airnutz wrote:
Good thread, good to see the subject being discussed with adult temperment.
Absolutely.
And in response to a couple of asides made earlier; FWIW, I can't see the point of comparative atrocities - the 'they did that so this is OK', or 'this atrocity by them is worse that that atrocity by these others'. Falling to the level of barbarity of one's enemies is inexcusable; and a there are no prizes for depravity, or for coming 'second'.
Secondly, blaming modern generations for the misdemeanours of their forbears is also extremely unfair; there's no evidence of any barbarities committed by the modern Japanese, and the shortfall in Japan today relates to a lack of commitment to proper education of what really happened - a policy fault hotly debated, rather than individuals in denial, I'd suggest. (The recent historical failures of a recent Japanese PM (the attempted denial of Comfort Women's existence and the visits to the infamous Yasuki Shrine) are regarded as another illustration of
his incompetence, rather than a 'national view'.) As is often demonstrated here, and even in this thread, we all have huge gaps in our knowledge, and our hunger for learning more is certainly biased towards the 'palatable' bits of our own histories, rather than the failures and transgressions of our own forefathers. Just a couple of thoughts.
And this just in, about a new film on the Rape of Nanking. I'd suggest it's read in conjunction with the newspaper article which touches on the dangers of over-simplifying modern reactions to the events, and the different attitudes in Japan particularly. The Japanese conservative-revisionists don't hold a majority view I understand.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8039832.stm
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 810x1.html
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