What does this propoganda in World War 2 mean?

Question

Unkle Sam is holding a american citizen's mouth shut saying

"Quiet!

Show Your Place

Shut Your Face!"

here is link if you need a visual

http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/R/O/propaganda_quiet.jpg

thanks for the help

Answer 1

That is not WWII vintage.  That is sarcasm.

The Bush administration has investigated several non-threatening groups.  The picture is critical of that behavoir.

The "Department of Homeland Security" was created by the Bush Administration.

Answer 2

Most people answering this are missing two key points:

1. The United States has never had a "Ministry of Homeland Security", and did not have a "Department of Homeland Security" until 2002.  There's no way this thing actually dates to World War II.

2. The URL for the picture is http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/... -- note the "political humor" in there.

The poster is not a real WW2 propaganda poster, but rather a parody of WW2 propaganda posters.  The ostensible message is simply "Sit down, shut up, and be a good little citizen who never questions his government."  Of course, the real message is "The government wants to stifle all dissent.  Don't let them."

As for why the poster says *Ministry* of Homeland Security instead of *Department* of Homeland Security, my guess is that this is an attempt to draw a parallel between the Bush Administration and the government in the book _1984_.  Remember, in that book government agencies were all Ministry of _______ instead of Department of _______.

Answer 3

Why is does the bottom indicate-"From the Ministry of Homeland Security"?

Is  this and old poster that is re-released or a new poster done in the style of times past?

During  WW2 the sentiment is like "Loose Lips, Might, Sink Ships!"

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lslip...

Answer 4

It means don't talk aloud about anything the Germans spies could hear

Answer 5

On the homefront, people were discouraged from talking about the war because of the fear that n**i spies could get a hold of information.

Answer 6

on the bottom it also says "message from the homeland securities" the poster is giving off the same message as "loose lips sink ships"

in other words- shut up so the government can protect you because you dont know where spies are and we want to lose as few men as possible

it's a you do your job; ill do mine sort of thing

Answer 7

The previous answers tell what the literal meaning was. That don't tell why that was said and the significance of it as history. Also, it applied to the other Axis powers, not just Germany.

My father lived through WW II and he has told me some things that many people don't know. I certainly wasn't taught a lot of this in school. He has always had some interest in politics and his observations on what was going on interested me.

There was a tremendous amount of sympathy and support for Germany before the US got into the war. There were rallies, speeches, articles written, etc. Part of this is because there are a fair number of people here who's ancestors came from Germany. Also, the German people tended to be very proud of this heritage.

I still remember being taught in school that Germany was ready for a fight because they got screwed after losing WW I. If your parents or grandparents came from there, it made sense that you were at least irritated that "your" people's country got screwed. It can be debated that they deserved it, but that isn't important for this discussion.

I saw a documentary about Henry Ford. He received a medal from Hitler for his, Ford's, writings supporting Germany and the n***s. Lindburg, the fameous aviator, also gave speeches and wrote supporting Germany and the n**i philosophy.

All in all, there was a lot of support to enter the war on the side of the Axis. If Japan had not attacked the US, we might have done that. The sentiment was that strong.

I am very ashamed of how so many people in my country, the US, supported Hitler. We knew the filth that Hitler was teaching. We had some ideas about the horrible things that he had already stated doing. Any thinking person could see what inhumane, illegal, and inexcusable things he was suggesting be done.

Today, we have the benefit of hindsight telling us how terrible the things were that Hitler masterminded. We knew enought that there should have been no one supporting the Axis, nor their philosiphies.

I am ashamed of what my country, the US did to the Americans of Japaneese extraction during the war. We also have the hindsight telling us that what we did to those American citizens was not what our country should stand for.

We also have information, albiet disputed, of what the n***s were doing. It is my understanding that we had less knowledge of what the Japaneese were doing, but enough to know that it was also inhumame, illegal and totally unacceptable.

The thing that upsets me is what both of those countries were doing was horrible beyond belief. They were murdering innocent civilians on a scale that was unheard of. They were conducting inhumane and illegal testing on human subjects.

Yes, the US did some of that too, at various times in their history. One difference is the scale of what was done. Yes, savagely torturing and murdering one innocent person is terrible, but they did it to millions. It is well documented that the Germans murdered over 12 million innocent people in the camps.

I remember being taught, in school, about the 6 million Jews, but I don't remember the 6 million non-Jews that were sadistically murdered. Their crimes were such things as being black, mentally retarded, too intellectual, Catholic, and from countries that Germany thought were sub-standard.

I also don't remember being taught about the sadistic murdering that Japan did in Eastern Asia. Research The Rape Of Nanking, for one thing.

Actually, back when I was in school, they also didn't even teach much about some of the incredibly inhumame things that Japan did with the prisoners of war that they captured. Batan Death March anyone?

Anyway, why this long discourse? When I was in school, I was bored to tears. History was so incredibly boring? Why? Because what they considered history was simply memorized the dates of wars. It wan't much more than that.

Hopefully, you will do some research about what was really happening, what people were thinking and doing, how any change in so many different factors would have resulted in an entire different world. For example, it can be argued that Germany had much better tools of war.

Their guns were bigger. Their tanks more powerfull and faster. They had a working jet airplane before us. They pioneered the science of rocketry and their V1 and V2 were awe inspiring weapons.  

By the way, they almost had a working atomic bomb before us. Think about what changes that would have made to the world we know.

Or...did you want the long version instead of this short one?