http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/25/comfort.women.ap/index.html

i always thought this was well known and accepted?

4/26/2007 4:07:37 AM

Hell, why would CNN miss any opportunity to bash America some more?

4/26/2007 4:12:54 AM

After WWII was over U.S. soldiers were finally able to skeet some good genes into the French gene pool.


Those ungrateful bastards.

4/26/2007 4:15:41 AM

this is like the 3rd different time in the past 2 months this has come up in the news

like the first was that the US wanted japan to make another public apology

i think like 3 weeks later there was ANOTHER story on this same thing...now THIS comes out



honestly...there aint shit anyone can do about it now, and this shit happened over 50 years ago- this should not even be in the news...this is nothing more than a wikipedia page

4/26/2007 4:16:58 AM

Hell, the North Carolina General Assembly apologized for slavery last week. And Dr. John Hope Franklin, who is a respected professor and scholar, immediately appeared on the cover of the Independent Weekly and declared "That's not enough."

We should quit dredging this type of shit up--especially with the damn apologies. Apologies for wrongs that occurred long ago are symbolic at best and meaningless at worst.

4/26/2007 4:36:45 AM

Quote :

"Hell, why would CNN miss any opportunity to bash America some more?"

Haha, yeah it has nothing to do with the fact that sex sells airtime and it's all about bashing America. Any company desiring to increase viewership and sell airtime has to include bashing America in their buisness plan.

4/26/2007 6:05:19 AM

^ Yeah, CNN has a great tradition of objective journalism.

4/26/2007 6:11:00 AM

Quote :

"We should quit dredging this type of shit up--especially with the damn apologies. Apologies for wrongs that occurred long ago are symbolic at best and meaningless at worst."

You'd fit right in with the Japanese far right.

And "meaningless" at worst? So why should you care, then?

4/26/2007 6:59:31 AM

We dropped 2 nukes on their country and killed 100,000 people in one day while firebombing their capital city (was Tokyo the capital then?). A few prostitutes are the least of the transgressions. Plus, we helped rebuild them pretty good.

4/26/2007 8:35:59 AM

guess somebody's never seen biloxi blues or full metal jacket

4/26/2007 8:52:35 AM

how the hell is this news?

4/26/2007 9:02:19 AM

Quote :

"Yeah, CNN has a great tradition of objective journalism."

Who said anything about objective journalism? I'm talking about ratings and objective journalism=shitty ratings. The idea that the agenda is to trash America is just childish. The idea is to find stories with sensational sounding headlines so you can get as many people to watch or read as possible. There may be some tailoring of the story selection to fit the brand (ie, foxnews trends heavily conservative and CNN trends), but this kind of story isn't about the brand. It's sex.

4/26/2007 9:13:26 AM

hahaha amen

4/26/2007 9:17:05 AM

To be fair, they're talking about women being coerced into prostitution.

That's not exactly minor.

4/26/2007 9:34:05 AM

I think it is good to see this stuff in the news. In society, the uses of prostitutes is looked down upon. Why shouldn't the military be held to the same standard. This problem is still ongoing in the military today.

4/26/2007 9:42:07 AM

Quote :

"i always thought this was well known and accepted?"

Quote :

"Hell, why would CNN miss any opportunity to bash America some more?"

If it's acceptable then why is it 'bashing America' to report it?

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 9:56 AM. Reason : ?]

4/26/2007 9:55:43 AM

Quote :

""The strategy was, through the special work of experienced women, to create a breakwater to protect regular women and girls.""

Quote :

"Police officials and Tokyo businessmen established a network of brothels under the auspices of the Recreation and Amusement Association"

Ahh those crazy Japanese.

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 10:45 AM. Reason : .]

4/26/2007 10:43:24 AM

The difference here is that these were voluntary. The Japanese system had to recruit people at gunpoint. Yes, some were probably had to do it because there was no other work or income, but that's a significant difference.

If anything, this feels like an attempt by the Japanese right wing to distract their practices by muddying the situation.

4/26/2007 11:42:00 AM

To Charybdisjim and your amen corner: You may be unaware of this, but there exists a blame-America-first-for-anything illuminati of which most at CNN are a part. This is shocking news to you, I'm sure.

4/26/2007 12:34:07 PM

yeah but that wasn't his point

his point was the sensationalism of the usage of titillating sex-scandal to sell ads

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 12:40 PM. Reason : +]

4/26/2007 12:39:41 PM

^ But there are plenty of present-day sexy stories to go around. Why dredge this old shit up when, as has been posted, it was well-established? My point is that CNN and a number of other media outlets have a narrative framework of bashing America--and this tired story fits that framework nicely.

PS: Another option I hadn't considered is the two-fer: CNN could have gone for the sexy and the bash. I mean, we could both be right.

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 1:00 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2007 12:58:35 PM

Quote :

"To be fair, they're talking about women being coerced into prostitution. That's not exactly minor."

to be fair we are also talking about stuff that happened 60 years ago. There is much more shit to worry about regarding our military today then what was going on 60 years aog

4/26/2007 1:01:04 PM

Did we, as a Government, forcibly remove women from their homes and ship them to military installations where they were forced to have sex? no

Did the US Military shut down all the brothels within a year after the occupation of Japan? yes

It's like people have to make up shit to make thus US look bad... fuck.

4/26/2007 3:05:21 PM

Quote :

"us soldiers used brothels"

yeah they also won the fucking war so who gives a fuck if they banged a few hookers

4/26/2007 3:18:16 PM

Quote :

"This problem is still ongoing in the military today."

Are you saying that the military is sponsering forced labor brothels today?

4/26/2007 3:28:23 PM

Quote :

"us soldiers used brothels"

I'm pretty sure American soldiers have been using brothels and prostitutes through every war they fought. Much like how the rest of society has used brothels and prostitutes throughout all of American history.

Again, if they can show that these women were forced at gunpoint to join these brothels, they can make a comparative case. However, to use a loaded term such as "Comfort Women" to describe women who voluntarily worked in brothels is in my opinion, an attempt at sensational journalism. Not only that, but it gives the Japanese a way to dodge the entire comfort women controversy by pointing to a much lesser action by the Americans. Kinda like how they keep harping on the atomic bombs being dropped on them as one of the greatest tragedies of WWII while conveniently forgetting the millions of civilians they tortured, raped, experimented upon, practiced sword play on, and killed in cold blood throughout Eastern Asia.

4/26/2007 3:34:19 PM

^^This story isn't accusing the US of having Japanese-style comfort women.

^ Yeah, I agree that they shouldn't have used the phrase "comfort women." The person who wrote this article probably didn't realize what the phrase really means.

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 3:38 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2007 3:35:41 PM

is this even an issue? like we don't have enough things to worry about without looking 60 years in the past. god some people are retarded.

4/26/2007 3:35:48 PM

No, but using a loaded term such as "Comfort Women" is extremely misleading, especially sentences like "Japan set up a similar 'comfort women' system for American GIs." Why invoke such a loaded term? Why not just say a network of brothels and prostitutes? Using it immediately draws comparisons and some association with the Japanese system. Also, the story of Natsue Takita that it uses is attempting to further make that comparison. Her story is certainly tragic, but again, she voluntarily went into the system, she wasn't dragged from her home by the military to serve in a brothel against her will. Distasteful and exploitative yes, but again, there's still a difference.

And again, the American one was shut down quickly. The Japanese required multiple nuclear hits to shut their system down.

4/26/2007 3:42:34 PM

Quote :

"is this even an issue?"

Someone is trying to make this an issue. Again, perhaps to distract from the greater issue of Comfort Women and thus reduce Japanese blame for that atrocity. Or perhaps its an attempt to draw that comparison of the American system with the Japanese one to stoke anti-American sentiment, whether in Japan or the rest of Eastern Asia (though some eastern Asian countries might simply smirk and say, "Bastards deserved it" in private).

4/26/2007 3:44:34 PM

This is CNN.

4/26/2007 7:28:05 PM

Do you have one that says FOX.

4/26/2007 7:37:34 PM

I didn't read the whole article, but did they mention that this still happens today?

Obviously, it's less likely to be sponsored by the government. But there are still plenty of sex slaves forced into service all over the globe, including the US.

4/27/2007 7:56:38 AM

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9843328&ft=1&f=1004

jesus fucking christ...another freaking story about this

4/29/2007 7:03:05 PM

Quote :

"The Japanese required multiple nuclear hits to shut their system down."

If you want to go there, the Soviets deserve some credit too.

4/29/2007 8:11:33 PM

SHOCKING

4/29/2007 8:23:32 PM

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2007-06-27T053707Z_01_T204003_RTRUKOC_0_US-JAPAN-SEXSLAVES.xml

another story about this

6/27/2007 2:30:32 AM

hooksaw...

ive got credible reports that the black helicopters are coming for you.

you better get underground.

6/27/2007 5:31:33 AM

Quote :

"Hell, the North Carolina General Assembly apologized for slavery last week"

what is there to apologize about?? If it were not for slavery all the black people here today would be in africa fighting in civil wars or dying from aids/hunger/lions/etc.


As far as the US troops using brothels who gives a shit. People do that all the time. I do not think that is even news worthy. I am sure the christian right is in shoch and awe

[Edited on June 27, 2007 at 5:12 PM. Reason : l]

6/27/2007 5:11:43 PM

Quote :

"what is there to apologize about?"

nice

6/27/2007 5:57:31 PM

[luser]DUR[ /luser]

6/27/2007 8:42:43 PM

In no way was I condoning slavery. I think, however, it has gotten rediculous that people 140 years later are still bitching about it, using slavery as an excuse for laziness and to get free handouts from the government.

I do not see the Native Americans bitching nearly as much and we straight up took over their land while nearly wiping out their entire race.

6/27/2007 10:35:52 PM

Quote :

"people 140 years later are still bitching about it, using slavery as an excuse for laziness"

whoa, what?

who said that? i mean, besides you.

so you just claimed not to be a racist, and your supporting argument was a statement even more racist than the first.

damn dude. just move back to whatever hillbilly rock you crawled out from under.

6/27/2007 10:41:07 PM

^ what? stop being so infuriatingly politically correct you self rightous bastard...

I agree with HUR... no one who was a slave or directly affected by slavery of one of their ancestors is alive anymore... so why the fuck is there some big issue about it still? it's mostly only in this country too.... other countries have had slaves and such as well... shit, if blacks here really want to harp on someone they can harp on actual africans, the ones whom originally captured, and sold them to slavers....


and back to some of the original point. the brothels are not forced in any way. they are a result of the market demand created by the presence of a very large contingent of the military based away from home

6/28/2007 1:52:41 PM

Quote :

"Arab13 : shit, if blacks here really want to harp on someone they can harp on actual africans, the ones whom originally captured, and sold them to slavers"

OMG you are so unbelievably predictable.

this is just ... fuck i don't know what to say to you.

do you have like the lowest possible level of moral development possible? or are you just a
mindless parrot, repeating whatever your leaders at SCV or AryanNations feed you without any
second thought?

are you seriously saying that the moral responsibility of enslaving millions of human beings,
belongs not to the the slave buyers and the governments who endorsed it, but merely to the
various individual warlords or tribal members who saw a way to get rid of their competition and/or
make a few bucks in gold and trinkets, because I can only assume, they were the linear starting
point of the geographical move?

do you absolve yourself of crimes you know are wrong because someone told you to "go ahead, we dont mind" ??

you're the kind of person who goes to other countries and pays for sex with with enslaved teenage
girls because,

Quote :

"well hell, the kids or their parents signed a contract ... not my fault they didn't read the fine print."

you are evil.

fuck you.





[Edited on June 28, 2007 at 2:22 PM. Reason : ]

6/28/2007 2:13:13 PM

arab or Hur have committed no crimes. They simply are pointing out that a certain aspect of the arguement gets ignored, its alot easier to call slavery racist when you leave out who sold them. Doing so makes it easier to be more about race than labor.

6/28/2007 2:21:26 PM

oh, please. of course it was about labor. dont be retarded.

but it was equally about race. and the white christians who bought, traded, beat, and sometimes
killed their millions of slaves, textracted Biblical texts that were interpreted as racist mandates from
their God that the Africans should be enslaved for various reasons.

namely that they were inferior and less than human, cursed by God.




[Edited on June 28, 2007 at 2:26 PM. Reason : ]

6/28/2007 2:26:11 PM

I disagree it was equally about race.

6/28/2007 2:34:04 PM

I'm in the Army and went to Korea last year and the day you arrive you get a 3 hour long briefing about Human Trafficking and Prostitution. The briefing explains how prostitution works over in Japan and Korea: women are shipped in from the Philippines and force them to become prostitutes. They are purchased from their families and turned into sex slaves. Many of them are young, around 14-16.

Anyways, human trafficking is a real problem and very frowned upon in the military (it will get you sent to Ft. Leonardwood, a military pound me in the ass prison). If these soldiers did this they did it on their own accord and the military has no control over that, as you still have freedom to make bad decisions. Unfortunately, the military will now seem like it harbors prostitution and human trafficking.

6/28/2007 2:35:47 PM

Quote :

"namely that they were inferior and less than human, cursed by God."

Christians then (and alot now) thought that anyone not like them were.

6/28/2007 2:43:44 PM