Hiroshima - Racist Propaganda

Racist propaganda is often misunderstood by humans alike. People frequently throw the words around without knowing their true meaning. The term is composed of two separate words; racist and propaganda. Racist is defined as one race being superior to another. Propaganda is the widespread, systematic distribution of information intended to help or injure and institution, a cause, or a person. The two of these together are used in a very clever manner. The most common use of racist propaganda is during the time of war. You see posters, television commercials, and you hear radio advertisements all used to weaken the opposition and strengthen the war morale. John Hersey uses racist propaganda in his book Hiroshima. He does this to ease the guilt of the American use of the Atomic bomb by dehumanizing the Japanese victims, by expressing the lack of fault placed on the Americans for dropping the bomb, and by implicating that Japan is better off because of it.
Throughout John Hersey’s ...