Scott McIntyre, is a major presenter on football for SBS

I always lol at any person, who talk about USA using nukes on Japan as a major war crime ..USA should have let LeMay keep firebombing Japanese cites

those 2 nukes save millions of Japanese lives, that would have been lost in a USA invasion of Japan

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Wazzir

We should be honest enough to say that some of our troops behaved badly at times. As did troops from every nation in that war. The German, French and British Army used poison gas, the Turks massacred Armenians, the Russians sent prisoners of war to Siberia, the French executed their own troops for mutiny, and German U-boats sunk civilian vessels in the Atlantic Ocean. French and German airships bombed civilians.

Equally there were acts of compassion, like the 1914 Christmas truce.

He shouldn't have tarred every soldier with the same brush.


Edited by lastbroadcast: 26/4/2015 09:27:26 AM

any time Australia fights for Britain, and now for USA , this has everything to do with defending Australia..if USA, (Britain in past) didn't control the seas lanes around Australia, then Australia would be fucked

The awful truth nobody wants to say.

The conventional fire bombing of mainland Japan in the last 7 months of the war killed 500,000 people and left 5 million homeless.

A full scale invasion of the Japanese mainland was estimated to kill at least 2 million people. Most of course would've been Japanese civilians. The US army invaded the island of Okinawa and this caused the death of 12,000 US soldiers, 107,000 Japanese soldiers and 150,000 Japanese civilians. Together, the nuclear weapons killed somewhere between 150,000 to 300,000 people.

The awful, controversial truth that no-one wants to acknowledge is that the nuclear bombs saved lives.

When you "frightening scale" you imply that a great proportion of ANZACs were involved in rape, murder etc.
There is no such basis to this claim.
Sure there many have been rape, murder, infanticide (really?) committed by some ANZACs, but there is not a military force in the world that is without sin. The horror of war can make legends and heroes out of people and it can also turn them into vile criminals.
If you choose to taint the ANZAC legacy based on the actions of a few rogues that's your choice, it's not about not having the stomach to accept the uncomfortable parts of history it's about recognising and commemorating the greater better more important truth and that is the ANZACs and all servants of were brave soldiers and their sacrifice was not in vain nor will be forgotten.

It's a bit like doing a eulogy for a dead loved one. Do you talk about what wonderful people they were or do tell the unvarnished literal truth and point out all their faults and shortcomings? It's a bit like Australia Day as well, so you celebrate being an Australian and recognise all the great things about this country or do you burn the flag because of the less palatable parts of our history. McIntyre and sadly some folks on here are flag burners and consumed by the negatives.



Edited by rusty: 26/4/2015 11:39:40 AM

The references to Hiroshima and Nagasaki were particularly crass. If the allied forces were run by folks like McIntyre we'd be all overrun by Nazi's and singing the German national anthem. But because pacifism has never been tested in war some like to play the moral card by suggesting dropping bombs is always wrong.

Scott McIntyre's comments were pretty stupid. I thought he was more intelligent than that. I don't mind people making controversial claims but they should back it up with evidence.

I suspect he was drunk and is probably ashamed this morning.

And now out of a job.

Has he been sacked?

Far out.

I don't think he was drunk he is just a fucking asshat.

Good riddance if he was sacked, total disgrace to SBS and football.

Possibly saved lives? Maybe.

The Americans embarked on a bombing campaign across Japan but deliberately left Nagasaki and Hiroshima untouched because they wanted to see what these new weapons would actually do to a full scale city.

There was absolutely no reason America could not have dropped an atomic bomb in the harbour or in some adjacent countryside to show the consequences of not surrendering. (Had Japan still not acquiesced they then could easily have followed up with bombs on those cities.)

The facts are that America dropped these bombs as a giant experiment into the effects of an atomic weapon on a heavily populated city.

The real reason Japan surrendered, and it's only been coming to light recently, was Russia's entry into the war against Japan.

The atomic bombing of Japan as a reason for the war ending has been vastly overstated. (Some even arguing that it was a war crime.)

Jump up and down and flame away but do some reading before you do. (Even a link from the bastion of conservatism Fox news.)

http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/08/07/why_did_japan_surrender/
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/14/historians-soviet-offensive-key-japans-wwii-surrender-eclipsed-bombs/
http://japanfocus.org/site/view/2501
http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v16/v16n3p-4_Weber.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

As they say "history is written by the victors".

Ha ha. Not true.

oh well i wonder if 442 are hiring. 😀

If the atomic bombs were war crimes then the 7 months of fire bombing that preceded it was also a war crime given it killed twice as many people. As was the invasion of Okinawa, which also killed more people.

Not arguing any of that.

Just that the "fact" that the dropping of the atomic bombs led to the Japanese surrender. That's been the justification for their use for 70 years.

As for war crimes you be hard pressed to beat the bombing of Dresden.

Fortunately for the Allied commanders their side won and they didn't end up in court like the Nazi hierarchy.

lol no more Scott on SBS Podcasts thank fark.

His over commentary on the UEFA highlights was shit as well, over pronouncing shit.

-PB

mcyntire is entitled to his opinion, but to do it on anzac day was plain idiotic and dishonorable.
its a day for mourning not to to go out and insult the people serving .
lol how dumb is he

Edited by Socawho: 26/4/2015 01:28:09 PM

One of the most knowledgeable people in Aus media about Asian Football, a big loss to SBS imo.

All for sharing an opinion that isn't what the public want to see on Anzac day (not saying I agree with what he's said).



So if he did it today it would all be OK?

Edited by jlm8695: 26/4/2015 01:37:14 PM

They executed prisoners on a frightening scale. In some theatres 1% of captured soldiers made it alive to a pow camp. Rapes were also commonplace in occupied Japan.

I'm aware of the war crimes records of other countries however that's not relevant to this topic. I'm not choosing to taint he Anzac legend I'm trying to learn a little about history.

Kind of ironic given the average man in the street thinks Anzacs fought for our freedoms.

Interestingly it seems those "freedoms" don't extend to having a distasteful opinion.

i dont agree with what he says but if he did it on any other day then he might still have a job if he was lucky
although if he said something similar about china and he was in china he would be lucky if he didnt find himself sitting in a cell

Edited by Socawho: 26/4/2015 01:43:22 PM

They don't extend to expressing those opinions publicly on a Twitter account that clearly associates you with your employer. Two references to SBS in his Twitter profile, including a link to The World Game website.
To do so on Anzac Day was so disrespecful, he deserves everything he got.
Won't be missed anyway.

its like if i worked for mcdonalds and i said their burgers tasted like shit or something similar.

he'll never work in media in Australia again.

thats what you get

Re:Scott McIntyre, he's always tried to be edgy in the name of speaking his mind. He thought he'd just up it to another twenty notches and it backfired big time.

There's some slithers of truth in what he tweeted but:
* They were far too generalised in some cases and exaggerated in others
* The language used was far too aggressive

I also think the concern over the glorification of the ANZACs is overblown. There is an element of it and it's peddled by quite a few "influential" people in politics and the media but I see the majority of people see it for the day of mourning it is.

:lol: Give me a bit more credit than that.

I believe in freedom of speech above all, and indeed McIntyre should and does have the freedom to say that (it's not like he's been arrested or whatever) but as a professional journo surely he would know that his employers also have the freedom to not employ him anymore if they wish, and the public have their freedom of speech to react to what he had to say with their own opinions.

It was unfortunate he didnt use his once in a lifetime opportunity to highlight the role anzac day centenary celebrations have had in burying the Armenian genocide reporting and recognition.

Instead he choose to refer to Turkey as a nation we had no quarrel with.

As for the timing, it couldnt have been better otherwise the level of controversy generated would've been minimal. Thats how you do a protest and thats how you bring attention of the eyes of many to an issue only the few are aware of.

He may only be a football journalist, but I'd wish more people employed as journalists stood by their principles instead of selling out their morals to the almighty dollar. They end up being the writers of history and the informers of present so it is a great responsibility they have.

Jesse Fink was also fired by SBS for voicing an opinion not popular with the station - one that highlighted actual corruption.

Freedom of speech does not equal freedom of consequences

His comment about Australia being responsible for Hiroshima is just wrong. Australia had no knowledge of that decision and did not participate in the action. That decision was made by U.S. President Truman and was carried out by American Air Force crew. Even Stalin, who had a network of spies, was in somewhat in the dark about the mission. Only some of the Brits knew.

My grandfather is a WW2 veteran and he never forgave the Americans for using Nuclear weapons. He even avoided buying American consumer products in protest. MacIntyre is wrong to imply that Anzacs shared blame.

Australian troops have certainly committed atrocities, but that was not one that we were directly responsible for. A good list of crimes we were actually responsible for can be found here: http://www.solidarity.net.au/reviews/australian-atrocities-at-war/

Let's also remember that we had more than our fair share of war crimes committed against us - including the use of captured Australian nurses as comfort women and the treatment of our soldiers in PoW camps by the Japanese.

Edited by lastbroadcast: 26/4/2015 04:33:19 PM