiterate, in my mind it doesn't justify interning tens of thousands of citizens on the basis of ethnicity. It seems obviously wrong to me, either you're a citizen and you get the same rights as everyone else, or you're not. Discriminating on the basis of ethnicity is...racism? Not quite, but I suppose that's the word people use. It is a stain on the country's history. On reflection, I think what really grinds my gears is that shaping the public consciousness with lies and half-truths is so effective...

opwieurposiu 3y ago
You also have to keep in mind the mood of nation after this attack. The USA lost it's invincibility. At that point in time was by no means assured that the allies would win the war. In fact, we were losing it.
- krapp 3y ago
  A similar thing happened after 9/11. Xenophobia went rampant, people started to call Islam a "religion of evil" and call for every Muslim in the country to be rounded up and expelled. Politicians called it an existential crisis and wanted terrorist suspects stripped of their Constitutional rights because giving them a fair trial was just too dangerous. The US normalized torture and set up a concentration camp for Muslims. Media was wall to wall propaganda, from "24" to "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue." I'd also consider the Red Scare and McCarthyism - fear of Communists used as a proxy to harass and suppress Jews and homosexuals and purge them from society. Every time the US experiences a test of its values it seems to abandon them immediately. The cultural fear and hatred of the other goes too deep.

xen0 3y ago

The Wikipedia article linked literally says that they were not "unaware". It's right there in the second paragraph. > The pilot then told the Haradas about the attack and the two agreed to help him. Nishikaichi and Yoshio Harada overcame a guard and escaped to destroy the plane and papers, then took Niihauans Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele and his wife Kealoha "Ella" Kanahele prisoner.

slibhb 3y ago

You clearly didn't read the article. At first they were unaware of the events but when the pilot explained to the Japanese-speakers that he had just come from bombing Pearl Harbor, they took his side.