Semester Deux, Blog Eleven

"If you were President, how would you confront the multiple issues surrounding the Geneva Conventions that we have discussed in class over the past week?"

If I were President, I would reform Guantanamo Bay, so that the Geneva Conventions are being followed and no international or state laws are being questioned or broken. By keeping the location, but changing the rules, there would be no "not-in-my-backyard hysteria" that would happen with moving the inmates to a new location. If Guantanamo Bay was made into something more similar to a normal prison, the prisoners would have more rights, such as to a fair trial, but there wouldn't need to be any relocation.

Honors Blog Two

December 10^th, 1941

Dear Friend,

            I’m not sure how to feel. As you may have heard by now, three days ago, on December 7^th, Pearl Harbor was bombed. Being Nisei, I’m conflicted about the enemy, but this attack on my home state of Hawaii makes me want to fight back. I was set to be drafted, but, after these Japanese attacks, Japanese American men are categorized as enemy aliens! I still want to help my country, but I’m not sure how I’m going to go about it. I’ll let you know as soon as I figure out what I’m doing.

Signed,
a Soldier

March 23^rd, 1942

Dear Friend,

            Still no news on my plans for helping our country in this war, but I wanted to check up on you. I heard that the President just signed an Executive order that allows the government to move people at their discretion, and that Japanese Americans are being targeted. In fact, earlier this month, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt issued a military proclamation that ended with the forced removal of more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent on the West Coast! Are you okay? Have you been affected by this proclamation? Luckily, here in Hawaii, I don’t have to worry about such proclamations because over one-third of our population is Japanese. It would simply be impractical for our economy. Also, the War Department just called for the removal of all Japanese Soldiers from active duty. How am I supposed to help my country if I can’t fight for them?

Signed,
a Soldier

April 14^th, 1943

Dear Friend,

            Finally some good news! On February 1^st, the United States Government reversed its decision on not allowing those of Japanese descent to serve in the military. This was due the success of an experimental grouping of Japanese Americans who completed construction jobs during the war, first known as the Varsity Victory Volunteers, and now as the 100^th Infantry Battalion. The Government has even approved the formation of a Japanese American combat unit! I’m definitely interested in volunteering for this unit. Apparently, there is a lot of interest in it, especially from Hawaii. More than 75% of those interviewed indicated they would be willing to serve this country, and I’ve heard that nearly 10,000 Hawaiian men are planning to volunteer. Considering that the U.S. army is only calling for 1,500 Hawaiian men, I’m not sure how great my chances are of getting in. I’m going to try anyways! I’ll keep you updated on what happens.

Signed,
a Soldier

August 2^nd, 1944

Dear Friend,

            I know it’s been a while since I last mailed, but a lot has happened. Even better news than last time! I’ve been enlisted in the war, in the 442^nd infantry. Hawaii is such a proud state, that more Japanese Americans enlisted here than from the mainland, and so – in the end – there are 3000 Hawaiian men in this infantry, along with 800 from the mainland. We met up with the unit responsible for the creation of the 442^nd – the 100^th Infantry – and they joined us to create a larger unit. We’ve gotten our fight song from them – “Four-Forty-Second Infantry— We're the boys of Hawai'i nei— We'll fight for you And the Red, White and Blue, And go to the front... And back to Honolulu-lulu. Fighting for dear old Uncle Sam Go for broke! HOOH! We don't give a damn!We'll round up the Huns At the point of our guns, And vict'ry will be ours! GO FOR BROKE! FOUR-FOUR-TWO! GO FOR BROKE! FOUR-FOUR-TWO! And vict'ry will be ours!” Isn’t it inspiring? Our units went into battle together on the 26^th of June, in Belvedere, Vienna. We showed those Germans that we could hold our own! I’m feeling good about how our Infantry will fare during this war.

Signed,
a Soldier

January 3^rd, 1945

Dear Friend,

            The War is over. The Germans have been defeated. I’m amazed I lasted from start to finish in the 442^nd Infantry. Our initial group of 4,000 men had to be replaced 3.5 times – at the end, nearly 14,000 men served with us. Despite our relatively small size, our unit was the most decorated for its length of service. In total, our members were received 18,143  awards, including 21 Medals of Honor, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 9,486 Purple Hearts. Our great work in the war led to a change of heart of many anti-Japanese critics in the U.S., and the release of our people. Unfortunately, much of the U.S. still haven’t changed their views on us, and it’s not easy. I came home to signs saying “No Japs Allowed”, and discrimination from many. Oh well. I’m proud of what I did in the war, and will have to just face what was waiting for me. Until next time.

Signed,
a Soldier

WW2 Imagery

• The USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on the day of the surrender of Japan, September 2, 1945.
• I found this image interesting because it really showed the extent of the war, and exhibited the use of military technology such as airplanes and boats.

• Created by Wesley in 1943, for the Office of War Information.
• I liked this piece of propaganda, because it was supposed to affect you emotionally, in order to prevent you from discussing was information. 

• African-American war bond volunteers, Pittsburgh, PA, circa 1944.
• I thought that this photo did a good job of capturing America during WW2, because it portrays the effort behind the war, of those who spent their time and energy supporting those at war.

Honors Novel Blog

 ‘We’, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, is a novel that was finished in 1921, that uses the author’s personal experience during the Russian Revolution of 1905, to portray a distant future. This future takes place after the ‘two hundred year’s war’, through which only .2% of the Earth’s population has survived. The book follows D-503 (all those living in this future are known only as numbers), who lives within the walls of the One State. The One State is where all numbers reside, under the Benefactor, who is the ruler of this world, and is re-elected unanimously every year. Everyone in this future is essentially brainwashed, where they comply with any rules or orders given to them by the One State, and anything done to the contrary leads to a public execution. Symbolically, everything is mathematical and precise. From their poetry to their music (“The crystalline chromatic measures of converging and diverging infinite series… What grandeur! What imperishable logic! And how pathetic the capricious music of the ancients, governed by nothing but wild fantasies…” as the main character describes) to their schedules and even their names, numbers and precision are important and necessary. All are even required to don uniforms. Their homes are clear, and privacy is nonexistent. The main theme of this book is of a dystopian future – this dictatorship that these numbers live with is not optional, and outside the green wall that holds them in is supposedly of an uninhabitable, post-apocalyptic world, left over from the ‘two hundred year’s war’. The main character, D-503, is the builder of the Integral – a spaceship intended to bring the kind of thinking of the One State to other distant planets, and to conquer them, as they have Earth.  However, things begin to go awry when D-503 begins to have dreams, and feels out-of-touch with the rest of the numbers. When he realizes he has a soul, he is distraught that he has caught this ‘sickness’. He compares this uncertainty to when he was a boy and first encountered the square root of negative one – “This irrational number had grown into me like something foreign, alien, terrifying. It devoured me – it was impossible to conceive, to render harmless, because it was outside ratio.” It’s once he has acquired this soul, and comes to term with it, that he is clued in to the rebellion at hand to bring down the Benefactor and the One State. After an attempt to seize control of the Integral, those in revolt are found out, and it is required that every number undergo ‘The Operation’. This operation is to destroy your imagination, so, as a result, “You are perfect. You are machinelike. The road to the one hundred per cent happiness is free. Hurry, then, everyone—old and young—hurry to submit to the Great Operation.” Although many attempts are made to avoid this operation, in the end D-503 is forced to undergo it. He wakes up rid of his sickness – free from his imagination – and ready to serve the One State.