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So last night I was going about youtube and ended up binge watching a bunch of the US military's part educational part propaganda cartoons made by the same folks who gave us Looney Tunes. Those of course being the Private Snafu cartoons, here's an example of one

But then eventually that led me to an orientation film for US soldiers involved in the occupation of Germany Post WW2 and it is pretty facinating to see the way the US really viewed the Germans after the war. At first glance I thought it was pretty harsh and generally pretty backwards thinking for making a lasting peace, but in all honesty at second thought looking through their eyes I think it's completely understandable for what its purpose is, although I think it built a rather thick wall on negative American opinions of the German people. So for the sake of some interesting conversation, give this video a watch and give me your thoughts on it.

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This is a bit quick but I just started watching another orientation video from Post WW2 occupation, this one for Japan, and it's quite a different picture. Another point might be to look at the differences between these two.

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I'll watch those when I get the time, but in the meantime, some more interesting American propaganda videos on this topic:

Educational video for anti-aircraft personnel on identifying Japanese planes. Interesting how they paint the Japanese as naturally inferior copycats.

This one is actually quite good, and worth a watch due to its universal relevancy, even to today.

I mean you can't really blame the Americans for just calling the Japanese aircraft inferior versions of American aircraft. There is some truth to it, but are you really going to give props to your enemy which you see as an inferior culture and race?

The American view of the Japanese during the Second World War is an interesting one to say the least, if anything they were a far more mysterious and savage enemy than the Germans.

Following the war from what I can tell by the tone of the video on the occupation forces job in Japan, the Americans viewed them like ignorant children who just didn't know any better, and that they were simply brainwashed into being so savage, and that's not entirely off base to be honest, though some of the reasoning behind it I imagine is pretty far off. And for what it is, this did nothing but work into Japan's favour as a nation, even today a rock smaller than California with few natural resources is one of the largest economic power houses in the world, and they're not even at their height like they were in the 1980's.

Also thanks for posting these Taulover, I don't know what it is about American WW2 era propaganda and media in general, but it just has a lot of warm heart to it.

I mean you can't really blame the Americans for just calling the Japanese aircraft inferior versions of American aircraft. There is some truth to it, but are you really going to give props to your enemy which you see as an inferior culture and race?

Of course it makes sense that they'd say that; it's wartime propaganda for soldiers. But it's fundamentally untrue. Japanese and American planes were designed with completely separate philosophies in mind, the US focusing on strength and Japan emphasizing agility. They differ on basic design principles; even though they look kinda similar, they're no more copies of each other than they are copies of any other warplanes during the era. (And from what I've read, the film also conflates the navy's A5M with the army's Ki-27.)

Of course, the average American anti-aircraft gunner doesn't need to know this: they just need to know how to identify Japanese planes. And some morale boost on the enemy's inferiority can't hurt.