Need help on "Tokyo Rose"

[monmouth]

I received this in an e-mail and was going to ignore it, maybe I should. Would love to get some thoughts from you guys on this. Should I let it go, or get some spiffy hard-hitting responses from DU??? This is a new one for me, I'm a little speechless.....


"TOKYO ROSE"
>
> She had the best music on her station and most
> people just laughed. The
> ship I was on was sunk no less than five times but
> each time Davey Jones
> threw her back up.
>
> Tokyo Rose During World War II -- the Japanese
> developed a way to
> demoralize the American forces. Psychological
> warfare experts developed
> a message they felt would work.
>
> They gave the script to their famous broadcaster
> "Tokyo Rose" and every
> day she would broadcast this same message packaged
> in different ways,
> hoping it
> would have a negative impact on American GI's
> morale.
>
> What was that demoralizing message? It had three
> main points:
>
> 1. Your President is lying to you.
>
> 2. This war is illegal.
>
> 3. You cannot win the war.
>
> Does this sound familiar?
>
> Is it because Tokyo Hillary, Tokyo Harry, Tokyo
> John, Tokyo Teddy, Tokyo
> Nancy, etc. have picked up the same message and are
> broadcasting it on
> Tokyo CNN, Tokyo ABC, Tokyo CBS, Tokyo NBC, etc., to
> our troops?
>
> The only difference is that they claim to support
> our troops before they
> demoralize them.
>
> Come to think of it, Tokyo Rose told the troops she
> was on their side, too!

[GregW]

1. Just check the wiki entry for Tokyo Rose

There's more than enough information to reply and debunk what they are saying, unless they are intentionally trying to draw a parallel between Iva Toguri D'Aquino and the 'detainees' - both illegally imprisoned by the United States.

[LanternWaste]

2. A few points to get you started...

Tokyo Rose was not one person-- "she" was a combination of different propaganda personnel that reviewed and refreshed their message depending on circumstance, location and time.

TR would comment on eminent defeat of particular battles and engagements. At least seven different women broadcast as TR throughout the war. The message varied as much as the circumstance. It did not have any one over-arching theme as implied in the email.

Source: Roosevelt's Secret War by Joseph Persico.

Ask the sender to cite the source for "the war is illegal" and "your President is lying to you". Ask for precise sources over and over again-- this is the best way to shut most pubicans down. I doubt the veracity of those claims. Ask your friend if he/she believes that Roosevelt misled the public when he broadcast the news of the Japanese attack.

Additionally, the Japanese DID NOT develop this. Lord Haw Haw was broadcasting prior to TR. Gen. Franco could be considered the first to use radio as a propaganda tool during the Spanish Civil War.