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The town criers..
4 February 2012 | Ron Pickrell

Posted on 02/04/2012 9:21:01 PM PST by pickrell

In the closing hours of World War 2, the Japanese found themselves in a fix.

Increasingly Japanese citizens, who had been assured by their mainstream media that the war was practically won, emerged from the shelters after the latest bombings of their cities, and asked themselves, "If the week before last we annihilated the all of American carriers in the battle of Saipan... And last week we sank all of their remaining few ships off-shore of Iwo island. And yesterday we decisively destroyed their poorly defended airfields, then exactly why... today, is it us who are eating grass and burying our relatives?" But they said nothing. It was far too late for it to do any good.

The Imperial Japanese Army was selected for extinction. No one seriously bothered denying this. Their mission had been to serve the living god, the Emperor, and thus to serve the nation. Now in the beginning of August, 1945, the Emperor had been rumored to have recorded a message for his subjects who had never heard his voice. This Imperial Rescript was an acceptance of the Potsdam terms delivered by the Allies! Unconditional surrender.

The Japanese cabinet argued among themselves for the best part of a day over minor wording to be broadcast to the nation, rejecting the phrase "The war has gone badly for Japan," and after heated words, agreeing finally to the phrase "The war has not necessarily developed in Japan's favor." They knew that every little nuance of spin was important.

Several atomic bombs had already been dropped, and a continuation of that ruin promised. It would seem utter madness to argue about such nonsense. Nonetheless, it had to work it's way through. When the Emperor finally saw the script he had directed to be written, he was strangely calm, and merely nodded. The recording was made, to be broadcast next day.

But even that didn't end the matter. Over the next 24 hours, a cadre of field grade Army officers actually attempted to stage a coup against the Emperor, reasoning to themselves that they were "protecting" him from those who must have clouded his mind. The stress was so great that it is a wonder they could even function.

In the course of intense hours, through bloodshed, and nerve-wracking heroism on the parts of a few in the royal court, the Imperial recordings were smuggled to the radio station. And in the final irony, the transmitter which had for so long managed control of the population through embargo of any bad news, and tortuous twisting of what remained into pure fantasy... found itself broadcasting the stark reality of the downfall of a way of life.

Americans didn't discover the whole story until many years after the event. They only wondered at the time whether the Japanese were insane enough to fight to the last child. For they had heard through several sources rumors that the Japanese Army was demanding a final massive fight to the death on the Japanese mainland.

These Americans were men who had been outraged by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, and were now hearing that the Japanese military insisted that the only way to get favorable terms from the Allies was to force several hundred thousand more Allied deaths! This was supposed to make the Americans more favorable to acceptable terms??? Will people never understand that they shape their own enemies by the actions they take? That those who invent the kamikazi had better prepare for their own seppuku later. When you employ inhuman tactics, be not surprised when your enemy regards you as less than human.

What kind of madness forces an entire nation to immolate itself, protecting a man they elevate to godhood, yet whose policies had wrought ever-increasing destruction and loss upon them? It is unfathomable, until it is slowly realized that it isn't the entire nation, nor usually even most of the nation. It only requires seizing control of the information sources and the true levers of power. It just needs a population who believe what they hear and see. “They couldn't say it if it wasn't true. And, they keep us informed..."

It has been known since the dawn of man that a certain percentage of the population thirsts for a king, an elite being, who makes all the decisions. They merely hope that such a man is merciful and kind. They judge his kindness through his words and the look in his eyes. And they applaud those town criers who carry the message of his beneficence from village to village. Only a few brave souls amidst the crowd will ask, "You know it's funny, but you who sing the praises of this King are somehow silent when the people suffer from his stupid, destructive decisions."

The town criers follow their scripts. The citizens follow their destinies.

And your grandchildren will follow what they hear and see.

Maybe, like the Japanese did, they will emerge later to rebuild a new America.

But it is useful to remember that the Germans, who after the armistice of World War One were left with such crushing debt in war reparations, saw their economy collapse. This caused them to clutch desperately to a terrible madmen who assured them they could repudiate that debt, and force their way back to world prominence.

The only difference the Japanese saw, was that the Americans didn't destroy them with war reparations afterwards. The destructive effect of crushing debt had been learned.

Later, as our children and grandchildren try to clear away the debris, what will 20 trillion plus in debt do to them? What will several times that, or even more do?

Sadly, it seems that their predicament is not so different from that of the Japanese and countless other civilizations who threw away everything to protect their king and his policies. For if he is wrong, then they are wrong!

Until there is finally no choice.

What will the town criers say then? More importantly, what will we finally ask them, once we’ve pulled them down off of the podium and demanded an explanation. And most importantly of all, why did it take us so long?

You can bet the replacement town criers won’t touch those unpopular subjects. They’ll just look, as always, for the bad people.


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: consequences; rescript; worldwar
There are several awesome books on the last days of Imperial Japan. Unfortunately there are few good ones on the phenomena of national suicides.
1 posted on 02/04/2012 9:21:15 PM PST by pickrell
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To: pickrell

When you employ inhuman tactics, be not surprised when your enemy regards you as less than human.

Applies to the war on terror also. Only insane libs don’t get it.


2 posted on 02/04/2012 9:41:42 PM PST by I still care (I miss my friends, bagels, and the NYC skyline - but not the taxes. I love the South.)
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To: pickrell

“Several atomic bombs’’? Two is now considered ‘’several’’?


3 posted on 02/04/2012 9:47:49 PM PST by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: pickrell

The reason why there are few great books on national suicides is that few witnesses make for few great books.


4 posted on 02/04/2012 9:58:56 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: pickrell

The Japanese had an emperor. We have Congress: http://www.corbettreport.com/corbett-report-radio-055-the-tiny-dot-with-larken-rose/

“The members of Congress are nothing more than a speck next to the masses of people that they supposedly “represent.” Why, then, do the masses care what they say? Why do they invest so much time and energy campaigning for or against this or that tiny dot? Why do they ask the tiny dot for permission to do what they want, and why do they give in when the dot denies it to them?”


5 posted on 02/05/2012 12:01:39 AM PST by AZLiberty (No tag today.)
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To: pickrell

What a brilliant piece..more relevant today than when it was written...


6 posted on 02/05/2012 3:28:10 AM PST by richardtavor
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To: jmacusa
“Several atomic bombs’’? Two is now considered ‘’several’’?

You are right aboout the word. I tend to think as I am writing and thinking ahead, of "several" also encompassing two, but the dictionary defines it as "more than two but not many." A better phrase to relieve umbrage may have been "a pair of bombs."

I've made the error no more than a handfull of times... :-)

7 posted on 02/05/2012 9:51:55 AM PST by pickrell (Old dog, new trick...sort of)
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To: pickrell

Oh thank you but it’s just a trifle really. I was more asking aloud of myself, thinking maybe I missed an important part of history or something.


8 posted on 02/05/2012 11:47:02 AM PST by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: pickrell

TOWN CRIERS - excellent title, re-enforcing the central premise that propagandists have managed to sway people into mindsets that support political policies that are ultimately self-destructive. It gives historical perspective, even as the criers have come to embrace posted scrolls, newspapers, radio, television, internet blogs and ever-evolving tools.

The phrase that jmacusa felt compelled to comment on: “Several atomic bombs had already been dropped”, does immediately pop out, but it is obvious that it was a passing burble in your thought stream, skipped quickly by, not meant to be literal and certainly to be corrected if you had time to re-read. (I know the passion to get the article OUT, as opposed to painstaking editorial quibbles). It is more than made up for, IMHO by the following line:

“And in the final irony, the transmitter which had for so long managed control of the population through embargo of any bad news, and tortuous twisting of what remained into pure fantasy... found itself broadcasting the stark reality of the downfall of a way of life.”

...a definitive impact sentence, written with a poetic turn.

It has always been curious (at least to me), just what the Japanese military leaders thought to gain by stopping the truth from being broadcast. IF we didn’t have the bomb, they could have made a case that we wouldn’t have been willing to pay the price in human lives to subdue Japan - thus letting them sue for peace terms with a stronger hand and therefore (to them) a greater modicum of honor. But with the atomic bomb, we could have scoured their islands of all life; there would have been NO Japanese race left - this I believe the Emperor realized. As the people regarded him as a god (and god will only allow victory), then god HAD to speak...and explain REALITY. How can their race’s genocide be more acceptable to the Japanese War Ministers than the repudiation of Bushido pride?

The identification of Kings and Emperors as gods or as having god-like qualities is particularly insidious. When coupled with destructive policies, it has led to drastic results time-and-again throughout history, from even before Egypt’s Pharaohs and continuing through today. (Mark how Barack Obama was marketed as a Messiah by the Liberal Criers - I guess that would make Jeremiah Wright his John the Baptist, oh my). People programmed to regard bizarre national policies as acceptable because of their leader’s unerring godliness are then led to ruin time after time.

You are right that people are invested in the ideas and their representative; to admit that things are wrong and must be changed is a repudiation of themselves. Liberals and Socialists are terrible in this regard. Even though socialist policies have been proven unworkable and against human nature, they keep saying that THEY will make them right. But that is only some - there are also those in power who KNOW the policies do not work and work to stay in power, until they themselves draw out the long knives and make “corrections”.

This is a good story, that forces one to make comparisons with our paralleled current events. The avalanche of debt is trembling, waiting for the quiet, sorrowful sighs of insolvency to trigger and bury us. This may well be end of America as a great nation, that is, if we can even manage to stay a nation. And then there will be the great gnashing of teeth and cries of woe, as we all become the terrible pun of your title.


9 posted on 02/08/2012 6:34:49 AM PST by CentreRight
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To: CentreRight
I just noticed that the "Thank you for the excellent analysis.." which I thought was posted months ago.. apparently didn't get posted.

My apologies.

My thanks.

10 posted on 05/03/2012 11:02:12 AM PDT by pickrell (Old dog, new trick...sort of)
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