The Black and White War

Sometimes it pleases me to have an alternate view of reality. This is because I do not take everything I see on face value. This does not make me a conspiracy theorist because I believe we are dealing in something bigger than a theory here.

Today's topic is World War Two. Many years ago I came to the conclusion that I don't believe in WW II. Now, I know what you are thinking -- tomatoes would be more attractive if they had eyes -- but, please, try to stay on topic. The reason I don't believe in WW II is that it is too black and white. The issues were too cut and dry. The good guys were too good and the bad guys were too bad. It all sounds like a Hollywood B movie.

Take any other war in the history of the world and you will see what I mean. What about the conquests of ancient Greece or Rome. According to history, the conquerors were the "good guys" yet they raped and pillaged and stole and amassed unbeatable armies and untold treasures at the loss of their helpless victims. Yet, Alexander the Great is not lumped in with Attila the Hun in the history books. Rome was the greatest civilization the world had ever seen, built upon bloodshed and barbarism. What I am saying here is that the "good guys" were bad people and the "bad guys" were hapless victims in many cases. There were shades of grey on both sides.

In modern warfare there is no end to the nay sayers inside and outside of our country. Supporters of our sitting president are vulnerable to attack ads just because they are supporting their nation at a time of war. Political agendas have clearly outweighed the welfare of this country's national security. These are clearly shades of grey.

But not so WW II. The Allies were the Good Guys. Through and through. The Axis Powers were the Bad Guys. To their rotten core. It was a no brainer. The Nazis and Japs had to be stopped at any cost. And the US and England and our allies were the only people to do it. We had to do it. We could not lose.

The issues were so cut and dry and so black and white that I find them very hard to believe in. There were no shades of grey. There was no one protesting our evil government or president. There were no rallies. We were united in a single effort to rid the world of totalitarian evil.

This is what I think happened. One day someone in Hollywood decided to make a big war movie. They hired extras from all over the country and started up a bunch of old factories to build planes and warships. The politicians saw the boosts of the local economies and decided that the whole country needed a war to pull the USA out of our the post depression blues. So the politicians got together with the Hollywood moguls and filmed the greatest series of war movies mankind has ever seen. The entire nation got involved. By the time it was over, everyone was a little embarrassed about what to tell future generations and the Great Lie was born.

"We'll just tell them it was real. There are plenty of photos and film footage to back us up and if we all stick together they will never know!" This explains why I know my dad was in Europe during WW II and spent some time in a British hospital but I could never get him to give me any details of his war experience. I always thought it was too painful to talk about. Now I've come to realize he was just on location.

So the next time you are browsing through your set of Time/Life World War II books or are watching some old black and white WW II movies, just ask yourself if maybe the issues aren't a little too black and white.

And how is it that John Wayne won the war in Europe and in the Pacific? C'mon, people. Think!