Month: December 2004

December 7, 1941

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This U.S. Navy website has a good written summary of the attack, plus many excellent photos. The 9/11/2001 attack is often compared to Pearl Harbor, for good reason. As the anonymous commentary on the Navy site puts it:

These great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan’s far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accomodation might have been considered.

However, the memory of the “sneak attack” on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan’s striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.

(via InstaPunk.com)

UPDATE: Jim Miller makes book recommendations.

Karzai

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Let’s note today’s inauguration. And let’s look at the joy covered by CNN and the New York Times. And we can feel pride that we helped:

At a news conference with Cheney earlier in the day, Karzai was quick to thank the United States.

“Today whatever we have achieved — the peace … the reconstruction … the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community — is because of the help that the United States of America gave us,” he said.

“Without that help, Afghanistan would be in the hands of terrorists, destroyed, poverty stricken and without it’s children going to school or getting an education.”

Yes, there are terrorists and poppy fields. But this is a chance to look at a glass that seems to be more than half full.

It’s the Substance Stupid!

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Via kausfiles via Instapundit comes a story about the Democrats’ trying to revive their political fortunes by coming up with new names for old concepts.

“He has suggested that same-sex marriage should be referred to as “the right to marry.” Trial lawyers like vice presidential nominee John Edwards should instead be called “public protection attorneys,” and the term environmental protection, which brings to mind big government and reams of regulations, should instead be termed “poison-free communities.”

Stop laughing, they’re serious.

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Answering the Question

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Kevin Drum in The Washington Monthly has an article that starts out talking about how the Democrats don’t want to discuss security issues. He points out that 38% of the Republican delegates to this year’s national convention mentioned security subjects, while only 4% of the Democrat delegates wanted to talk about them. He then goes on to list four topics that should be included in any serious discussion of the danger of Islamic totalitarianism.

So I figured, what the hell? It’s worth a post. It’s not like anyone will bother to listen, anyway. Kevin wants a Liberal to address these issues (which I’m not), and anyone else will dismiss my opinion since I don’t have a string of letters after my name.

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The Hand that Crafts the Toy Rules the World

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Tradition says that “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world,” conveying the idea that those with the most influence on children are those with the most long-term and widespread influence on the world in general. Everybody intuitively recognizes the rough truth of this idea. That is one reason why public schools become the focus of so many political battles.

What about other influences? If “play is the work of children” then surely toys are their tools. The toys and entertainments we give our children profoundly influence the adults they will someday become. Battles over Barbie dolls and toy weapons reflect an awareness of this. Toys and childhood entertainments are powerful vehicles of culture. Just as the mother unconsciously passes on her cultural traits to the children she raises, so does the toy maker.

The production of toys and children’s entertainment is also a marker for cultural dominance. From the early industrial era through WWII, the principal makers of toys were in Europe. Most fairy tales and nursery rhymes were of European origin. In the post-WWII era, American toys and stories swept over the entire non-communist world. Children everywhere played with Barbies and G.I. Joes, and they watched American-produced movies and cartoons. American values spread with the toys. Whereas European toys reflected values of communalism, tranquility and social hierarchy, America’s toys reflected its values of individualism, dynamism and social equality.

So in this, the season of toys, it behooves us to ask: who makes our toys and tells our children stories today?

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