Not once, but twice, you dismiss “the people” as fools, dupes, or worse. If you stand by
these claims, E, then you can only be described as an intellectual elitist.
Again you mischaracterize what I have said, to the end of name-calling. I don't object to being called names based on accurate characterizations.
But what I said is this:
The "will of the people" can be manipulated, and was. Lies were promulgated by
local politicians and the Hearst press to stir the people into a deluded, cruel and ignoble
frenzy. Scapegoats are always welcome in some quarters. To congratulate 'democracy' for that is very strange indeed.
You attempted to rationalize the shame of those camps by saying they represented "the will of the people." I pointed out that the media, and politicians, sometimes (i hope you're sitting down, this will be a shock!) manipulate public opinion.
Inflammatory lies and images were promulgated and widely disseminated. This is not in dispute, even by you, I assume, who believe now that what we did was wrong.
The facts, as known at the time by the Director of the FBI, the Attorney General, and those who studied the loyalty of Japanese-Americans for ten years prior to 1941 and concluded it was exceptional; and confirmed by the fact that no charges were even brought, none; and which facts are almost hilariously demonstrated by the total absence of any felt need to incarcerate the J-A's in Hawaii (!!!) where there were 3800% more of them than in CA (!) and which was more likely to be invaded but in which they were needed to keep the local economy running; and which facts known at the time also by many more truly American Americans than were those who joined the clamor to rush their fellow loyal citizens into horrid camps (were the horridness, the malnutrition, the theft, also necessary?) and did nothing to prevent their assets from being plundered, btw. It wasn't only the FBI Director and Attorney General who knew it was wrong, but a function of "local political pressure."
You do not pay much attention to content, is my impression, and since I provided rather a lot of it, i tried to make clearer what the essential points were by bolding.
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