While reading They Called Us Enemy, a topic that came to mind as I finished the book was a potential outside point of view that may have been perceived. In other words, how other people viewed the situation. I think often when people hear a story, they only hear one side of the story, taking sides in a situation. But even then, when you hear both sides, do you really know what truly happened purely from the words of other people? This led me to the thought of ideas such as how propaganda is used to influence people and how easily people can be swayed by information that is given to them. Whether it’s watching the news, newspapers, articles, there’s always bound to be a flaw in transfer of information. Even in our daily lives like drama between friends, gossip, or whether there’s a test being discussed among the students. We really don’t know if that’s truly accurate unless we’re the ones who are involved. During our dive into learning about Japanese-American treatment in internment camps, some articles often softened the brutality and reality of how cruel it really was. Lots of information was left out and it didn’t show a bigger dive into the events of what really happened. While we were learning about AAPI, and this topic of concentration camps, we were provided with a brief article that didn’t completely cover everything. But, if you dig enough, you’ll be able to find sources such as Behind Barbed Wire, which really describe the information in detail of what happened. We know that most of what George Takei described in They Called Us Enemy is accurate, as he was the one telling the story and experienced what happened first hand. This really showed that what happened was credible and not altered or “botched” from an outside source.

Image Courtesy of CBS News

This propaganda during WW2 had a promoted message but is it really the right thing? Is this viewpoint of the famine the right choice? How may doing this be wrong and influencing people to do something that the media wants? All of these things impact how we view certain problems and issues, like what is currently happening in Ukraine. In the end, this is just a thought that came to mind. False articles and inaccurate information will continue to be released, and people will still take bias without a blind eye. But ask yourself next time you read something on the internet, can I trust this? Is this the right thing?