Under three weeks

Hey readers, I'm back.

As Kiara mentioned in her previous post we decided we should probably update our blog after a long absence. Blogging fell down my list of activities--partially because we found out how difficult accessing a reliable internet connection was in our apartment. The frustration of trying to upload a post or some photos certainly contributed to my disappearance from the blogsophere (yep, I said it ...you can punch me in the face now for being a nerd KT). But in addition to a ridiculously spotty internet connection, I'm just a really private person and would never be one to maintain a blog for reasons other than the ones that prompted this one. I love other people's blogs, I just don't have much of an interest in sustaining one about my own life. But with a little gentle urging from Kiara and a "what happened to your blog?" email from my dad---here I am.

Today I'm going to share a couple of photos I took in the archives. It explains one of the reasons I love studying the postwar era and particularly the 1950s so much--COMIC BOOKS! The two images from above are from a Tagalog language anti-communist publication (the red one with the pointing man is the front cover). The translation of the question posed on the front (Ano ang magiging kahulugan sa iyo ng komunismo?) is essentially: what would communism mean to/or for you? Like English language versions from the era the comic presents a deeply apocalyptic vision of communism and what the Philippines would look like if the communist inspired Hukbalahap gained power. It's a clear disregard of the political position of Huks--but it's Anti-Huk propaganda so the purpose is to portray the Huks as outside the bounds of legitimate political discourse---or even more simply: as anti-citizens of the Philippine state.

Propaganda exist across the political spectrum of course.

But, I have yet to encounter hyperbole as entertaining as some of the stuff found in Anti-Communist propaganda. I've found a limited amount of Huk propaganda and it is WAY less entertaining---for one, it is not a comic. And of course, when I say 'entertaining' I mean it in the way that one can look at something and laugh at the ridiculousness of the claims and wonder "how does someone actually believe this?!"---kind of like recent Tea Party claims about socialism in the US. How I would love to see Tea Party propaganda in comic book form! But while I may be 'entertained' by anti-communist hysteria as a 21st century historian, I'm also knee deep in the historical 'facts' about the narrowing of legitimate political positions. Not unlike the US red-scare of the 1950s, the Philippines red scare sucked in activist, intellectuals, and with left-leaning political views--regardless of their stance on communism.