PBS SHOW TO ARGUE ALLIES AS BAD AS NAZIS

[ToughOmbre]

If this doesn't make you want to go after the "revisionists", nothing will!

From the New York Post 6/26/2008

PBS SHOW TO ARGUE ALLIES AS BAD AS NAZIS

IT'S ALL ONE 'WAR'

MEMBERS of the Greatest Generation - especially those with weak hearts - might want to steer clear of an upcoming PBS documentary that suggests the Allied victory in World War II was "tainted" and questions whether it can even be called a victory.

Moreover, the documentary, titled "The War of the World: A New History of the 20th Century," asserts that the war could only be won by forming an unholy alliance with a dictator - Joseph Stalin, who was as brutal as the one they were fighting, Adolf Hitler - and by adopting the same "pitiless" and "remorseless" tactics practiced by the enemy.

The three-part documentary is a companion to the best-selling book, "The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West" by Harvard and Oxford historian Niall Ferguson. The one-hour Part One of the documentary premieres Monday night at 10 on Ch. 13. The other two parts air the following two Mondays. World War II is the focus of Part Two.

His thesis: Instead of looking at the 20th century as having been disrupted by two world wars with periods of relative peace before, between and after them, it is more appropriate to view much of the history of the century as a continuous bloody conflict that was interrupted occasionally for a few short, exhausted catnaps of relative calm.

It is an illuminating viewpoint, and Ferguson does an effective job tying all of the century's mass deportations, enslavements, ethnic cleansings and genocides together so that you can't help being won over to his view that the violence of the 20th century was virtually never-ending.

But it is Ferguson's revisionist view of the tactics applied by the Allies in World War II that is likely to raise the hackles of those who have always believed in the "necessity" of bombing German and Japanese civilians, culminating in the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to end a war we did not start.

"I think it's very hard for those who have imbibed the idea of a 'great generation' that what the Allies did to defeat the Axis was in some measure to adopt totalitarian tactics," Ferguson says in a Q&A on PBS's Web site.

"The aim of strategic bombing was . . . in large measure to kill German civilians by destroying the most densely populated parts of the country. And it only really worked when the level of destruction reached apocalyptic levels. It behooves us all to stare this reality in the face, by trying to understand what it was like to be on the receiving end of firestorms like the ones that engulfed Hamburg or Dresden."

And once again, it is demonstrated that nothing is sacred - not even World War II.

TO

[FLYBOYJ]

Pinko idiots trying to re-write history.....

[timshatz]

More crap from PBS. Used to watch Frontline and Nova. Back in the early 90s, they were good shows. Now, Nova is occasionally good (has held up better than most shows) but Frontline is pure crap.

'Bout the only thing worth watching now is the 7pm market brief with Paul Kangas.

Although my daughter likes the first minute of Sesame Street.

[ccheese]

That TV show should prove interesting !!

Charles

[ToughOmbre]

Originally Posted by timshatz

More crap from PBS.

And OUR tax dollars pays for that crap!

TO

[seesul]

I´m happy we don´t have PBS here...

[Bucksnort101]

Of coarse the world would be a much better place if the Nazi's and Imperial Japan had won the war wouldn't it.
I'm sure there will be no mention of the deliberation and questioning of using these tactics by our leaders of the day. General LeMay said himself that if we had lost the War there was no doubt in his mind that he would have been tried as a War Criminal. This tells me there was a concience involved in the decision to bomb millions of civilians. Can that be said of the opposing side murdering millions of Jews and Chinese?
The thing that scares me most is all the uninformed people in the country, as well as others that will take this all as fact not question the underlying agenda behind it.
I'll probably try to suffer through this program, but most likely write a letter of disaproval to PBS once all is said and over.

[pbfoot]

Originally Posted by timshatz

More crap from PBS. Used to watch Frontline and Nova. Back in the early 90s, they were good shows. Now, Nova is occasionally good (has held up better than most shows) but Frontline is pure crap.

'Bout the only thing worth watching now is the 7pm market brief with Paul Kangas.

Although my daughter likes the first minute of Sesame Street.

I think both shows are great , always watch NOVA and Frontline is pretty good as well maybe the best news show out there .Most of the stuff on Frontline is backed with interviews and transcripts etc it may not be what you want to hear but at least its an opposing view some thing to give you food for thought .

[Soren]

Well let's also remember that the "true" Nazis aware of all that Hitler & Himmler were up to numbered less than 15% of the entire German population. I find this fact particularly scary to think about, that so little could lure so many into such a pointless war.

Can't help but think a little about the Iraqi war when talking of this either, the governments putting so many good people in jeopardy to fight a war based on false information, and then there's the guantanamo camps.

Let's not forget how Hitler came to power, he made the jews look like terrorists by setting fire to the Reichstag and then led a false investigation which concluded it to be jewish "terrorists" which were behind it, from which point on the German people saw jews pretty much the same way many westerners see islamists today.

I also find it abit disturbing that no'one has found Osama yet.. But then again he might be buried in some of the caves our special forces went out shooting rockets into.

[Njaco]

Does anyone know the name of that German city that was bombed purely because of a civilian population? I can't seem to remember....Coventry? or.....

Out tax $$ hard at work.

[pbfoot]

Originally Posted by Njaco

Does anyone know the name of that German city that was bombed purely because of a civilian population? I can't seem to remember....Coventry? or.....

Out tax $$ hard at work.

Almost all the bombing done by Bomber Command was area bombing because the couldn't get accurate enough to hit specific targets

[Torch]

Dresden and the fire storm might come to mind...

[pbfoot]

Originally Posted by Torch

Dresden and the fire storm might come to mind...

Interesting fact about Hamburg was the firestorm only resulted in 45 days of lost production

[timshatz]

Originally Posted by pbfoot

I think both shows are great , always watch NOVA and Frontline is pretty good as well maybe the best news show out there .Most of the stuff on Frontline is backed with interviews and transcripts etc it may not be what you want to hear but at least its an opposing view some thing to give you food for thought .

Frontline used to be great, but it fell apart in the 90s. The research and story line just tanked out. Totally. I've seen too many of them that were simply opinion pieces and little more. It's unfortunate, it used to be a great show but quality has declined, opinions became more one sided.

Nova did a much better job of holding it's objectivity. Matter of fact, it seems to have gotten better in that respect. WGBH usually does a very good job with it's programming.

[timshatz]

Originally Posted by pbfoot

Almost all the bombing done by Bomber Command was area bombing because the couldn't get accurate enough to hit specific targets

Or as Max Hastings put it, "The British precision bombed area targets and the Americans area bombed precision targets".

Gives food for thought.