The Off Topic Topic

[Valmy]

South Korean troops used to skin VC troops they killed in Vietnam.

Woah.

[Syt]

Yi: I don't know, honestly.

[Valmy]

Was the enemy soldier killed by a bomb she made? Sometimes its good to see the fruits of your labor.

Seriously though WWII was such a fucked up time.

[Razgovory]

I've always assumed bone collecting was standard as well, but now when I actually think about it, i can't come up with any concrete examples apart from GIs in the Pacific theater.

Although I suppose there is a distant precedent in various nomadic tribes and their mountains of skulls.

Scalping in North America, head-hunting in Iron age Europe.  I suppose slave taking is a more economic form.

[Malthus]

I imagine that racial/cultural differences may also have played a role there. In Europe the U.S. fought against Germans who they were somewhat familiar with - many German immigrants to America, and the cultures at the end of the day weren't too alien from one another.

Unlike the Japanese who presented a completely different and alien culture and way of thinking.

Sure, but Germans were fighting against subhumans.  Did they collect bones?

Did other allies in the Pacific collect bones?

Concentration camp officials used to collect human oddities - like interesting tattoos skinned from prisoners.

Not sure if frontline fighters on the Eastern front collected bones or not. Maybe they were simply too common in that context to bother with.

[The Brain]

Seriously though WWII was such a fucked up time.

Thank you for your analysis.

[Valmy]

Seriously though WWII was such a fucked up time.

Thank you for your analysis.

Well it gets romanticized sometimes over here. People forget how insane our country was. And logically so.

[Tonitrus]

Seriously though WWII was such a fucked up time.

Thank you for your analysis.

Well it gets romanticized sometimes over here. People forget how insane our country was. And logically so.

Indeed.  We'd likely win the prize for having the most humane internment camps.

[derspiess]

Well it gets romanticized sometimes over here. People forget how insane our country was. And logically so.

People forgot how insane the fighting was in the Pacific theater.  Keeping bones from 'Jap' soldiers pales in comparison to some of the shit they pulled.

[Tonitrus]

Well it gets romanticized sometimes over here. People forget how insane our country was. And logically so.

People forgot how insane the fighting was in the Pacific theater.  Keeping bones from 'Jap' soldiers pales in comparison to some of the shit they pulled.

Yeah.  Makes it somewhat understandable, but definitely doesn't make it right.

We often forget our human capacity for becoming really fucked up in extreme/desperate circumstances.

[Valmy]

Keeping bones from 'Jap' soldiers pales in comparison to some of the shit they pulled.

We would have had to go down the rabbit hole a great deal farther to outdo the Japanese sure.

But keeping bones as trophies is not the extent of it. But it was entirely understandable, we are human beings no demi-Gods. I just hear people get all bent out of shape about fire bombing cities, dropping the atomic bombs, widespread looting and murdering prisoners and civilians and I just wish they would understand that for this period we were completely out of our minds.

[derspiess]

Yeah.  Makes it somewhat understandable, but definitely doesn't make it right.

In the sense that we shouldn't consider it a good thing, yeah.  Not something to lose sleep over, though.  Unless maybe you want to go through the entire catalog of Japanese war crimes for context.

[derspiess]

But keeping bones as trophies is not the extent of it. But it was entirely understandable, we are human beings no demi-Gods. I just hear people get all bent out of shape about fire bombing cities, dropping the atomic bombs, widespread looting and murdering prisoners and civilians and I just wish they would understand that for this period we were completely out of our minds.

I think that's overstating it a bit, but I mostly agree with the point you're making.

[Malthus]

Keeping bones from 'Jap' soldiers pales in comparison to some of the shit they pulled.

We would have had to go down the rabbit hole a great deal farther to outdo the Japanese sure.

For one, almost making shashimi out of your future President. 

[Syt]

I googled for the "Hunting Licenses" mentioned in the Cracked article and got more than I bargained for. 















I couldn't find a German/Jerry/Kraut equivalent.