June 11, 2004

Dangerous Depictions of Enemies

To the Editor:

Bruce A. Williams makes some excellent observations about the continuing role in the United States of domestic propaganda in time of war ("War Rhetoric's Toll on Democracy," The Chronicle Review, April 16). Yet his suggestion that "the leader of the enemy state must be used to stand for the entire nation and then demonized" is true only in some conflicts. ...

In World War II, for instance, the typical Japanese enemy portrayed in domestic propaganda was most