9 replies to this topic

[Scoutlet]

I can't seem to find a thread for this show. Would it go in this section?

[Metamaustrap]

It's as good a place as any, I'd say.

As for the show itself, feh. Unlike Stone's claims when he was whoring the show out, for me at least there hasn;t been a single ZOMG HISTORY WOULD HAVE BEEN SO DIFFERENT IF (INSERT EVENT) HAD HAPPENED THE WAY STONE SAYS INSTEAD OF HOW IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!!!!!!

You say that Truman was a bigoted racist who casually threw the word NIGGER!! around all the time, even in the sacred confines of the Oval Office? ZOMG NOT THAT!!!!! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!!

Please.

Ever since McCullogh portrayed Truman as a saint the USA has been collectively sucking Truman's dick, but since Bess was well known for her anti-semitism to the point of making Jews wait out on the front porch, it's hardly surprising that Truman had racist/bigoted ideas.

But let's not forget that it was Truman who desegregated the armed forces.

The shows are Stone just re-running history with some extremely minor new tidbit that any halfway decent history major already knows thrown in.

[BigDfromLA]

Henry Wallace got a raw deal, being dumped as Vice President by the party at the 1944 Convention. He was Vice President for 12 years and did a good job, but God-forbid was "progressive". I agree with Stone that Our country would have been a much better place if Wallace had taken over for FDR as opposed to political hack Truman.

[nowandlater]

Henry Wallace got a raw deal, being dumped as Vice President by the party at the 1944 Convention. He was Vice President for 12 years and did a good job, but God-forbid was "progressive". I agree with Stone that Our country would have been a much better place if Wallace had taken over for FDR as opposed to political hack Truman.

Wallace was VP from 1941 to 1945. How is that 12 years?

[phanie]

I can't watch this with the sound on. Stone's narration is terrible. It's flat and halting and I can't get past it. Plus, I get the whole "World War II wouldn't have been won without the Soviets and look how much they suffered" and agree with that, but he seemed to gloss over the whole brutality of the invading Soviet army in Germany, in particular as it pertains to the massive number of rapes perpetrated by said army.

[revbfc]

I've enjoyed this series so far, but I do get aggravated about how Oliver Stone is retelling history. Did the US make many mistakes after WWII? Yes. Was Wallace robbed at the 1944 Democratic Convention? Yes. Was Truman a bigot? Yes. But that doesn't mean that Stalin was a great guy who couldn't get a fair shake, and it certainly doesn't mean that operations like the Berlin Airlift were trivial folly. Just because the US has a great deal of sins to answer for doesn't make the other side better, and Oliver Stone has done a poor job of making a case for the USA being the true villain of the 20th century.

Don't get me wrong, our country has screwed up greatly in the past, and will continue to screw up in the future, but the same can be said for any powerful country, or country trying to attain power.

[EndoKE]

What I like about this show is that Stone is trying to shine a light on the fear that seemed to have been shoved on the American people first after the end of WWII. It seems like we Americans are afraid of everything, the Russians, the bomb, then it was street crime and now it's terrorism. All that fear makes some folks very paranoid, causes them to stock pile guns and then do crazy and deadly things. I remember the young Japanese exchange student who was killed, because he rang the wrong doorbell, by a man who was just simply scared and had a gun.

The truth is, if I can make you afraid enough, I can sell you anything.

[Milburn Stone]

I've enjoyed this series so far, but I do get aggravated about how Oliver Stone is retelling history. Did the US make many mistakes after WWII? Yes. Was Wallace robbed at the 1944 Democratic Convention? Yes. Was Truman a bigot? Yes. But that doesn't mean that Stalin was a great guy who couldn't get a fair shake, and it certainly doesn't mean that operations like the Berlin Airlift were trivial folly. Just because the US has a great deal of sins to answer for doesn't make the other side better...

Agree, and I would add that just because the U.S. has many sins to answer for doesn't mean the U.S. doesn't also do a lot of truly great and worthy things that it deserves praise for.

Edited by Milburn Stone, Dec 25, 2012 @ 8:52 AM.

[EndoKE]

Agree, and I would add that just because the U.S. has many sins to answer for doesn't mean the U.S. doesn't also do a lot of truly great and worthy things that it deserves praise for.

True, but many times, the US wants to pretend that the sins never existed and the US many times, always want to hold the moral high ground over other countries. Don't go all moral if your shit stinks too.

[revbfc]

I'm still watching this show. No real good reason to share for doing so, I just am. Perhaps I'm interested in how Stone glosses over huge portions of history to give a summary that is as flawed as the ones he rails against. Perhaps it's to cringe at his mangled pronunciation of words both simple and complicated. Maybe I'm just a history junkie that will watch any old cold war documentary as long as I haven't seen it yet. Point is that I'm still watching, and I don't feel good about myself for doing so.