What is presented so far is the usual U.S. self-image. The far right version is:

Degenerate old Europe was turning into a Charnel house, what with the Nazis and the Commies and the old weak aristocracies and semi-democracies. The lights were going out all over Europe. And then Japan dragged us rugged muscular Americans into it, and we gave them what-for, and gave the Nazis what for, and saved the day. And the rest of the world was never properly grateful.

I wish that was a parody, but the only reason is not a quote is that I'm relying on memory. But not an exaggeration. One of the reasons WWII rhetoric is so effective when you want to drag USAians into war.

It is eternally September 1938 in certain parts of the American imagination. Every war opponent is Chamberlain;everywhere anyone opposes war is Munich; every tin-pot dictator is Hitler.

I'm not even sure what Bush meant by that. Or, at the very least, what he thought he was conveying.

I think I get it...I think he was saying that this situation's not going to have a Mandela because no one's surviving to take that helm. But, damn. Don't let him say things that are vaguely complicated. And in complicated I certainly include metaphors, allegories, and similes.

Just in case.

The British view of the war...well, I'm a war sap. It's not quite as bad as slavery to make me squirt tears, but it's bad. I'm not rational on the subject. The British view is so fucking tired. Of adults and children and old people having bombs dropped on them all the time, and families fractured so that some of them might survive, and all this pretty damned close on the heels of the last big war, and the Germans are RIGHT FUCKING OVER THERE and...

That background made the voiceover to Ken Burns' series sound like an AU.

I was trying to remember what I learned in High School about US entry into WWII and having as lot of trouble, and now it comes to me that there's a reason for that. We didn't get that far. I'm not sure we got to the 20th century at all.

And the undergrad American History class I TAed focused more on the development of the Bomb (which was largely motivated (according to the scientists involved) by fear of Germany even though it was ultimately used against Japan) rather than the early years.

CLEARLY before we joined in, it wasn't a WORLD war, see...

Er, note, this is not my personal view of matters, just more the "how I've seen it implied" view...

My father was the youngest of 12 kids. His half-brother was the middle child--no divorce and he was raised by my grandmother (who was NOT his mother).

I feel like -t reading my "fashion" post. I can't diagram this family tree. Middle of what?

Sorry I went out, ita.

My father is the youngest child in his family. His eldest brother, John, was 20 years older than he was. The sixth child in the family was Howard. He was my grandfather's son by another woman from an affair.

Maybe your Grandmother was just relieved that she didn't have to deliver that one? He was probably her FAVORITE.

Dude!

(btw: I'm very impressed)

Heh. As sensible as this sounds, Trudy, my dad was her favorite. She also lost a set of toddler twins girls shortly before my father was born. She was an impressive lady.

My grandfather was also 1 of 12. Crazy names that bunch, let's see how many I can remember:

Parents went by mammy and pappy.

Boys: Uncie (no idea what his real name was, he was the oldest and called Uncie because he was more of an uncle than brother to the youngest of the bunch), Woodrow Wilson (went by Wood or Woody), Walker, Van Buren (went by Van), Jody Farris, Jay

Girls: Beatrice (called Batty), Alma, Alice, Sis (no idea what her real name was)

His eldest brother, John, was 20 years older than he was. The sixth child in the family was Howard. He was my grandfather's son by another woman from an affair.

Aha!

My dad's birth has some...well, his parents never married each other. They were married to other people and I've never had the gumption to sit down and get dates. He's the only child of that particular union, but they don't distinguish between halves and whole siblings, and some of them consider themselves related through him, so it's terribly confusing to know who's going to show up at whose event.

In my head, he's the middle child because he's the middle of two families, so I brought a lot of irrelevant baggage to your explanation already.

Doomed, I tell you. Doomed.

I looked it up, I had left out Emma and Vivian. Sis was Lillian.

I wish I had thetime to start up with the geneology stuff again.

This birth talk is reminding me of the episode of Psych I saw today. Which, by the way, is the Christmas episode, to tie my (work) day into the fizzy Christmas drink discussion, and the birth order stuff.

I finally got my recycling done! Yay! There were nine million BEES! So incredibly much less yay. Apparently, I brought one of the bees home with me in my hair! According to my cats: YAY!!! Finally, the bee got into my kitchen light and died, and I went: yay.

Is no one watching Dancing with the Stars? Will you guys vote for Alec and Josie anyway?

The isolationist movement in the US during the 1930s also included a large group of pro-Nazi supporters, known as the German American Bund. They had their biggest demonstration of support in February 1939, when 20,000 people gathered for what was basically a mini-Nuremburg rally in Madison Square Garden. That's another little tidbit that was whitewashed from American history after Pearl Harbor.

My maternal grandmother was also one of 12! One of her sisters died when she was pre-teen, and there were surprisingly few children born from the eleven who survived to adulthood--my mom had as many cousins as I did from my mom's five siblings.