New
York
(ANI):
Actor
Tom
Hanks
has
been
slammed
by
conservatives
for
his
remark
on
how
his
HBO
series
'The
Pacific'
shows
the
war
as
being
of
racism
and
terror.
Hanks,
53,
whose
film
work
had
been
praised
before
by
conservatives
who
felt
it
honoured
World
War
II
veterans,
is
now
facing
criticism
from
them
over
the
comment
he
made
while
promoting
the
series.
"The
Pacific
represents
a
war
that
was
of
racism
and
terror," the
New
York
Daily
News
quoted
him
as
saying
on
MSNBC's
'Morning
Joe'."And
the
only
way
to
complete
one
of
these
battles
on
these
small
specks
of
rock
in
the
middle
of
nowhere
was,
and
I'm
sorry,
to
kill
them
all,"
he
said.
Hanks
had
made
similar
comments
in
a
Time
magazine
interview
too,
comparing
the
60-year-old
conflict
to
the
modern
war
on
terror
in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan.
"Back
in
World
War
II,
we
viewed
the
Japanese
as
'yellow,
slant-eyed
dogs' that
believed
in
different
gods,"
he
had
told
the
magazine.
"They
were
out
to
kill
us
because
our
way
of
living
was
different.
We,
in
turn,
wanted
to
annihilate
them
because
they
were
different.
Does
that
sound
familiar
to
what's
going
on
today?" he
added.
His
comments
attracted
the
attention
of
many
conservatives,
who
believe
he
should
not
talk
about
things
he
has
no
idea
about.
"I
think
if
personalities
that
have
a
big
megaphone
by
virtue
of
their
acting
talent
are
going
to
make
political
statements,
they
ought
to
be
careful," Richard
Pearle,
former
secretary
of
Defense
for
President
Ronald
Reagan,
told
ABCNews.com.
And
while
some
retorts
were
subtle,
others
were
not.
"Hanks'
comments
were
sadly
infantile
pop
philosophizing
offered
by,
well,
an
ignoramus,"
Victor
Davis
Hanson
of
Pajamas
Media
wrote.
Fox
News'
Bill
O'Reilly
went
so
far
as
to
say
that
racism
had
nothing
to
do
with
World
War
II's
fight
with
the
Japanese
or
the
current
fight
against
terrorism.
"Why
[does]
Hanks
want
to
inject
racism
into
two
wars,
Japan
and
the
war
on
terror,
where
racism
clearly
does
not
exist," he
said
on
his
"Factor"
show.
Hanks
has
since
clarified
his
remarks,
noting
that
his
comments
about
racial
bigotry
applied
to
all
sides,
not
just
to
Americans,
and
he
agreed
that
the
modern
wars
are
far
more
complex.
"It
would
be
naive
to
assume
that
racism
was
not
part
of
that
quotiant
of
World
War
II,"
he
told
CNSNews.com.
"It's
not
clear
cut,
and
it
would
be
foolish
to
assume
that
it
is.
What's
going
on
in
Iraq
is
completely
singular
to
Iraq.
What
is
going
on
in
Afghanistan
is
completely
singular
to
Afghanistan,"
he
said.
But
he
was
quick
to
point
out
that
while
he
has
an
opinion,
he
doesn't
feel
his
thoughts
on
the
subject
warranted
such
an
examination.
"Look,
I'm
an
actor.
I'm
not
a
politician.
I'm
not
a
statistician.
I'm
not
a
legislator," he
added.