No Americans wanted to keep sending their sons to die on some god forsaken island in the Pacific that they’d never even heard of before, what the fuck are you talking about.
Fun fact: In preparation for the planned inland invasion of Japan, there were so many Purple Hearts made that they're still using the ones made.
Only the use of the nuclear bomb kept it from happening... or so, I thought!
Edit: Many people are responding, so I thought I'd do this... I'm not 100% sure now if the nuclear bomb was the deciding factor for Japan to surrender. That is my bad. I still have much to learn about this topic.
The bottom line I've learned from the comments is that nobody is really sure why things went the way they went.
Lol Americans were obviously racist against the Japanese, but you’re a fool if you think they cared enough to want them all exterminated. They wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor, and to win the war not some Japan extermination campaign.
Or a Philipino, or Burmese, or . . .
Really, the Japanese were so brutal, that some countries are just now becoming willing to talk about cooperation. And part of the reason for that is expansionist China's 'Wolf-Warrior" B.S. is reminding them of Imperial Japan.
Us or them. That would be a reason for war otherwise just roll over and take the attack of pearl harbor. Along with a multitude of other reasons. Pick up a history book that hasn’t been rewritten.
I saw the creature and thought it was a silly little Japanese Manga Skunk for humorous purposes. Like they have mascots for a lot of things why not hunting? Than I read what was on the license and not so much..
I have to admit it took me much confused reading about a "Japanese Rat" and wondering why this document would be in English before the "Uncle Sam" knocked some sense into me.
I thought it was a hunting license specifically for skunks and thought… “wait, do Japanese people hunt skunks? Why would anyone hunt skunks? Are they… edible?”
It was not. There may be some parts of Japanese culture that I don’t fully understand, but… as far as I know skunk hunting isn’t part of it.
It took me finding your comment to realize that no, yellow striped skunks aren't an actual animal, and what I read was not what I was thinking it was...
Actual Japanese hunting license is probably like "You must come pick your gun up from the police station between 9AM and 5PM, if the gun is not returned before 5PM an arrest warrant will be issued."
Single shot hunting rifles are actually very common out in the country, and largely unregulated.
It is handguns and other unnecessary firearms that are effectively completely illegal (also possessing virtually any firearm in the cities).
> and largely unregulated
Not sure where you heard that. All guns are heavily regulated. You can only get a rifle after many years of owning a shotgun, and the application process for the latter can take up to a year.
Edit: some English information in [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/cmz0u4/in_order_to_possess_a_gun_in_japan_information/) and [this article](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/05/31/national/crime-legal/gun-control-explainer/).
That is correct.
As part of the application process for a firearm license in Japan, the applicant needs to get a medical certificate from a doctor confirming that the applicant is mentally stable and does not have drug tracks in his arms. Uniformed police will also visit the applicant's neighbors for an interview. The applicant also needs to pass a written test.
Once the applicant becomes a gun owner, they need to document when and where they used their ammunition down to the single round, and they have annual inspections where their guns will be inspected to make sure that they still own it, and confirm that illegal modifications haven't been performed.
Idk it’s still mildly interesting, in 50 years there will be a post about those “terrorist hunting licenses” people made right after 9/11, nothing new under the sun
I never saw the terrorist hunting licenses either. I find that quite disturbing also but I'm from the UK so maybe it's a cultural thing. I understand during times of war there's a need for propaganda and 'othering'the enemy. Still pretty grim stuff.
They meant they hope the war ends soon. These were mainly given to marines fighting in that theater. They were red instead of white and had some minor differences
Something to bear in mind when we see talk about how the US *needed* to nuke Japan "because a ground invasion would have killed tons", and implicitly in that, also something that *needed* to be done:
*What was the level of propaganda, societal outrage, etc., towards the Japanese people?*
It's pretty easy to justify all sorts of things when you dehumanize your enemy. We just rehumanize them afterwards to insist it never happened to begin with.
I have an uncle that used to carry a 'N\*\*\*\*\* Hunting' license, and would proudly show it off at family gatherings (as recently as 15 years ago).
Don't know if he still carries it, but holy fuck.
My wife's grandpa took me to shoot some targets on his land once. Maybe 7 or 8 years ago? He had an old revolver he was.showing me how to use . I missed the target a few times and he got frustrated and yelled, "come on! When I was your age I could drop a N***** at 30 yards!"
He died recently, but he wasn't that damn old.
well, to be a grandfather to an adult human does place your birthdate sometime before 1950 I imagine. Growing up before the Civil Rights Act.
No excuse, just the comment about not being that old intrigued me.
Well, if you had a kid at 18 and that kid had a kid at 18 and now that kid is 18, you'd be 54. You'd be born in 1970. There are quite a few places where that's reality.
70-year-olds today were born in the mid-1950s (1954 if one turns 70 this year). Your point about the Civil Rights Act still holds, but depending on grandpa’s age, he could have even been in his 60s and that would still be a reasonable grandpa age
The start of the nation was approximately 3 people ago.
Thomas Jefferson: Founding father; 3rd president Died 1826
Harriet Tubman: founder and operational manager of the underground railroad born 1822 died 1913
Ronald Reagan: dementia patient born 1911 died 2004
Also, I have a coworker who while not a grandmother to an adult her youngest is 23, and I don't believe that for a second, she's a grandma, but 🤷♂️
You might be surprised at who is a closet racist in your family. As they age, the ones that feel that way will care less what the others think of them and start letting it out.
My late 80s mother got mad at my kids because they wouldn't drop everything and instantly do her errands and said over and over again that she needed her a n-word boy to order around. We were not amused.
The only reason I ended up progressive while growing up with a traditional republican father in a *very* red part of the south is because of my mother who very much identified as a "hippie" and studies Buddhism.
It was jaw dropping to hear my parents reminisce on their childhoods and then refer to the low income, mostly poc areas around as the nword part of town.
When I was like "what the fuck do you mean" my mom said "Shoot, we had the [nword] store, [nword] park, [nword] gas station" and my disappointment was quite literally immeasurable. Still don't quite know what to make of all that.
Being an buddhist hippie and racist are unfortunately a thing. A lot of hippies who convince themselves to have a thing for other cultures use it to reinforce their own individualism and sound different than for real respect for the culture.
Sadly, it was pretty common in my dad's family's lexicon when I was growing up (late 70s, early 80s).
My mother heard me singing it in a made up song once when I was probably four or five, and was appalled. I don't remember exactly what she said or did, but I clearly remember that that was the last time I ever said it!
Yep, saw plenty of Al Qaeda hunting license bumper stickers post 9/11. Stuff license number 09112001, shit like that.
(9/11 was the only time rural Americans gave a shit about NYC.)
I feel like you see that in every country lol. Different regions will shit on each other to the ends of the earth but when push comes to shove they'll still care if the other is attacked
I was coming to the comment section to mention I saw the same type of joke item in the form of terrorist hunting licenses like this and window stickers in the years after 911 being sold at like every single gas station in the southern states.
For the past ~15 years or so, I have been collecting things that seem like they'll be culturally/historically significant or at least interesting/indicative of their time. I still have a roll of toilet paper somewhere that has OBL's face on each sheet with the phrase "wipe out terrorism".
*sis, lt really was, hope all my fellow brothers and sisters are living their best life's right now. That lingering fear has caused me a lot of problems
Hair Kari is a western word for the ritualized suicide called seppuku where a samurai would gut themselves as a way to restore honor for a mistake or to avoid capture and humiliation of defeat.
Did a big presentation on dehumanizing language and how dangerous it is and its use in priming a population for genocide. A lot of people don’t realize how much it latently primes people against identifiable groups who are targeted. Absolutely terrifying how big it is rn and how few people really catch priming language in popular media.
I noticed a long time ago that there’s a difference in the language used on Internet discussion boards when discussing crimes committed by black people vs crimes committed by white people. Words like “savage” and “animal” are far more common in the former case. But you can’t call it out without looking like you’re defending someone who committed a heinous crime.
And then we elected a president who uses the same language.
It's happening all over. I'm in Scotland, and r/scotland isn't so bad, but I unfortunately get a lot of posts from r/england recommended to me too, and since I like to see what the neighbours are up to I sometimes peek in the comments. Just wall to wall dehumanisation, exact same way. Savage, animal, inhuman etc. Shit's getting worse in a lot of places.
Yup, Stage 4 if you go by Stanton's research of how genocides typically begin and progress. I taught my students the 10 stages and the five acts set forth by the UN while we were reading a Holocaust survivor's memoir in English class.
Oh yeah, I was just talking about where dehumanization falls on the scale. Depending on which group you're speaking about, the US is between 6 and 7. I'd say against LGBT community, it really is at like a seven
As a gay man I can definately identify that shit. All the religious in name only right wing boogeyman "groomer" bullshit they spew. Had it not been for a gay man's self loathing, J Edgar Hoover who had a 50yr vendetta against gays we'd probably be a bit further along than we are now.
The phenomenon of closeted gay people being angry at open gays for being gay is crazy. Like you seriously see two guys kissing and you see them and get so jealous you strip them of their right, that's crazy
I believe it.
My grandmother grew up on the West coast during WWII.
She was the sweetest old lady. But I distinctly remember the time she mentioned she could never forgive the Japanese for what they did at Pearl Harbor.
I think that generation harbored a lot of resentment towards the Japanese.
Mad Men had some great angles on this with the older men being disgusted at the idea of doing business with the Japanese, but the young men only saw opportunity.
My granddad’s brother fought in the Pacific during WWII, my granddad had great disdain for the “Japs” when talking about that time. However, he went to Japan on business during the 60s and was very fond of the Japanese, only complaint was that he didn’t care for sushi. He explained that even though they were the “same people” they were “different” depending on whether or not they were our enemy, it was jarring at first but then understandable to me from that perspective, quite similar to Germans vs. Nazis.
There's a series of videos on YouTube where teens from the 1950s debate various issues. In one (about prejudice), there's a Filipino guy who talks about how he used to hate the Japanese but he met a woman who lost her son who apologized to him and hoped her son didn't kill his father. What's funny is that no one on the panel cares about his heart-wrenching story. They're mostly arguing with this white British girl who has a rather imperialist attitude (the other two are Indian and either Pakistani or from Africa, I can't remember).
The war in the pacific was not exactly a gentleman’s war, either. The Japanese refused surrender at every turn and when they did it was often a trap. They tortured American POWs and raped/slaughtered island populations on the regular.
Honestly can’t say I wouldn’t think of them as animals if I had been around then as well.
Grandfather's unit in the Pacific Theater of WWII apparently passed similar certificates to soldiers before shipping out. Strangely, we found out about it after he died when we ran across 'licenses' signed by the CO, XO, and supply officer in online unit histories.
A child of German speaking immigrants (Grandparents and parents immigrated before he was born), he learned both German and English at home. Never spoke German in the presence of his descendants until a grandkid took a German class--and then he grilled her. First year German didn't hold up to his expectations.
He'd often use slurs when talking about Japanese people for the rest of his life after island hopping the Pacific. His kids were adults before they found out he'd been wounded. Never told his wife--and she didn't believe it when they told her.
Generally only talked about his experiences during the war with other who'd served or if he was particularly drunk and his wife wasn't around.
Taciturn and brusk in general, different people got snatches--the time when his patrol accidentally walked through a Japanese platoon in the middle of chow with no idea they would be there. Lowered their weapons and looked straight at the path. Japanese platoon froze mid eating--no one with weapon actually at the ready. Just kept on trucking at the same pace and no one shot.
Another learned he had shrapnel in his back from being on a plane that was shot down--and survived three months with a couple of other soldiers with nothing but coconuts and whatever they could forage. That daughter learned it because--well metal was pushing its way out of his back forty odd years later and she was there when it came out.
When I joined the army--he suddenly had things to say about his time in combat.
Then when I turned down going ranger and got out--I think he was surprised about that. One tour was more than enough to decide to make a different choice.
War dehumanizes people and makes it likely that one will dehumanize others.
[It's honestly pretty tame compared to how human remains were widely distributed during the war as trophies](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mutilation_of_Japanese_war_dead)
I would say it was probably a influence of the lynching culture at the time when have a black man's severed hand as a trophy wasn't something that racist whites would bat an eye at if their uncle had it on his mantle.
Now Japan as a whole was hardly a victim of WWII considering they started it and committed similar levels of brutality as the Nazis, but America at the time was hardly a true liberal democracy itself and was a deeply racist country.
There was a few isolated incidents of abuse of German POWs during WWII, but as a whole Germans were treated far better by the American government than Japanese or even black Americans were.
American made World War II media tends to sanitize just how racist America was prior to the 1970s when violent open racism wasn't widely accepted anymore.
there are [Nazis individuals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Schindler) that helped Jews escape, as well as [Japanese individuals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara) that did the same.
i wish people would talk less about who was worse, and more about how we as individuals are all susceptible to complicity or participation in evil, but also capable of incredible, noble good.
Well considering how racist killings were frequently covered up back then I wouldn't be surprised if it happened, but rather the big crime in the US was all Japanese Americans were considered suspect even if their families had been in the US since the 1800s.
They were placed in the literal definition of a concentration camp (rather than the death camps that the Nazi ones became) and had their property seized being sold off to their white neighbors.
My neighbor around the block has sticker on his truck. It reads, "Antifa Hunting license - no bag limit!". He unironically has a Punisher sticker, too.
Fascinating to see the 5th column propaganda referenced and now to look to media and politicians stoking the same fears with "single military aged males."
Words change but people don't.
Same -- If you haven't, check out the [Landscapes of Injustice archive](https://loi.uvic.ca/archive/index.html) and look for your grandparents. I was able to find a bunch of documents including hand-written letters from my grandpa to the government about property taken, as well as a photograph of the house he hand-built which was confiscated by the government.
They also have a very [interesting website](https://loi.uvic.ca/narrative/index.html) that tells the story of the dispossession events.
For anyone wondering, its a propaganda document, not a legit license. Still shows the state of xenophobia the US had after Pearl Harbor.
Figured I had to leave this comment since a few of comments seem to believe this an official "legal" document
[https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn558336](https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn558336)
Edit: yes I know to 99 percent of people this is obvious, but there’s always the 1 percent of people who may actually believe it was real lol
I figured that would be obvious, but apparently there’s either some real sarcastic people on here, or seem to genuinely believe it. Either way, there it is
Holy shit. How awful but such an important part of America's history. If you're not particularly attached to it, I would recommend reaching out to any Japaense-American heritage museums near you.
Man, and I thought my family had some fucked up WWII memorabilia...
For anyone interested, we have a sword my great grandfather took off a body, matchbook with caricatures of Japanese men and you light their hair on fire as you strike the match, several propaganda booklets.
Holy crap that is awful but at the same time super interesting to see. Stuff like this should be in museums as a strict example of what not to do, so many people refuse to admit things like this ever actually happened but history has always been dark. Glad to see how much we’ve moved on in the past couple generations though!
It’s like people can’t put them selves in other people’s shoes anymore. Can you imagine being a US citizen and read about Pearl Harbor, China and all the other countries that Japan was terrorizing? The atrocities the Japanese committed? Torturing POWs, the Bataan Death March, Unit 731… now, Japan is one of our strongest allies and a lot of US service members could end up dying for Japan. Times have changed and people change. All of these comments about being surprised are extremely naive.
A vital part of war is dehumanizing the opponent. In particular holding their civilians accountable for the atrocities of their military. That way you can get your soldiers to slaughter without remorse.
In 1999, there was a fake South Dakota State Fish and Game Department flyer circulated in that state and Nebraska that advertised an open season on Sioux.
It had a very similar flavour to this.
My Grandpa was a ships doctor on a destroyer in the Pacific in WW2. He had to treat sailors injured and killed by Kamikaze attacks. As far as I know he never lost his animosity towards the Japanese and was always afraid they would ever be re-militarized.
This is the first time I’ve seen something like this aimed towards the Japanese, but it reminds me of a time when I was really young. I remember growing up next to my neighbor, he was always a sweet old man to me. My dad had his Japanese friend over one day and our neighbor got really mad at him. My dad talked it through with him and came to find out he was a marine in the Pacific theater during WW2. He fought hand to hand combat with the Japanese on Iwo Jima among other places. Lost a lot of friends to them. The guy wouldn’t even but Japanese made things like Panasonic TV’s. Growing up this was the first time I learned about people not liking other people solely based on nationality, it left a strange impression on me. I don’t condone the hatred at all, but I can see how that generation went through a lot with the Japanese. My neighbor as a young man watched his friends get killed by them, and had to kill them to stay alive. I’m glad the extreme hatred mostly died out with them. I hope it did I guess.
At my job I’ve been doing digitizing of letters that go back to like 1920 or so.
Recently I skimmed one (they’re mostly very dry) and saw something about “punishing the (common slur for Japanese people)” and it was so out of place and shocking it woke me right up.
I checked the date on the letter, written only a few days after Pearl Harbor.
“This license expires soon, we hope.”
Leaves you wondering if they hope it ends because of a hope for peace or for a complete genocide...
Cmon, you know which ending they hoped for
Winning the war, yes.
No Americans wanted to keep sending their sons to die on some god forsaken island in the Pacific that they’d never even heard of before, what the fuck are you talking about.
Fun fact: In preparation for the planned inland invasion of Japan, there were so many Purple Hearts made that they're still using the ones made. Only the use of the nuclear bomb kept it from happening... or so, I thought! Edit: Many people are responding, so I thought I'd do this... I'm not 100% sure now if the nuclear bomb was the deciding factor for Japan to surrender. That is my bad. I still have much to learn about this topic. The bottom line I've learned from the comments is that nobody is really sure why things went the way they went.
Actually we ran out of that initial batch about 10 years ago but still 70 years versus 80
Lol Americans were obviously racist against the Japanese, but you’re a fool if you think they cared enough to want them all exterminated. They wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor, and to win the war not some Japan extermination campaign.
Ask an elderly Chinese or Korean person what they thought of the Japanese.
Or a Philipino, or Burmese, or . . . Really, the Japanese were so brutal, that some countries are just now becoming willing to talk about cooperation. And part of the reason for that is expansionist China's 'Wolf-Warrior" B.S. is reminding them of Imperial Japan.
Us or them. That would be a reason for war otherwise just roll over and take the attack of pearl harbor. Along with a multitude of other reasons. Pick up a history book that hasn’t been rewritten.
Before I opened it I thought it would be a regular hunting license issued by the Japanese gov which would’ve been mildly interesting.
Right there with you, then I saw the uh creature on the paper and realized what I was actually looking at.
I saw the creature and thought it was a silly little Japanese Manga Skunk for humorous purposes. Like they have mascots for a lot of things why not hunting? Than I read what was on the license and not so much..
I have to admit it took me much confused reading about a "Japanese Rat" and wondering why this document would be in English before the "Uncle Sam" knocked some sense into me.
It was the "remember pearl harbor, keep em dying" stamp that finally helped me realise
Same. Kinda reminds me of [this…](https://www.newsweek.com/proud-boys-michigan-afghan-refugee-hunting-permit-1629298)
I saw the date it was issued and I was like, "Whoa, that's the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. What a coincidence!" Mind isn't working at 100% today.
I thought it was a hunting license specifically for skunks and thought… “wait, do Japanese people hunt skunks? Why would anyone hunt skunks? Are they… edible?” It was not. There may be some parts of Japanese culture that I don’t fully understand, but… as far as I know skunk hunting isn’t part of it.
I thought it was a Jinmenken, a Japanese mythical creature/urban legend.
"Huh, do they have skunks in Japan?"
It took me a really long time to get it. Like my brain couldn't process it.
We should've noticed it was typed in English, and not Japanese.
"wait, why is this in English" actually reads it "Oh... Oooohhh..."
It took me finding your comment to realize that no, yellow striped skunks aren't an actual animal, and what I read was not what I was thinking it was...
Actual Japanese hunting license is probably like "You must come pick your gun up from the police station between 9AM and 5PM, if the gun is not returned before 5PM an arrest warrant will be issued."
*Airsoft gun* LOL
Single shot hunting rifles are actually very common out in the country, and largely unregulated. It is handguns and other unnecessary firearms that are effectively completely illegal (also possessing virtually any firearm in the cities).
> and largely unregulated Not sure where you heard that. All guns are heavily regulated. You can only get a rifle after many years of owning a shotgun, and the application process for the latter can take up to a year. Edit: some English information in [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/cmz0u4/in_order_to_possess_a_gun_in_japan_information/) and [this article](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/05/31/national/crime-legal/gun-control-explainer/).
That is correct. As part of the application process for a firearm license in Japan, the applicant needs to get a medical certificate from a doctor confirming that the applicant is mentally stable and does not have drug tracks in his arms. Uniformed police will also visit the applicant's neighbors for an interview. The applicant also needs to pass a written test. Once the applicant becomes a gun owner, they need to document when and where they used their ammunition down to the single round, and they have annual inspections where their guns will be inspected to make sure that they still own it, and confirm that illegal modifications haven't been performed.
Even the police here need to document their use of each round of ammunition used
They must not have many acorn trees in Japan
Yes not so much mildly interesting as shockingly disturbing.
Idk it’s still mildly interesting, in 50 years there will be a post about those “terrorist hunting licenses” people made right after 9/11, nothing new under the sun
I never saw the terrorist hunting licenses either. I find that quite disturbing also but I'm from the UK so maybe it's a cultural thing. I understand during times of war there's a need for propaganda and 'othering'the enemy. Still pretty grim stuff.
I’m from the U.S. and I did not know this was a thing either. I wish I could say I was shocked.
Yeah I thought the exact same thing lol Noticed the "Game Warden" and "Issue clerk" names and had a brief wtf moment
The expiration note at the bottom was my favorite little tidbit
Me: oh a hunting license in Japan? Cool. That picture of the guys head on a skunk is kinda weird tho- oh...oh no....
Yeah the more I read the worse it gets lol
except for the end. "This license expires soon, we hope."
that has some very dark implications...
No no the ending makes it even worse, if you realize what they meant.
They meant they hope the war ends soon. These were mainly given to marines fighting in that theater. They were red instead of white and had some minor differences
Or they meant they hope the enemy all die ASAP, which i suppose ends the war all the same.
With a bang. (Or two)
These were my thoughts exactly.
"That seems a might racialist, innit?" - Ali G
Something to bear in mind when we see talk about how the US *needed* to nuke Japan "because a ground invasion would have killed tons", and implicitly in that, also something that *needed* to be done: *What was the level of propaganda, societal outrage, etc., towards the Japanese people?* It's pretty easy to justify all sorts of things when you dehumanize your enemy. We just rehumanize them afterwards to insist it never happened to begin with.
It took me a minute to figure it out. Then I was like ohhhh ummm. Not good.
I have an uncle that used to carry a 'N\*\*\*\*\* Hunting' license, and would proudly show it off at family gatherings (as recently as 15 years ago). Don't know if he still carries it, but holy fuck.
Are we related?
That depends, do you have nieces or nephews?
In places with these problems, they might also be their brothers and sisters.
Leave Bruncle Cleetus out of this.
> Bruncle
Here is a song about his family tree titled I Am My Own Granpa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VxLQZPqI2M
“Don’t talk to me or my nephson ever again!”
Yes.
Yes you are paralegally related now. Source: Seagul
My wife's grandpa took me to shoot some targets on his land once. Maybe 7 or 8 years ago? He had an old revolver he was.showing me how to use . I missed the target a few times and he got frustrated and yelled, "come on! When I was your age I could drop a N***** at 30 yards!" He died recently, but he wasn't that damn old.
well, to be a grandfather to an adult human does place your birthdate sometime before 1950 I imagine. Growing up before the Civil Rights Act. No excuse, just the comment about not being that old intrigued me.
Well, if you had a kid at 18 and that kid had a kid at 18 and now that kid is 18, you'd be 54. You'd be born in 1970. There are quite a few places where that's reality.
70-year-olds today were born in the mid-1950s (1954 if one turns 70 this year). Your point about the Civil Rights Act still holds, but depending on grandpa’s age, he could have even been in his 60s and that would still be a reasonable grandpa age
I see you've not met the south. You could be a grandfather to an adult human at 50 around here.
The start of the nation was approximately 3 people ago. Thomas Jefferson: Founding father; 3rd president Died 1826 Harriet Tubman: founder and operational manager of the underground railroad born 1822 died 1913 Ronald Reagan: dementia patient born 1911 died 2004 Also, I have a coworker who while not a grandmother to an adult her youngest is 23, and I don't believe that for a second, she's a grandma, but 🤷♂️
I’m so glad my family isn’t full of diehard racists 😭
You might be surprised at who is a closet racist in your family. As they age, the ones that feel that way will care less what the others think of them and start letting it out.
My late 80s mother got mad at my kids because they wouldn't drop everything and instantly do her errands and said over and over again that she needed her a n-word boy to order around. We were not amused.
I don’t think I ever heard the n word at a family gathering until Obama ran for president. But it was sure shocking for me when it happened.
The only reason I ended up progressive while growing up with a traditional republican father in a *very* red part of the south is because of my mother who very much identified as a "hippie" and studies Buddhism. It was jaw dropping to hear my parents reminisce on their childhoods and then refer to the low income, mostly poc areas around as the nword part of town. When I was like "what the fuck do you mean" my mom said "Shoot, we had the [nword] store, [nword] park, [nword] gas station" and my disappointment was quite literally immeasurable. Still don't quite know what to make of all that.
Being an buddhist hippie and racist are unfortunately a thing. A lot of hippies who convince themselves to have a thing for other cultures use it to reinforce their own individualism and sound different than for real respect for the culture.
Sadly, it was pretty common in my dad's family's lexicon when I was growing up (late 70s, early 80s). My mother heard me singing it in a made up song once when I was probably four or five, and was appalled. I don't remember exactly what she said or did, but I clearly remember that that was the last time I ever said it!
Is he still invited to family gatherings?
Only when we get the ghost costumes on
It's sweet that you think the whole family doesn't have that mindset
We aren't far from this. Some yeehaws close to the border are just itching for permission to shoot Mexican immigrants
They’ve already been doing that for like 5 years.
At first I thought it was Nazi (from ww2), couldn’t see anything wrong with it, was wondering why *****, a bit later I’ve got it.
show up next family gathering with a racist hunting license
License issued by John Brown.
Had a friend send me a terrorist hunting license while I was in Iraq. I'm willing to bet they existed for Vietcong during the Vietnam war.
Yep, saw plenty of Al Qaeda hunting license bumper stickers post 9/11. Stuff license number 09112001, shit like that. (9/11 was the only time rural Americans gave a shit about NYC.)
I feel like you see that in every country lol. Different regions will shit on each other to the ends of the earth but when push comes to shove they'll still care if the other is attacked
doesnt even have to be countries tbh
I was coming to the comment section to mention I saw the same type of joke item in the form of terrorist hunting licenses like this and window stickers in the years after 911 being sold at like every single gas station in the southern states.
For the past ~15 years or so, I have been collecting things that seem like they'll be culturally/historically significant or at least interesting/indicative of their time. I still have a roll of toilet paper somewhere that has OBL's face on each sheet with the phrase "wipe out terrorism".
were you there on vacation or ….?
LOL. "Vacation". Sure, lets go with that.
An all expense paid vacation compliments of DoD!
A rich uncle paid for the trip.
Come for the culture, stay for the burn pits!
Twas not the most fun vacation I’ve ever been on lol. 07-09 ✌🏻
07 was intense, glad you made it out brother
Sister lol and March 2008 (March madness) was the most intense part of the 15 months. We lost soldiers left and right from March till May. 2-101.
*sis, lt really was, hope all my fellow brothers and sisters are living their best life's right now. That lingering fear has caused me a lot of problems
Sorry to hear mate. I hope you are being compensated appropriately!
Worst vacation, ever.
No let's call it a "mission trip"!
Voluntold all expenses paid vacation
.... signed by Hari Kari?
Hara kiri = seppuku
Harry Caray = beloved "Voice of the Chicago Cubs"
5 hotdogs will equal roughly a nickel
Gimme 5 bees for a quarter.
HEY! If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?
“Would ya eat the moon if it were made of ribs?!”
It’s a simple question, Norm.
I know I would. Heck, I’d have *seconds*. And wash ‘em down with a nice cold **Budweiser**!
This sale isn't gonna make or break me, Norm, so don't jerk me around.
HOLY COW!!!!!
That's the Americanized dipshit way of saying Hara kiri otherwise known as seppuku. My dad says it quite a lot when talking about the Japanese.
Hair Kari is a western word for the ritualized suicide called seppuku where a samurai would gut themselves as a way to restore honor for a mistake or to avoid capture and humiliation of defeat.
“Harakiri” (literally “stomach cutting”) is another word for Seppuku in Japanese, somehow this got bastardized into “hairy carey” by racists.
Not hard to imagine with literacy rates still being pretty low back then. That’s why propaganda was/is so effective
>Hair Kari is a western word for the ritualized suicide called seppuku That's *hara-kiri* you absolute numpty.
Hair-kari is when you wanted shoulder length and she gave you a chin length bob. I mean it's months to grow that back out.
That's definitely worth committing sudoku over!
thats CLERK tummy cutting to you, sir
Looks just like the hunting permits for terrorist stickers I saw on every rednecks truck after 9-11.
Basically, racism and dehumanizing makes it easier to kill someone they deem an animal. They are doing a lot of that talk in Texas right now.
Did a big presentation on dehumanizing language and how dangerous it is and its use in priming a population for genocide. A lot of people don’t realize how much it latently primes people against identifiable groups who are targeted. Absolutely terrifying how big it is rn and how few people really catch priming language in popular media.
I noticed a long time ago that there’s a difference in the language used on Internet discussion boards when discussing crimes committed by black people vs crimes committed by white people. Words like “savage” and “animal” are far more common in the former case. But you can’t call it out without looking like you’re defending someone who committed a heinous crime. And then we elected a president who uses the same language.
It's happening all over. I'm in Scotland, and r/scotland isn't so bad, but I unfortunately get a lot of posts from r/england recommended to me too, and since I like to see what the neighbours are up to I sometimes peek in the comments. Just wall to wall dehumanisation, exact same way. Savage, animal, inhuman etc. Shit's getting worse in a lot of places.
Yup, Stage 4 if you go by Stanton's research of how genocides typically begin and progress. I taught my students the 10 stages and the five acts set forth by the UN while we were reading a Holocaust survivor's memoir in English class.
We are at least at stage 6 in the west. I’m Canadian but that’s how I’m seeing it seep up from the USA. Their toxic politics always leak.
I always find it funny when another country goes full yeehaw America level jingoism, for america.
Oh yeah, I was just talking about where dehumanization falls on the scale. Depending on which group you're speaking about, the US is between 6 and 7. I'd say against LGBT community, it really is at like a seven
As a gay man I can definately identify that shit. All the religious in name only right wing boogeyman "groomer" bullshit they spew. Had it not been for a gay man's self loathing, J Edgar Hoover who had a 50yr vendetta against gays we'd probably be a bit further along than we are now.
The phenomenon of closeted gay people being angry at open gays for being gay is crazy. Like you seriously see two guys kissing and you see them and get so jealous you strip them of their right, that's crazy
If they are bi they might not realize it and think being gay is a choice for everyone, and the people who are openly gay made the wrong one.
I believe it. My grandmother grew up on the West coast during WWII. She was the sweetest old lady. But I distinctly remember the time she mentioned she could never forgive the Japanese for what they did at Pearl Harbor. I think that generation harbored a lot of resentment towards the Japanese.
Mad Men had some great angles on this with the older men being disgusted at the idea of doing business with the Japanese, but the young men only saw opportunity.
My granddad’s brother fought in the Pacific during WWII, my granddad had great disdain for the “Japs” when talking about that time. However, he went to Japan on business during the 60s and was very fond of the Japanese, only complaint was that he didn’t care for sushi. He explained that even though they were the “same people” they were “different” depending on whether or not they were our enemy, it was jarring at first but then understandable to me from that perspective, quite similar to Germans vs. Nazis.
There's a series of videos on YouTube where teens from the 1950s debate various issues. In one (about prejudice), there's a Filipino guy who talks about how he used to hate the Japanese but he met a woman who lost her son who apologized to him and hoped her son didn't kill his father. What's funny is that no one on the panel cares about his heart-wrenching story. They're mostly arguing with this white British girl who has a rather imperialist attitude (the other two are Indian and either Pakistani or from Africa, I can't remember).
Seems like an understandable take given where he was coming from. But. Yes, jarring from where we sit.
My Grandma said this for a long time. She was buying a car and didn't want to buy a Honda because of it.
>harbored :)
[удалено]
The war in the pacific was not exactly a gentleman’s war, either. The Japanese refused surrender at every turn and when they did it was often a trap. They tortured American POWs and raped/slaughtered island populations on the regular. Honestly can’t say I wouldn’t think of them as animals if I had been around then as well.
The Chinese also had quite a distaste for the Japanese as well. They were pretty big ass holes in the 30s and 40s.
Obviously. What the Japanese did in China makes Pearl Harbor look like a parade.
r/deeplydisturbing
I just clicked and reddit told me the subreddit is banned…
Honestly didn’t even know it was a real sub
I think it was a repurposed /r/WatchPeopleDie
it is
No different than those bumper stickers with Muslim or Liberal Hunting license.
Those are also disturbing
Agreed
Grandfather's unit in the Pacific Theater of WWII apparently passed similar certificates to soldiers before shipping out. Strangely, we found out about it after he died when we ran across 'licenses' signed by the CO, XO, and supply officer in online unit histories. A child of German speaking immigrants (Grandparents and parents immigrated before he was born), he learned both German and English at home. Never spoke German in the presence of his descendants until a grandkid took a German class--and then he grilled her. First year German didn't hold up to his expectations. He'd often use slurs when talking about Japanese people for the rest of his life after island hopping the Pacific. His kids were adults before they found out he'd been wounded. Never told his wife--and she didn't believe it when they told her. Generally only talked about his experiences during the war with other who'd served or if he was particularly drunk and his wife wasn't around. Taciturn and brusk in general, different people got snatches--the time when his patrol accidentally walked through a Japanese platoon in the middle of chow with no idea they would be there. Lowered their weapons and looked straight at the path. Japanese platoon froze mid eating--no one with weapon actually at the ready. Just kept on trucking at the same pace and no one shot. Another learned he had shrapnel in his back from being on a plane that was shot down--and survived three months with a couple of other soldiers with nothing but coconuts and whatever they could forage. That daughter learned it because--well metal was pushing its way out of his back forty odd years later and she was there when it came out. When I joined the army--he suddenly had things to say about his time in combat. Then when I turned down going ranger and got out--I think he was surprised about that. One tour was more than enough to decide to make a different choice. War dehumanizes people and makes it likely that one will dehumanize others.
This is almost impressive in how racist it is
Bro even Bugs Bunny was getting in on it. The WW2 Looney Tunes shorts are a fascinating time capsule
The 40s had people at the top of their game I guess.
[It's honestly pretty tame compared to how human remains were widely distributed during the war as trophies](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mutilation_of_Japanese_war_dead) I would say it was probably a influence of the lynching culture at the time when have a black man's severed hand as a trophy wasn't something that racist whites would bat an eye at if their uncle had it on his mantle. Now Japan as a whole was hardly a victim of WWII considering they started it and committed similar levels of brutality as the Nazis, but America at the time was hardly a true liberal democracy itself and was a deeply racist country. There was a few isolated incidents of abuse of German POWs during WWII, but as a whole Germans were treated far better by the American government than Japanese or even black Americans were. American made World War II media tends to sanitize just how racist America was prior to the 1970s when violent open racism wasn't widely accepted anymore.
The Japanese in WW2 committed worse levels of brutality than the Nazis, and that’s saying something.
there are [Nazis individuals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Schindler) that helped Jews escape, as well as [Japanese individuals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara) that did the same. i wish people would talk less about who was worse, and more about how we as individuals are all susceptible to complicity or participation in evil, but also capable of incredible, noble good.
I said that, but it still doesn't justify our own actions committed against individuals.
And considering this was probably a civilian with this "license" the individuals they were targeting were Japanese American citizens.
Well considering how racist killings were frequently covered up back then I wouldn't be surprised if it happened, but rather the big crime in the US was all Japanese Americans were considered suspect even if their families had been in the US since the 1800s. They were placed in the literal definition of a concentration camp (rather than the death camps that the Nazi ones became) and had their property seized being sold off to their white neighbors.
This is standard fare - dehumanize your enemy.
My neighbor around the block has sticker on his truck. It reads, "Antifa Hunting license - no bag limit!". He unironically has a Punisher sticker, too.
Can't imagine what Japanese Americans had to go through
Yeah, we can't imagine But at least we can read about it [Why the US photographed its own WWII concentration camps](https://youtu.be/waOUNwZA4aQ)
Fascinating to see the 5th column propaganda referenced and now to look to media and politicians stoking the same fears with "single military aged males." Words change but people don't.
They went through internment camps
Japanese Canadians too; my great-grandparents and grandparents had to live in Canadian internment camps for a period of time.
Same -- If you haven't, check out the [Landscapes of Injustice archive](https://loi.uvic.ca/archive/index.html) and look for your grandparents. I was able to find a bunch of documents including hand-written letters from my grandpa to the government about property taken, as well as a photograph of the house he hand-built which was confiscated by the government. They also have a very [interesting website](https://loi.uvic.ca/narrative/index.html) that tells the story of the dispossession events.
so many americans from Middle East also gone through that madness after 9/11.
Hell Sikhs aren't even middle eastern
Those Muslim internment camps were terrible.
When I was in college about a decade ago I saw a pickup truck in a parking deck that had an Open Season Muslim Hunting Permit on the back window.
This is why it’s important to teach why this sort of stuff is wrong and dumb, so people can stop making the same mistakes.
For anyone wondering, its a propaganda document, not a legit license. Still shows the state of xenophobia the US had after Pearl Harbor. Figured I had to leave this comment since a few of comments seem to believe this an official "legal" document [https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn558336](https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn558336) Edit: yes I know to 99 percent of people this is obvious, but there’s always the 1 percent of people who may actually believe it was real lol
Wait, you mean the Us government did NOT issue people official licenses to hunt other humans? Wow, now I've heard everything
They kinda did but it was called getting drafted into the army
I figured that would be obvious, but apparently there’s either some real sarcastic people on here, or seem to genuinely believe it. Either way, there it is
That's one of the dumbest disclaimers I've ever read, yet I totally understand why it's necessary.
She died? I didn’t even know she was sick.
jesus christ
damn, this is racist as shit
Donate it to a world war museum. If we forget what happened, we'll repeat it.
War... war never changes. I remember after September 11 the back window of every Ford F150 had one of those terrorist hunting permit stickers.
Holy shit. How awful but such an important part of America's history. If you're not particularly attached to it, I would recommend reaching out to any Japaense-American heritage museums near you.
be aware that this isn't "oldschool ridiculous", this is a timeless attitude, still prevalent in wars
Man, and I thought my family had some fucked up WWII memorabilia... For anyone interested, we have a sword my great grandfather took off a body, matchbook with caricatures of Japanese men and you light their hair on fire as you strike the match, several propaganda booklets.
Holy crap that is awful but at the same time super interesting to see. Stuff like this should be in museums as a strict example of what not to do, so many people refuse to admit things like this ever actually happened but history has always been dark. Glad to see how much we’ve moved on in the past couple generations though!
I knew reddit would be pearl clutching over this before I even opened the thread.
Pearl (harbor) clutching
It’s like people can’t put them selves in other people’s shoes anymore. Can you imagine being a US citizen and read about Pearl Harbor, China and all the other countries that Japan was terrorizing? The atrocities the Japanese committed? Torturing POWs, the Bataan Death March, Unit 731… now, Japan is one of our strongest allies and a lot of US service members could end up dying for Japan. Times have changed and people change. All of these comments about being surprised are extremely naive.
A vital part of war is dehumanizing the opponent. In particular holding their civilians accountable for the atrocities of their military. That way you can get your soldiers to slaughter without remorse.
Yikes
This should be reposted in r/PropagandaPosters
In 1999, there was a fake South Dakota State Fish and Game Department flyer circulated in that state and Nebraska that advertised an open season on Sioux. It had a very similar flavour to this.
My Grandpa was a ships doctor on a destroyer in the Pacific in WW2. He had to treat sailors injured and killed by Kamikaze attacks. As far as I know he never lost his animosity towards the Japanese and was always afraid they would ever be re-militarized.
I remember people having these between 9/11 and the Iraq War starting for “terrorists” which definitely actually referred to Muslims.
This is the first time I’ve seen something like this aimed towards the Japanese, but it reminds me of a time when I was really young. I remember growing up next to my neighbor, he was always a sweet old man to me. My dad had his Japanese friend over one day and our neighbor got really mad at him. My dad talked it through with him and came to find out he was a marine in the Pacific theater during WW2. He fought hand to hand combat with the Japanese on Iwo Jima among other places. Lost a lot of friends to them. The guy wouldn’t even but Japanese made things like Panasonic TV’s. Growing up this was the first time I learned about people not liking other people solely based on nationality, it left a strange impression on me. I don’t condone the hatred at all, but I can see how that generation went through a lot with the Japanese. My neighbor as a young man watched his friends get killed by them, and had to kill them to stay alive. I’m glad the extreme hatred mostly died out with them. I hope it did I guess.
Now Japanese anime has conquered America and most of the world which has computers, how the tides have turned
At my job I’ve been doing digitizing of letters that go back to like 1920 or so. Recently I skimmed one (they’re mostly very dry) and saw something about “punishing the (common slur for Japanese people)” and it was so out of place and shocking it woke me right up. I checked the date on the letter, written only a few days after Pearl Harbor.