War Without Mercy

Wow, what an eye opener! Sometimes I think that I look at the world with rose-colored glasses. Growing up in America we believe that we are out for the betterment of all people, i.e. the current war in Iraq. I like to believe that our whole reason for fighting is that we are helping these people become a democratic society and defending ourselves against terrorism. While I know that there are ulterior motives, I sometimes find myself turning a blind eye. My husband just asked me recently what my views were on the harassment and torture of the Iraqi POW’s. I told him that while I don’t condone it, I choose to just not think about it. Is this a wrong view to take? Probably!

John Dower does a good job in this book of presenting prejudices that I have not given any thought to. While reading the part about human body souvenirs I remembered my college history professor talking about how his grandfather had talked about this and how he would still wake up with nightmares about it. I had known that there were Japanese interment camps, but was not aware of their magnitude or length. This book put a whole new look on WWII for me. There were so many prejudices that I had not even thought about. I think that the imagery in the propaganda really brought home for me the magnitude in which the prejudices reached.

After reading this book I find it even more important to talk with my students about prejudices. I feel that the more they are aware of people’s differences the more accepting they are towards those differences. We learn about the different cultures that settled Kansas and I could apply this frame of mind thinking towards this.