James Cameron Rewriting WWII & Undermining Christianity: Unwitting Fool or Willing Dupe?
by Kurt SchlichterFool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, and I’m probably in on the scam with you – or I am a fool.
James Cameron’s next project may well be a film about Hiroshima. Sure, after the powerful show of solidarity he gave to our troops in the largely Oscar-free Avatar, you are probably thinking, “Hey, this will be a fair-minded project that shows that dropping the A-Bomb on Japan was a tough but necessary decision which ended up saving hundreds of thousands of American lives – and probably millions of Japanese.”
Pellegrino and Cameron
Surprise! Instead, it promises to not only be another round of America-bashing but, moreover, one based on the work of a gentleman with a demonstrated track record of fraud and distortion. Cameron’s long-time pal, Dr. Charles Pellegrino, wrote The Last Train from Hiroshima, the book that Cameron wants to turn into a movie. It’s a shattering tale of horror told in part from the point of view of an American flyer who deeply regrets his participation. There’s just one little problem with this important new addition to the historical canon – it seems to have been largely made up by the good doctor. But, of course, Cameron would not be the King of the World if he let a little thing like rampant fraud get in the way of some gratuitous America-bashing.
So who is Charles Pellegrino - and I use the title “Doctor” here loosely, since this clown’s academic credentials are on par with Dr. Dre’s? Well, for one thing he does not appear to be a PhD holder from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, as he has claimed. At least, that was the finding of a reporter from The Telegraph. Those wacky Brit newspapers and their reporters – going out and actually investigating and reporting instead of acting as unofficial stenographers for their favorite leftist subjects can turn up the darndest things!
Now, to be fair, The Telegraph reports that he has an explanation. “Pellegrino countered that his degree was revoked years ago in a dispute over evolutionary theory but later reinstated.” Sure, as we all know, New Zealand is a hotbed of sheepherding and creationism. Pellegrino is clearly just another martyr to pure science victimized by the insatiable evangelical frenzy of the anti-evolutionary kiwi mobs rampaging across those idyllic islands.
Of course, Pellegrino’s reinstatement – in fact, the degree itself – appear to be news to the very institution that supposedly granted the doctorate in the first place. It seems that the only evolution going on here involves Pellegrino’s ever-morphing excuses.
And Pellegrino has plenty to seek to excuse – as well as a powerful benefactor willing to do so. Pellegrino and Cameron have been buddies for quite a while, and this is hardly their first controversy. The award-winning (well, not lately) director even scribed the introduction to Pellegrino’s book Ghosts of the Titanic (2000). As Michael Parit points out in his devastating New York Times review, it appears that pretty much the only parts of that book not spun from whole cloth are that there was once a ship called the Titanic and there is an ocean called the Atlantic.
Naturally, Cameron worked with Pellegrino again. He even contributed yet another forward to Pellegrino’s next book, 2007’s The Jesus Family Tomb. This time, the multi-talented Renaissance man was busy finding the remains of Jesus Christ and his relatives. Cameron then took it a step farther and executive produced a Discovery Channel special based upon Peelgrino’s theories. Except, as the Israeli Antiquities Authority charitably described it, Pellegrino’s theory and his alleged “evidence” were utter “nonsense.”
Now, as one might expect, the discovery of the mortal remains of Jesus might have just a few minor implications for the world’s billion or so Christians, if you count completely undermining the notion of the Resurrection and therefore entire basis of their faith. The effect of undeniable proof that Jesus was mortal would be profound – and not just to those ultra-evangelical creationist New Zealanders.
So one might think that Cameron would pause for a moment to ensure, before taking such a leap, that his “expert” was, you know, not a complete fraud. But sometimes, stories are just too good to check, and given the opportunity to slam Christians, Cameron eagerly allied himself with a guy who shouldn’t be trusted to accurately recap an episode of Gossip Girl.
And now Cameron is doing it again by embracing a demonstrably fraudulent “history” of how America ended the war that Japan began. The only reasonable explanation is that it is because Pellegrino’s tall tale supports his preferred narrative of America as the villain.
Cameron responded to the AP’s inquiry about Pellegrino’s Hiroshima book by saying, “All I know is that Charlie would not fabricate, so there must be a reason for the misunderstanding.”
That does not fly. A “misundertanding” involves a good faith but incorrect analysis of the facts and evidence. Manufacturing those facts and that evidence is something completely different – and much more sinister.
Cameron has no excuse, and his eagerness to embrace Pellegrino’s fantasies indicates something more than just gross recklesslessness. The claims of fraud regarding of Pellegrino’s Titanic book were no secret. The charges that Pellegrino’s Jesus Family Tomb claims were bogus were no secret. And Pellegrino’s inability to answer specific allegations about The Last Train from Hiroshima – about historical figures no one (especially Pellegrino) has records of, his reliance on imposters and his claims of statements allegedly made by actual participants that contradict every other statement the participants ever made – is damning.
This isn’t a mistake. This isn’t an alternative point of view. The only reasonable conclusion is that it represents a conscious decision by Cameron to again embrace falsehood to further his own nihilistic agenda. And that’s just plain evil.
Cameron doesn’t hide where he stands – except to soft pedal his anti-troop leanings whenever he’s called on it. He detests the society and culture that made him wealthy and he embraces the most patronizing kind of native fetishism. He buys into the global warming scam from the comfort of his mansions. He lends moral support to eco-terrorists from behind his phalanx of security guards.
In short, he’s nothing unusual in Hollywood. So one big question remains: Is Cameron in on it, or is he just a fool?
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157 Comments
" Is Cameron in on it, or is he just a fool?"
Just a fool.
I read Pellegrino's Ghosts of Vesuvius book years ago. It rambled a bit but otherwise interesting.
Anyway, I'm so sick of the America is evil and racist for nuking Japan song and dance, as if the country just decided arbitrarily one day to go pick on an Asian country out of the blue. The barbarity Japan demonstrated in WW2 is mind boggling. Of course, left-wingers like to forget about all that.
The fools in question are those of us who just had to pay Mr. Cameron $10 to see 3D Smurfs dry hump a tree. This is what your money is funding, folks.
Between Tom Hanks' nonsense and now this, my conspiracy thoery spidey senses are tingling. Why the sudden push to paint the war against Japan as something it was not? Why is Hollywood rewriting history like this?
We have to stop watching their movies if we are to have any effect. That is pretty hard to do, but SACRIFICE is the name of this game. Graveyards are filled with soldiers who sacrificed for freedom in a way we probably never will. It is OUR turn. So one sacrifice we can make is STOP putting money in the pockets of these Hollywood people who DESPISE conservatives and seemingly the country itself.
I am tired of giving money to people that hate me. I am tired of being ridiculed and ignored by these arrogant socialist fools. We are large enough in number to really make a financial impact on Cameron and his ilk. All need to do is ORGANIZE and swear off giving these leftists another DIME.
It is our money that sustains Hollywood, the entitlement programs, and even the unions. The one thing ALL these recipients have in common is they HATE, HATE, HATE us! Why to we give our treasure to those who would spit in our faces just because we love our country? We have to stop.
So, when are Cameron and Pellegrino going to start poking around Saudi Arabia looking to disprove something about Mohammed? Now THAT would take some serious testicles.
Well, he is obviously a genius in tech and temper… and calculated BSing. So he can't be a complete fool.
Indeed, being in on it would *ALSO* be proof he's a fool, wouldn't it?
"And even if they did find the remains of Jesus—which they will never, I can assure you—, do you really think that it would shake the belief in the Resurrection?"
If they found Elvis living in a cheap motel on the outskirts of Cleveland, do you really think it would shake the belief that he died?
Because the WWII generation is passing away and can no longer defend itself. Hollywood always goes after "soft" targets. It makes them feel "big" to know they can tear down whatever you accomplish, as long as you're not around to set the record straight.
Elvis is dead?
I agree, but to what end? What are they trying to accomplish by lying about what really happened?
To establish "Elite Global Citizen" street-cred, it is necessary to bash your country of origin…
…the harder you bash, the higher your status – Cameron, as we know, is aiming for "King of the World"…
…at this moment his only serious competition is Al "Savior" Gore and Barry "Messiah" Obama.
John 20:1-2
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
Of course, Mary had no idea what had happened — yet. She came across this scene of a once-sealed tomb (sealed with a gigantic stone), under Roman guard (penalty for letting the body get stolen was death), and simply saw that the one called Jesus was no longer there. Read the rest of Chapter 20 everybody (including you, James) to find out what happens next.
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. (Psalm 14:1)
I don't think he was ever alive, actually. He was a robot invented by Scientologists to show people their potential if you just gave them half a mil and went through "auditing". But the bot broke down on stage one night and started doing this hip swagger and they had to pretend it was the spirit of rock 'n roll. Ironically, they made more money off teenagers than gullible dorktards in Hollywood. Now they exist as a psuedo-religion and hire folks like Tom Cruise to act normally in public just to convince the rest of the world that they're a cult, so that no one will catch on to the Elvis fraud. Read all about it in the book: "The Last Pelvis in Elvis" by Dr. Charles Pellegrino, in stores this summer!
By the way, I fully researched that above comment, if by "researched" you mean "drank a lot."
The stupidity of all of this is that so many of the uninformed, a lot of the people that I disagree with on movie sites, usually come back with the line, "it's just a movie". For the last 15 years I swore I wouldn't put up with lazy simpletons who dish out crap and expect it to be accepted as art. Lucas killed my first love Star Wars and they seem to be falling in step behind him, Spielberg, Cameron, Scott, Hanks, and most of the other "Progressive" Hollywood elites. It seems though we are having an effect, look at Green Zones dismal performance.
Or folks like us, the Tea Party, and Bighollywood.
You owe me a keyboard….
LMAO
I agree but you also gotta look for ways to promote, make, produce, & counter, giving voice to the Blessings of Liberty.
Actually, Elvis is still alive and living in an east Texas retirement home with JFK.
WWII is one of the clearest examples of American exceptionalism. If Americans are to be the worst people in the history of the world, that means that we have to be worse than Hitler. So if Hitler was racist against Jews, well, we were racist against the Japanese. Otherwise, Americans would be better than someone else, and we just cannot have that! Etc.
I really don't understand the mindset of someone who would harbor that irrational view of America, yet I see it time and again by folks like Cameron and Hanks.
They're trying to destroy a shining example that sometimes war is necessary?
Kurt,
Been hearing about this book for about 1/2 a year on the John Batchelor Show. It appears that Pelligrino was lied to and failed to cross check that source. As far as the rest of the book, other than the slant, it seems kosher. In Camerons hands you can bet he will twist it into an "Anti-American the Military sucks" movie in the space of two heartbeats.
Joe
Well they don't think they are lying, if the ends justifies the means. Just as many Jews & Christians sided with Muslims in the Middle East and Spain, not knowing they'd be next, they'd be gone.
People, are inherently… sinners, and to get them out of it is much harder than for them to just submit. I believe, they are submitting to another ideology, Atheist-Communist and/or Islam. And in order to do that, they have to show their repulsion of Judeo-Christian America. They think they'll be immune to the genocide of Atheism & the terror of Islam… "Look I made a hate-America movie! Can I join in!? I'm safe right!?"
3D Smurfs dry humping a tree!!!??? Here's my $10!!!
My keyboard was also given a fine mist. Funny.
JFK is retired?
If the Japanese have any choice, it probably would be: (1) to not be portrayed as victims and (2) to have Toyotas restored to marketplace esteem.
Yes you are absolutely right… my friends scoff at an notion that there is an agenda, claiming "its just a movie" BUT THEN, saying they're not poltical… they'll say a line right out of the Liberal's playbook thinking that it's just common sense!
and they view me as the political whacko. very annoying. i'm getting real agro!!! but at least i got here.
And yet how many so-called conservatives continue to pad the pockets of these radicals by attending their movies? How many went to see Avatar? Those who do are complicit in the destruction of their own society!
boycott every one of them.
That may be true, but then again it doesn't answer the original question, why? Let's say they get their wish and everybody agrees Americans were the evil ones in WWII. We were the racists, we were the ones murdering innocents hand over fist. We were the ones performing vicious experiments on people.____What does this accomplish? What do the progressives gain by this? ____See, I think that people like Hanks and Cameron want to be regarded as people that changed the world. People that are so beyond normal intelligence that statues will be erected of them and national holidays declared on their birthdays. I think this is all an excercise in extreme narcissism. They want to be regarded as the George Washingtons of our time. And since they basically contribute nothing to our society except entertainment (depending on who you ask), they come up with this crap.__People like this just bristle with self importance. They get off on the way people react when they walk in a room. They have come to expect adoration and unconditional belief in what they do and say.____So I'm guessing they're doing stuff like this and saying these nonsensical things to inflate and already bloated ego.____
cont'd:
Unfortunately the byproduct of this is that history gets mangled, moral equivalency and political correctness take over, and peope lose sight of right and wrong. What these fools are doing is beyond stupid, it touches on lunacy.
Frankly I'm extremely disappointed in Tom Hanks. I knew he was a liberal but I thought he had enough class to separate his progressive views long enough to honor the sacrifices American soldiers made in the pacific like he did in Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. Those 2 excercises were so well done, so moving and honest.
Now this….
I think you hit on some truthes there. I think there's gotta be more to it than just that, but I don't think there's a logical reason. (I know, logic and liberals! HA HA HA!)
I think in addition to ego, there's a bit of guilt going on there too. These guys only do entertainment, so they get lots of money for doing little work. So to justify themselves, they bash America and capitolism in particular. Something like: "The system that gets me millions of dollars for working 4 weeks a year, while you work 50 weeks out of the year and lose your house, cannot be fair. But I want to keep my money. So I'll lament about the system while keeping all my money and pretend everything's jake."
I think the rest flows from these types of feelings (even if they're never stated). "American exceptionalism must be false or else I wouldn't feel this guilty being an American." Etc.
If I were Toyota. I would pull every prius off the market, they lose money on them anyway, make an internet commercial where japanese engineers are standing near a car crusher, white coats and hard hats, after crushing the prius, they both say in japanese, with subtitles – "Fucking liberals" – then they hop in their Sequoias – each driving their own – off to go off-roading.
I'd definitely lay down ten bucks to see smurfs dry hump a tree. I'd like to pick the type of tree… a a a Joshua tree… is a cactus a tree? I'd like to change my mind and say I'd pay ten bucks to see Jim Cameron have his face chewed off by a bobcat! Now that would be a evening well spent ! Hopefully they'd have the bobcat chewing segment in 3D and the moments leading up to the chewing segment in double 3D and triple surround sound!
The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima is certainly a controversial topic, and even if you 100% support its use, you can still empathize with the victims of the bombing. By the time the bomb was used, Japan was desperately suing for peace through the Russians, Stalin blocked the communications because he was planning to wage war on Japan himself. The Japanese refused to surrender without guarantees that the emperor was untouched, a position they maintained even after the dropping of the bombs. Japanese leadership seemed to also underestimate the power of the new bomb, and the Hiroshima drop did not change their position. Ultimately, when Russia declared war, they realized that no conditional peace could be brokered. They did succeed at winning a guarantee for the safety of the emperor, and fearing Soviet occupation of the main islands, surrendered. Hence by all historical accounts, the atomic bomb had little effect on the outcome of the war, and was not militarily or politically neccesary.
Whenever it was morally justified is debatable, some would maintain that mass killing of civilians is never justified, others would say that Japan's bloody crimes in Asia made it deserving of this fate. I am in the latter group, and therefore believe dropping the bomb was justified, but I do not believe it was politically or militarily necessary.
Well he can't bring it up, because if he does, he'll have to consider himself a racist.
It's all very confusing, let's just try to stick to the facts – America sucks, therefore everything that it's ever done must be wrong.
Once every one understands that part, then they can move forward and agree even if the book is total fiction, it's still right. Isn't that how Dan Rather explained it? False but true?
Oh there's absolutely some guilt in there. Instead of being grateful for the system that made them extravagantly wealthy, instead of nurturing and supporting this system so that others can see them as an example of why it does work so much better than anything else in the world, they see themselves as some sort of "champion" for the millions that never acheive that kind of financial security or fame.
Of course they employ the "do as I say, not as I do" tactic s as well. "How dare a corporate CEO that went to college and studied and started in the mailroom and worked his ass off for 20 years before getting to be CEO be paid millions!! But nevermind MY millions! Let's get rid of those evil CEOs earning all that money!!"
I like your research style. I've used it myself, it's how I got through 3 & 1/2 semesters of calculus.
If only… The reason Green Zone is bombing is not because so many conservatives are consciously boycotting it. Why then were the Bourne movies or Avatar doing so well? It´s escapism. People don´t want to be lectured or insulted, but they want a story that distracts them for two hours. Avatar, for all its flaws, provides escapist entertainment. Green Zone doesn´t.
Wow, that's an image I definitely did not need to have in my mind. Unless it ends with the evil white imperialist mercenaries shooting up the Smurfs.
Which is actually the way Cameron and Pellegrino "researched" the Jesus documentary in the first place.
Indeed. People want don't want Iraq war films period, liberal or conservative. Its just depressing to them and not why they go to the movies.
The "empty tomb" is a pretty big issue in New Testament studies. Its significance is that it indicates that Jesus was actually resurrected. If his bones were still lying around somewhere, the empty tomb would be meaningless and the Christian case for the Resurrection would be weakened.
(This is my understanding as a non-Christian who has read a fair amount of NT scholarship.)
Leftists believe, at the very core, that democracy, capitalism and free markets don't work, and they destroy humanity. So they have to go. That's also the reason they embrace dictators like Chavez and Castro – they've already managed to take their countries to the next step of social evolution, total government control.
Unfortunately, every day that America exists, it proves them to be absolutely, horrendously, obviously wrong. So America, as it's presently construed has to go. That's where your unrelenting attacks comes from. Since they can't drag tyrannical governments up to America's standards, America has to be dragged down to their standards.
And to accomplish that, you start by destroying America's achievements, any way necessary.
I think they've also bought in to their world unity/"we're all one people" crap, and want to see all the countries lumped together into one UN-run state. To do this, of course, you have to destroy feelings of "jingoism" or "national chauvinism" (read: patriotism) in each country. Since America is arguably the greatest obstacle to the realization of this dream, not only through its own inherent might but also through its feeling of exceptionalism, they have to go after America first. There's a method to their madness–though it remains, in the end, madness.
They have to know it'll never work. I mean c'mon, their political "leaders" like Reid and Boxer are toast. They have no shot at keeping political power. Just look at NJ and VA and MA. This is un-winnable for them. I don't think they are stupid enough to believe that plan will ever work here.
What I do believe is that they are misguided ego-maniacs that are not to be followed on any level. They are too out of touch with the vast majority of Americans.
Did you get your history from a Cracker Jack box?
The funny part about this is that if they do succeed they'll lose everything. Their money, their staus, their fame. They know not what they do.
They think they won't be touched if they decend our country into socialist hell. When in fact they'll be the first to feel that sting.
Hey James and Pellegrino, check out GOOGLE and search the date Dec. 7th 1941… that should help you recognize WHY we where at war with JAPAN….. fools every last one… I tell you, gheeesh louise…I guess these lefties are trying to rewrite history as well, um wait… they have been doing that for years…..
This book is no longer in print due to its gross inaccuracies: kind of destroys Pelligrino's credibility forever .. and hopefully it queers the deal for that pig, James Cameron.
Amazon.com Review
From Henry Holt and Company and Macmillan Books
It is with deep regret that Henry Holt and Company announces that we will no longer print, correct or ship copies of Charles Pellegrino's The Last Train from Hiroshima due to the discovery of a dishonest sources of information for the book.
It is easy to understand how even the most diligent author could be duped by a source, but we also understand that opens that book to very detailed scrutiny. The author of any work of non-fiction must stand behind its content. We must rely on our authors to answer questions that may arise as to the accuracy of their work and reliability of their sources. Unfortunately, Mr. Pellegrino was not able to answer the additional questions that have arisen about his book to our satisfaction.
Mr. Pellegrino has a long history in the publishing world, and we were very proud and honored to publish his history of such an important historical event. But without the confidence that we can stand behind the work in its entirety, we cannot continue to sell this product to our customers.
No I got my history from history books. You should try that. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan is a good start. If you are worried about bias, read original sources liek the minutes from meetings of American/Japanese leadership and make your own conclusion.
You must remember, these modern liberals are absolutely 100% convinced they sit at dead center on the political spectrum.
Because they believe that, what ever they say, think or do, can't be political, by definition. And if we can't realize that, then it's our fault for being so dumb.
If the bombs had not been dropped, I would never have been born. My father was a year old when he and his mother were put into a civilian internment camp in the Phillipines by the Japanese army. My grandfather joined them after a short time blowing up bridges. I could ramble on about the few things Dad and his parents told me about the camp – not all bad – but that's not what this is about.
If those two bombs had not been dropped, and Japan had not surrendered, they all would have died there in Santa Tomas. I am really sorry about ANY loss of life, Japanese and Americian, but frankly, I am very glad some of their various prisoners and other guests got to survive.
Indeed, as usual the left misreads most everything. This is circular reasoning, so don't be surprised when it makes no logical sense.
This is their thinking: the common American person is a doofus. That is the reason why the Iraq war happened in the first place. We were too stupid to see Cheney* manipulated us using fear, lies, and falsified documents. (*The reason it's Cheney is because in order to justify their assumptions that Bush was a moron, yet smart enough to pull off the lies requires some one behind the screen manipulating the moron, which is why they were able to fool so many super smart democrats in congress who voted for it too.)
And it was only due to the selfless patriotism of the left (Penn, O'Donnell, Moore, Zinn etc.) that they managed to wake us from our drunken stupor and cause Bush's ratings to nose dive, ushering in the glorious rule of socialism.
In other words, they – not the military – are responsible for the draw down of violence, and so they essentially won the war themselves.
So all these movies like Green Zone are just the Hollywood left celebrating their victory in Iraq and DC. It's a victory lap.
That last one might be a whole lot easier if they weren't staring at the owners of their main competitors every time they get dragged before congress.
He is just another liar committing capitalism under the table.
Oh, I dunno, The 509th association went after these ba$tards hammer and tongs..the rest of the B29er's did as well. THEY unmasked Pellgrino and his source and did not mind grinding into Papa Smurf as well. They'll fight to their last breath .,just like in 1944-45
Col. Paul Tibbets, the man who both organized the flight that dropped the first A-bomb and who was the pilot of "Enola Gay", died a short time ago. He was repeatedly asked in the years after World War II if he regreted his actions. Reportedly he always said something like, "I have never regretted it once and have slept like a baby every night since." Tibbets was a hard-bitten professional who experienced the actual horrors of war as opposed to Industrial Light and Magic special effects. Maybe that's the problem with Cameron and all these guys. They spend so much time in the lab creating "reality" that they forget there is an actual world out there that doesn't follow a script. Well – If Cameron goes ahead with this it will be interesting to see how he handles Harry Truman.
A Hollywood lefty re-writing history? I'm shocked.
It's not, the main source as been totally discredited by the 509th association ,the 313th BW association as well.
T Rav – I agree with your assessment. Sometimes I think that Democrats/Liberals/Progressives are just being stupid, but seeing how the Obama Admin and its minions are pushing Obamacare despite the serious threat that many can lose their seats in the next 2 elections, how the Gitmo Bar was undermining our national security, how Cameron and Hanks seem to be re-writing our history, me thinks that there COULD be something else underlying it. Preparation for a New World Order.
Conspiratorial? Yes. But at this point, after watching our gov't deterioate beyond anything our Founding Fathers would recognize (even if it hasn't gone full fascist yet), I can believe almost anything. And I want to be prepared. So I keep my eyes and ears open and don't discount anything without 100% proof. I will not let my guard down.
if you think it's can't happen here – that's exactly when it does happen.
"Hence by all historical accounts, the atomic bomb had little effect on the outcome of the war, and was not militarily or politically neccesary."
There I would disagree. It was the Nagasaki bomb which finally decided the Emperor to surrender. Not Hiroshima- that wasn't enough, especially since for a few days the Cabinet was able to shield Hirohito from the true extent of the devastation. I wouldn't describe the mission to Moscow as "desperate;" I would call it a "feeler," especially since the terms the Japanese mission was seeking provided not only for the continuation of the monarchy, but also for the non-occupation of Japan (a complete non-starter). And it wasn't the prospect of a Soviet invasion: the USSR was not a naval power and hadn't anywhere close to the necessary amphibious capabilities to present an immediate threat- as opposed to the US Operation Downfall, scheduled for November.
And even then, the hardliners attempted a coup to prevent the surrender!
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throw me a link. binging is getting me butkis.
"Elvis didn't die, he just went home"
~ Agent K, "Men in Black"
"if you think it's can't happen here… "
Indeed… This same thought was rather prevalent among my now-lost family members in 1930's Europe.
mmm, Calculus. I have fond memories of ditching that class in college.
The courage of the 509th and others like them has not and never will diminish. But they are also honorable and will not go arter Pell and Papa Smurf with violent attacks on them or their families as those of other philosophies have proven they will.
He is a doctor all right, he knows how to doctor history and his past to fit his ideology. He and Cameron would be so cute making BS films together.
BTW, I mostly liked Saving Private Ryan, but I do think the movie was ruined by what, if I recall, was Hank's last line: "Earn this." I mean, talk about totally destroying someone. As if it was even possible to earn that kind of thing in the first place. All it did was make Ryan live the rest of his life unable to live up to that irrational demand.
But other than that, great movie. And I should note that I don't blame Hanks for that line. He did a great job.
While in the military I was fortunate enough to be rewarded with a trans-pac flight ferrying a flight of F-18s to Japan. We wound up in Iwokuni, and rode a train to Hiroshima. There in Hiroshima is a museum about the A-bombing; in the guest book, I had never seen so many anti-American rants. There was nothing in the museum about WWII letting people know what happened leading up to the bombing. If you walked in not knowing about WWII you'd swear the U.S. just bombed the hell out of Japan for no reason.
Now that would be a smart way to get back in good over here!
I wonder if James Cameron has ever read The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII by Iris Chang. He really ought to put that one on his reading list.
Tom Hanks too …
There IS a real danger about this movie, folks – if you google/search engine Hiroshima and Nagasaki and look for anything that records the words and experiences of American soldiers/policies of the time, you will find VERY VERY LITTLE…you will also find a LOT of 20 somethings and apologists for the Japanese side of the story expounding not only those events but on how history should be interpreted. Where can I find anything online (or hardcopy) that will give representation of the American experience? Cameron et al know we have fewer and fewer witnesses around to speak out against them, and as products of their generation, probably now feel its time for them to start rewriting history the way theyve been WANTING to tell it but have been too afraid to do so while the Real Men of WWII were around to knock them out.
I despise the Left…
That seems to be accurate information, but it's also presented in hindsight. I would ask whether all the major parties involved in the decision to use nuclear weapons were privy to all this data when they were discussing options. It sounds very tidy when you read it in a history book. It probably didn't seem so at the time.
your history is, for the most part correct…
The Japanese wanted the US to admit to the divinity of the Emperor. It was their big sticking point. Truman wanted nothing to do with that. Believe it or not, this technicality cost thousands of lives. LeMay
and the 8th Air Force had already wasted Germany; the Dresden affair was particularly ghastly.
So, nuking Japan was a natural progression of events. We still believe it to be the right decision, and it saved hundreds of thousands of lives from the inevitable invasion.
I respectfully disagree, in 1945 there was one man on earth who could stop the invasion of Japan and that was Stalin. The US was determined to make friends with the Soviet Union and desperately needed the Russians for rebuilding Europe, forming the UN, and making sure Germany is permanently defanged. If Stalin dug in his heels, Japan may have walked away with its independence, the logic was that Stalin would prefer a weakened Japan as buffer between himself and the US. Japan was indeed desperate for peace, but its leaders felt that should Stalin offer his protection, they would be able to maintain independence.
As fate would have it, Stalin wanted Japan gone, so the last diplomatic lifeline was cut. When the Soviet Union declared war, Japanese leadership realized that the only alternative to capitulation was national suicide. They opted for the former though many wanted the later. I do not think that the bomb by itself would have convinced them to surrender, on the other hand, Russia declaring war may have been sufficient without the bomb.
I also found this – a report of eye witness by a Marine who was stationed in Nagasaki after it was bombed. Why isnt THIS in anything we read about what happened??
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?...
If I could give you two thumbs up, I would.
Somehow Tibbets is singled out because of the "special" nature of the bomb he and his crew dropped. But, the historical importance of the A-bomb aside, why should Tibbets feel any better or worse than the crews who dropped fire bombs on Japanese cities? They killed far more people in equally horrific ways. The same could be asked of the RAF pilots who dropped incendiaries on German cities. The only difference was, the other crews worked in groups so they could spread the guilt around. From what I've read, it sounds like some of those men lived in constant regret while others felt just like Tibbets.
There is no "higher truth" about what they did – there's just what they did. Take it or leave it. That's history.
Don't let Lucas ruin 'Star Wars' for you. Just ignore the updated versions and the newer films. You can still find the original, unedited trilogy on dvd (even though it's not an amazing transfer of film quality).
If people want to see Hiroshima from the Japanese point of view they should just see the anime "Fireflies"
Bet he CAN be a complete TOOL
The Japanese didn't want the US to admit the divinity of the emperor, what they did want was absolute assurance that he would not be killed, imprisoned, or deposed. It was more than a technicality to them, the emperor was the symbolic manifestation of the nation, kind of like the queen is to the British or the Constitution is to the Americans. If the US refused to provide guarantees for the emperor's safety Japan would likely fight to the last.
One of the best animated movie ever made. Though it is actually about the firebombings, not the atomic drops.
I also found this page:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/nagasaki/commentary/...
They are going to make this film to show that the reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because America had nuked them. Then we'll be treated to a film about Hitler coming to the aid of Japan for our sneak attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Of source Hitler's altruism was fought by the Joos, who controlled the world even back then, so he had to arrest them. They naturally went on hunger strikes and organized mass suicides.
(I apologize if any of the above seems to have been plagiarized from a modern school textbook)
not exactly…
His divinity WAS an issue; they wanted him to rule over postwar Japan. all of this fell on deaf ears, and, ultimately the US did not trust the Japanese. The handwriting was on the wall…
If Cameron is looking for a new project, he ought to consider doing The Life of Mohammed. A perfect topic for the kind of epic film that he likes to create. A wealth of sources to draw on; it seems likely that more words have been written about Mohammed than any other human in history. A guaranteed world-wide audience; starting with, but certainly not limited to, a global Muslim population in excess of 1.5 billion. Violence. War. Sex. Think of what Cameron could do with Mohammed’s marriage to his last wife, Aisha, whom he married when she was 6 years old (and consummated the marriage when she attained the age of 9). As well as Mohammed’s other relationships, which numbered in the dozens. Or consider the Prophet’s unceasing wars of conquest against the other tribes of Saudi Arabia; the subject just begs for a proper treatment on film!
The potential of such a fascinating topic would be more than worth the risk of Cameron ending up like Theo Van Gogh …
Maybe they'll put that stuff in Pacific towards the end.
I'll keep my fingers crossed
Fact-checking seems to be a primary concern here. So why is it that no one fact-checks the accusations and assumptions made in this article? I did a little research and found, percentage-wise, more errors in this article than all of Pellegrino's work. Don't believe me, though…if you're interested, look into it a little deeper yourself.
He is a fool who is in on it.
The same thing they accomplished with WWI: the rewriting of history to suit their ends.
Not voluntarily. That's just where the CIA put him after they faked his assassination and dyed him black on LBJ's orders.
Too bad they don't make historically accurate films anymore, like all those John Wayne war films, free of historical embellishment.
All of you who would use Jesus Christ and your own Christianity as away to make somebody else separate and wrong are missing the central tenet of His teachings. Jesus would have you FORGIVE – no matter the transgression. All this talk about Anti-American HATE is creating a little hate gallery in itself, here in Mr. Schlichter's comments. Hate manifests hate. Shoot, even TALK of hate manifests hate. If you love your Christ and want His light in your heart, you don't spend a lot of time talking crap about other people.
YOU SEE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE, people. So don't see the Cameron flick. Who cares? It's Hollywood. It's an independent expression (with no government money!). It's American for Cameron to have the right to make his movie. And for Kurt to piss & moan about it.
And however it actually happened in Hiroshima all those years ago, no matter what "nationality" you are – it would suck for you if you were there.
Which were what?
Wow!! what a bunch of speculators here. The truth was, nobody even knew about the bomb!! The decision to use it was strictly President Truman's who was a democrat. The US was gearing up for a full fledge invasion of Japan, which the Japanese expected and sent out their last pilots to do Kami Kazi raids on the US battle ships storming their way towards same. They were preparing everyone, even children, to fight the enemy invasion and/or committe suicide, which ever seemed honorable at the time. Once the bomb was dropped, the raids by our pilots continued until Japan surrendered. So, blame it on Mame or maybe the Japanese Military, whom, if they had surrendered, maybe so much damage would not have been done, since we bombed them to smithereens till they did. Yes it was a shame for the loss of so many Japanese people, but I guarantee, a lot more of our soldiers would have lost their lives if we had invaded. So which was best? Bomb or invasion??
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