Here’s the US propaganda video detailing the “Japanese Relocation.” Think of it what you may, it’s pretty self-explanatory.
Sometimes the truth is truly the best fiction (or so we wish…)
“We saw Vietnam as an element of the Cold War, not as they saw it: a Civil War.”
I mentioned this briefly to Prof. Scanlon last class, & it’s something that struck me as wholly fascinating concerning the Vietnam War & nationalist tendencies in countries separated by thousands & thousands of miles. I was lucky to find the actual clip from The Fog of War – Errol Morris’ incredible (really, really incredible) documentary on former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara – I was thinking of, in which McNamara describes meeting with the former Prime Minister of N. Korea 20 years after the U.S. pulled troops from Vietnam. Basically, McNamara says that because the U.S. was not able to empathize with its enemy during the Vietnam War (which he goes into much more detail on if you watch the whole movie – & you should; I have it with me at school if you want to borrow it. Seriously.), the war escalated beyond our purpose. Our enemy – the Vietnamese (the “Communists”) – were fighting because their view of the war was that the United States were working to replace the French as a colonial power, whereas we were fighting for the “nobler cause” of stomping out Communism. It’s a pretty long clip (a little less than 10 minutes) & it’s worth watching, but if you haven’t got the time or patience, the part I’m actually talking about starts at minute 6:35 & goes to the end (I guess if you watch it on this page it goes backwards, so it would be from 2:44 to the end). Wait for it to load if you want, & then fast forward. Sometimes the actual videos don’t show up on the class blog, so here’s a direct link (or just watch it below):
Brad.
”for even as a youth, he ran to war
against his father, on behalf of her -
the lady unto whom, just as to death,
none willingly unlocks the door…”
Kingston’s Woman Warrior holds more weight for me as a piece of literature than A Japanese Nightingale, if I may make a quick comparison, because the way it uses its own poetic language to make its point is not only wonderful to read, but leaves no questions about where it’s headed. Whereas Watanna seemed unsure, unprofessional, & downright unfair when it came to her subjects, Kingston writes from both personal experience & personal grievances. She knows trouble, even if she has not lived through every minute of it personally, & her willingness to write without barriers about the trials is just further proof of her courage as a writer, as a woman, & as an Asian American. She seems to me to be THE voice of her audience, so much so that what she writes is written from inside Asian American Women as a unified, cataloged group, & could be related to many, if not all, of the tales of its past & future ancestors (truly, both exist).
Here’s a quick something I found interesting to pass the time. It’s a short video of Maxine Hong Kingston (Fa Mu Lan?) explaining the different histories & origins of Asian Americans & the effect they have had on the “new generation” of Asian Americans living here. The video’s got weird perspective problems visually, maybe it’s better to just watch it with the monitor off. It’s interesting especially to note the mention of the Gold Rush, which we heard about in Monday’s class.