Pearl Harbor: One More Example of the Death of Mainstream Media

Life Magazine online has an article (and pictures, of course) regarding the events at Pearl Harbor on this date 71 years ago.  Despite the facts acknowledged by historians that: Roosevelt did all he could to provoke first Germany, then Japan, into a hostile act; Japan was rebuffed by the US countless times when making offers for peace; the Americans and British had the Japanese codes and were intercepting their transmissions; Roosevelt knew an attack was coming; and several historians believe he knew not only when, but where….

Well, let’s just say you will get not a hint of this in the article.  The article should be considered in two parts: a portion written today and portions excerpted from articles written at the time of the event.  In the portions written today, the author is careful not to say it was a sneak attack, a complete surprise, or anything like that – in other words, he isn’t spreading the falsehood.  He is also careful not to say anything about Roosevelt’s and the Administration’s actions leading up to the event – in other words, he doesn’t tell the known truth, either.

President Franklin Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 — when Japan launched more than 350 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii — a “date which will live in infamy.”

Japan’s early morning attack on Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, lasted less than two hours, but took an incredible toll: four battleships sunk, 188 air crafts destroyed, and 2,403 Americans killed. For its part, Japan lost 64 men and 29 planes.

Very bland and matter-of-fact.  These aren’t falsehoods; they just don’t expose the truth.  The reader who approaches the article with a child’s understanding of the event would suspect nothing else.

He hides the reinforcement of the propaganda behind the words of the historic column.  This is where the treachery of the Japanese is considered, and where the schoolboy reader will receive reinforcement of the fairy-tale story of that horrific day.

Japan’s daring was matched only by its barefaced duplicity. There was no warning — not even such an ultimatum as Hitler is wont to send as his legions pour across some new border.

Ambassador Nomura and Envoy Kurusu had come with the answer to Hull’s note [of protest to the Japanese delegation in D.C.]. Hull read it through and then, for the first time in many long, patient years, the soft-spoken Secretary lost his temper. Into the teeth of the two Japanese, who for once did not grin, he flung these words: ‘In all my 50 years of public service I have never seen a document that was more crowded with infamous falsehoods and distortions — on a scale so huge that I never imagined until today that any government on this planet was capable of uttering them.’

Of course, we now know there were many warnings.  Roosevelt knew.  If there was anything at that time “more crowded with infamous falsehoods and distortions,” it was Roosevelt’s actions toward the Japanese, and his public statements assuring the American people that he will not get the US involved in the foreign wars, while at the same time involving the US in the foreign wars – well prior to any congressional authorization.

When even Roosevelt admirers acknowledge the actions of the President in causing this event and in allowing it to occur unopposed, Life Magazine pretends the fairy-tale still rules. 

The death of the MSM, in one page.