I’m not sure how I had never heard this story before. Nearly a decade before Pearl Harbor, the American military ran a series of war games in which an attacking force wiped out the forces sheltered at Pearl by launching a sneak attack from the north on a Sunday morning. Which is exactly what the Japanese would do nine years later.
Only the Navy decided the attack wasn’t fair and rather than learning from their failure, nullified the results. One of the reasons for reversing the result? Well…
Most importantly, the Navy argued, low level precision bombing of battleships at anchor was unrealistic since “everyone knew that Asians lacked sufficient hand-eye coordination to engage in that kind of precision bombing.”
Yep, good old American racism prevented us from learning a lesson that could have saved thousands of lives and completely altered, if not prevented, the eventual war in the Pacific.
The First Attack: Pearl Harbor, February 7, 1932
Every Sunday Pitchfork does a retrospective review of an album from the past. In August they tackled The Cranberries’ debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? That was an album I think you were required to own if you were white and were in college in the early 90’s.
The band’s story is kind of amazing, going from new group to putting out one of the defining albums of the decade in an incredibly short time span. I always listen to The Cranberries this time of year, as I find their music perfectly fits the part of fall when the warmth disappears and the days get longer and darker.
The Cranberries, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?
I enjoyed this discussion between actress Keri Russell and Adam Ganduciel about The War on Drugs’ new album, his process, parenthood, and other stuff.
Adam Granduciel and Keri Russell Mark The War On Drugs’ New Chapter
Steven Hyden recently shared his top 30 TWOD songs. I have a huge quibble with him not including “In Reverse,” which is one of the best final-tracks of any album I’ve ever listened to. Granduciel has said it is his song he was most proud of, too. My list would also be ordered a little differently than his. But still a fun read.
The Best Songs By The War On Drugs, Ranked
This is pretty cool. Plug in your favorite TV show and see how its individual episodes were reviewed. The graphs for The Simpsons are amazing.
I’m old enough to remember when stories on The Onion were hilarious exaggerations of political annoyances. Sadly they seem pretty spot-on these days.
Poll Finds Most Americans Would Swap Democracy For $100 Best Buy Gift Card