You're Next... An American Threat

Upon reading this propaganda, I was immediately appalled. It is a shocking image full with threats. It is physically threatening, showing a muscular Uncle Sam pulling up his sleeves, ready to finish anyone or anything off who is in his way. And it is socially and mentally threatening by using the racial slur of "Jap" and warning that the "Japs are next". It is hard to comprehend how anyone could create a poster like this, but by looking back at history it can be easier to understand or explain (but not necessarily excuse) it. 

On December 7th, 1941, America was at a standstill. The entire country was shocked. The Japanese had launched an unprovoked bomb raid of Pearl Harbor, using about 440 warplanes, killing about 2,400 and injuring 1,200. It is not surprising that this ignited a fire of anger, resentment and racism within American hearts towards the Japanese. Due to that anger and fear, Japanese internment camps were set up in 1942; imprisoning about 110,000 Japanese Americans, as well dropping two atomic bombs on Japan. It is easy to pass judgement on whoever made this poster as a horrible, racist person. And not that anyone would make a poster like this today, but weren't similar feelings stirred when two planes, piloted by Islamist terrorists, crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11? These attacks killed almost 3,000 innocent lives. I would not believe anyone who says that there is no racism towards Muslims or people of Middle Eastern descent in the U.S. You just have to look at an airport security line; who is more likely of being pulled off to the side for an extra search?

I sometimes have trouble using historical or temporal relativism as an explanation for this type of propaganda. And from a moral standpoint, the poster is plain horrible. But it is not so far fetched to understand how this poster was created at such a time and how it helped urge Americans to dedicate their time to WWII and boost morale. Obviously the image shows that Americans thought the Japanese as pure enemies, like in a video game, and not as another country with the similar goals, filled with real human beings. I am not saying that a poster exactly like this would be made today, advocating the war in Iraq, rather that the poster is very significant to current times. My first impression of this piece of propaganda was that it was offensive in so many different ways. And when trying to apply this poster to modern times, it gets me thinking; is this what Americans are thinking (maybe not so outright violently) silently about our war on terrorism? Do Americans think of Islamist terrorists just as people we have shoot down as in our video games and not as sons or brothers? I think some do. Perhaps Iraq is next for the Americans who want "finish the job".