RUDE AWAKENING IN ASIA
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
Rude Awakening In Asia By LT. COMDR. C. S. SEELY EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third of a series of three articles by Commander Seely analyzing anew the major forces at work in the war against...
...It is just a case where hungry people, as Oscar Ameringer once sSd, are more interested in eating than in voting...
...I hope readers will not consider me a pessimist or defeatist...
...And this propaganda is infinitely more convincing and effective than Nazi propaganda in Europe, mainly because Orientals will accept propaganda from masters much more readily than Europeans will...
...Propaganda In The Orient In the parts of the Orient where the Japanese are now masters, economics, rather than politics, is of primary importance...
...Orientals differ greatly from Americans or Europeans in the matter of revolt against political tyranny, and the difference is so deep-rooted it cannot be changed in time to aid us in this war...
...I merely want to show why we have a hard struggle ahead, and need all the help we can possibly get from our allies...
...But in such a vast area where the great mass of the population has been living from hand to mouth for many generations, this is to be expected...
...Japan, no doubt, is now busily engaged in telling all the peoples of the Orient that they will have more food under her leadership than they have ever had before, or will have if Japan loses the war...
...A Hard Struggle Ahead If we believe the stories now being told of the nations now under Japanese domination, biding their time when they can welcome "deliverers," we are in for a rude awakening...
...There never has been a great revolt of Oriental masses such as those of the Occident which produced the American Revolution, French Revolution, and Russian Revolution...
...Actually, Orientals do not consider propaganda as such...
...MOST AMERICANS, I am sure, greatly underestimate Japan's strong position, and I believe this is due mainly to our habit of only believing what we wish to believe...
...In any case, we do not know, or at least refuse to believe, that the vast majority of the Asiatics over whom Japan now rules, are primarily interested in remaining alive, and are interested little, if any, in driving out invaders, or other "masters...
...C. S. SEELY EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third of a series of three articles by Commander Seely analyzing anew the major forces at work in the war against Japan...
...And observed these rules will be, unless overwhelming force arrives from a new source to make a change in attitude seem absolutely necessary for survival...
...They consider statements, suggestions, hints, and all other forms of propaganda by masters, whether white or yellow-brown, simply as rules of conduct to be observed...
...The opinions and assertions expressed above are the private ones of the writer and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large...
Vol. 8 • March 1944 • No. 10
