And the inevitable flamewar starts...

 

Call it a quirk... they're not Japanese-Americans, they're Americans.

Means the same thing.

Had I said "occupiers" then you could have taken me to mean "military occupiers". "Occupants" means "residents".


Yep. Both.

The alternative was an amphibious invasion that would have resulted in millions of dead and wounded.

Not to mention the fact that we won - which was far better than the alternative.

 

Call me crazy... but I'm pretty sure that the two bombs also resulted in millions of dead and wounded, not to mention many thousands with radiation poisoning which made them sick and killed them slowly in the years following.

 

Estamated 214,000 deaths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_...a_and_Nagasaki

 

Apologies -- I erroneously assumed that the cities had larger populations than that.

After all, that's what happened -- everyone in both cities (most of whom were civilians) was killed.

So, why would millions have died to invade those cities on the ground? Back then, we would have sent in a sufficiently large invasion force.

It is essentially a given that fewer Japanese would have died in an invasion than did in the bombings. From 100%, you have nowhere to go but down. I'd even be willing to bet that the total deaths would be lower even after adding in the number of American soldiers that would have been killed.

I'm not saying it was the wrong move, but to say that people with Japanese heritage should be glad it happened the way it did seems pretty ridiculous to me.

 

You are absolutely wrong. Please read up on the history.

Here are the figures from the battle for Iwo Jima... which is roughly the size of... well... it's about EIGHT SQUARE MILES in size.

American:
100,000 troops total
6,821 dead
20,000 wounded

Japanese (numbers are approximate):
~22,000 troops total
+18,000 dead
~2,000 missing
~1,100 wounded/captured

26,000 dead over EIGHT SQUARE MILES.

Now I want you to note something:

The number of Japanese dead and missing compared to the total number of troops. See how high the proportion is? The Japanese fought to the death, asked no quarter - and gave no quarter.

ALL Japanese fought this way, and civillians were expected to commit suicide to prevent capture. And they did...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/248711837/

***THE ABOVE IS NOT GRAPHIC - READ THE CAPTION***

It was better for everyone, INCLUDING THE JAPANESE, that the bombs dropped - otherwise the Japanese would not have surrendered, and the deaths would have been in the millions, just on the Japanese side...

Japan had somewhere near 100,000,000 occupants at the time...



It allowed Japan to surrender - the final thing that convinced the Emperor that the war could not be won and the only result of continuing it would be the extermination of the Japanese people.

Even so, the Emperor was nearly assasinated in an attempt to prevent that surrender.

Had the bombs not been dropped, a bloodbath previously unseen in history would have ensued - and the world would not have the good things that the Japanese, since WW2, have done.

Finally, as Americans - and I consider Americans of Japanese Descent to be Americans first - we should all be glad it happened the way it did, or our country would have lost hundreds of thousands, possibly even a million of our own citizen soldiers in an invasion, and would be materially worse off as a result.

 

Thanks for that post, PacerX.

 

Do you not know how wars were carried out back then? Carpet bombing. Of more than just two cities. Of all the cities in Japan. Japan is a VERY proud nation. They would not have surrendered. Our warships would have pounded the coast.

 

This commerical was a good idea that was executed extremely poorly. The idea, it seems, was to express a modern sort of patriotism, a love of country that isn't blind to its dark periods. However, the Mellencamp background turns it into a simplistic, hokie affair. It comes off like an advertisement for JCPenny jeans or something. Put a more jarring classic rock soundtrack (Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" comes readily to mind) and you would have had a more subtle, effective commercial along the lines of what Apple releases.

Whoever was responsible for putting this thing together needs to be jettisoned.

 

I think the add is kind of lame; but on the other hand if you are offended by it then you might be looking to get offended.

 

i thought it was ok. would have been better without the natural disasters, but i guess the point is to show that chevy has been with us through thick and thin.

 

The commercial is what it is....I really believe the true purpose is to show the Silverado as an integrated part of America and its history. But I can see how its purpose would be misinterpreted.

With all that said, in the end, the American auto manufacturers are going to need to stop trying to pull on the heartstrings and start giving people that normally wouldn't look at your vehicles a BIG reason to look again.

 

"Offended" is not the right word, at least not in my case. I have absolutely nothing against the images themselves, just the cheesy way they're being used to sell a product. I guess I'm just disappointed that Chevy couldn't come up with something better than a lame attempt at manipulating our emotions. That's a ploy more befitting a crooked used car dealer than a corporation with millions at its disposal and supposedly a semblance of sophistication. And to be honest, I also feel it insults our intelligence. Like we're supposed to see the images, remember what they meant to us, and think, "goddam it, Silverado is the only truck for true patriots! Everything else must be made by commies! I'm gonna buy me one of them there Chevys!"

 

hell if they were doing the rights and wrongs our country had i nthe past they should of thrown the 80's american car companies in there somewhere..maybee a chevette??? Thats when the imports took over..

but seriously..people are still thinking 1996 on car quality and this is why many of the imports have gained HUGE footholes that if no one get s a little american pride in them will never be made up to compete fairly again..
Asian companies and Detroit are playing by two diffrent rules and its not fair.
Yea we screwed up but man its like getting pushed to the ground and trying to get up and the person keeps nudging you back down so you never can..

 

I think the commercial is great. Go GM!