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Keep in mind that Japan was important to the US as a base in Asia and was our main supply source during the Vietname war. We have been very easy on the Japanese out of our own interest.
Having said that, I would like to know how many time a country which no longer has more than a few people who were alive during the war should have to continue to apologize for the war crimes committed by a military class which no longer exists.
It is right for Germany to apologize to Israel on behalf of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It is right for America to apologize for its treatment of the Indians, the Japanese-Americans who were interned illegally during the war, and the victimes of slavery. Yet no one insists that we continue to do so, year after year.
Japan has aplogized many times to the comfort women and their families, as she should have. Continuing the demands that further apologies be made, it is increasingly obvious, is simply a way to keep bad feelings on the boil and hatreds fresh. Add to this the timeliness of this as a PC/feminist issue (which is the real reason the US Congress is involved), and we have yet another example of the application of retroactive criteria to historical events which, while satisfying for those looking to pick a fight with dead people, is both hypocritical and intellectually dishonest.
It serves no useful purpose, to my mind.
Interesting insight, as per your usual. You got me to thinking..how long, in fact, must ANY country apologize for its past? I mean if the abuses of the past are continuing today, then by ALL MEANS, APOLOGIZE !!, .....but make it QUICK...because then you need to get busy ENDING the abuses.
But after the abuses have been 'made right', as time goes by and the generations are born and die, how many years must the 'apologies' go on...and to whom should they be directed?
My feeling is probably nothing more than a simple bit of 'crackerbarrel psychology'....but my 'gut instinct' tells me that apologies will PROBABLY be demanded for as many years as there is someone who's willing to apologize.
Pretty much the nature of the human race, I suppose...."if you got the GUILT, honey, I got the ways to appeal to it"....that sort of thing.
Interesting insight, as per your usual. You got me to thinking..how long, in fact, must ANY country apologize for its past? I mean if the abuses of the past are continuing today, then by ALL MEANS, APOLOGIZE !!, .....but make it QUICK...because then you need to get busy ENDING the abuses.
But after the abuses have been 'made right', as time goes by and the generations are born and die, how many years must the 'apologies' go on...and to whom should they be directed?
My feeling is probably nothing more than a simple bit of 'crackerbarrel psychology'....but my 'gut instinct' tells me that apologies will PROBABLY be demanded for as many years as there is someone who's willing to apologize.
Pretty much the nature of the human race, I suppose...."if you got the GUILT, honey, I got the ways to appeal to it"....that sort of thing.
On that note, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to Beverly Beck for not taking her to the junior prom in 1963. I got stupid drunk on Country Club malt liquor and barfed all over my cream-colored tuxedo jacket. It was NOT the flu, as I told you later.
Keep in mind that Japan was important to the US as a base in Asia and was our main supply source during the Vietname war. We have been very easy on the Japanese out of our own interest.
Having said that, I would like to know how many time a country which no longer has more than a few people who were alive during the war should have to continue to apologize for the war crimes committed by a military class which no longer exists.
It is right for Germany to apologize to Israel on behalf of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It is right for America to apologize for its treatment of the Indians, the Japanese-Americans who were interned illegally during the war, and the victimes of slavery. Yet no one insists that we continue to do so, year after year.
Japan has aplogized many times to the comfort women and their families, as she should have. Continuing the demands that further apologies be made, it is increasingly obvious, is simply a way to keep bad feelings on the boil and hatreds fresh. Add to this the timeliness of this as a PC/feminist issue (which is the real reason the US Congress is involved), and we have yet another example of the application of retroactive criteria to historical events which, while satisfying for those looking to pick a fight with dead people, is both hypocritical and intellectually dishonest.
It serves no useful purpose, to my mind.
Poliics gave even the war criminals a pass. By the time they were accused and tried, people were past the war and into good times, Korea was on and we needed to be Japan's friend. Add that thanks to our level of justice those who slaughtered every survivor and burned the camp where they did biological warfare were not convicted because of lack of evidence.
Its nice to see that Japan has apologized a few times but if you erase the reasons from history then its not a real one. When Japan adds a memorial to their victums in torture, murder and war to their own memorial and teaches their children the truth and makes it a subject of discussion and atonement, then it will be done.
Germany has faced their crimes and more. Japanese culture still holds this timebomb should they come to such power again. If a culture hasn't faced and admitted its crimes, then it can't be remembered the next time.
On that note, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to Beverly Beck for not taking her to the junior prom in 1963. I got stupid drunk on Country Club malt liquor and barfed all over my cream-colored tuxedo jacket. It was NOT the flu, as I told you later.
Whew. That's a load off my mind.
Fine. Great work admitting that. And next week, should Ms. Beck..OR one of her children..call you up to 'chew you out', you can, with a clear conscience, say to them, "That was a LONG time ago; I apologized; and I moved on. I suggest that you (or your Mom) do likewise, and make the most of the rest of your life".
This is not a matter of dredging up the past for the hell of it, or to continue a victimhood type status for a bunch of people.
No, this is about Japan taking until 1993 to apologize to the survivors of their brothels.....and even still, there are government officials who to this day deny it ever took place.
That is a crime, imo. I mean -- the US is hardly saying that slavery didn't exist, that the near genocide of the Indian Wars didn't exist, that Jim Crow laws didn't exist. Or even that the incarceration of how many Americans of Japanese descent during WWII happened.
We own up to our sins, Japan refuses to do so. Pride and all that....
Regardless of whether or not Japan sees a need to own up to its previous activities, I'm afraid I still don't see where the United States Congress has any business "demanding" it of them. And totally aside from the appropriateness of making such a demand, I have the weird idea that Congress has somewhat more important things it ought to be considering here at home.
Regardless of whether or not Japan sees a need to own up to its previous activities, I'm afraid I still don't see where the United States Congress has any business "demanding" it of them. And totally aside from the appropriateness of making such a demand, I have the weird idea that Congress has somewhat more important things it ought to be considering here at home.
Regardless of whether or not Japan sees a need to own up to its previous activities, I'm afraid I still don't see where the United States Congress has any business "demanding" it of them. And totally aside from the appropriateness of making such a demand, I have the weird idea that Congress has somewhat more important things it ought to be considering here at home.
So far we've had Jane Fonda, two Viet Nam threads, and now WWII. Are there any old wounds not yet reopened?
So far we've had Jane Fonda, two Viet Nam threads, and now WWII. Are there any old wounds not yet reopened?
Yes. PLENTY of wounds. Unassimilated disloyal gringo settlers stole California from Mexico in 1846. (Mexico had had it for 25 years, after stealing it from Spain, who had previously stolen if from the Indians. Somewhere in there, it got stolen from Russia, too).
At any rate, these disloyal gringos then "gave" their stolen country (which they called the "California Republic") to the USA, who STILL holds it today...
If California hadn't been 'stolen' from Mexico, today it might have been as wealthy as Sonora or Baja California.
Yes. PLENTY of wounds. Unassimilated disloyal gringo settlers stole California from Mexico in 1846. (Mexico had had it for 25 years, after stealing it from Spain, who had previously stolen if from the Indians. Somewhere in there, it got stolen from Russia, too).
At any rate, these disloyal gringos then "gave" their stolen country (which they called the "California Republic") to the USA, who STILL holds it today...
If California hadn't been 'stolen' from Mexico, today it might have been as wealthy as Sonora or Baja California.
Nobody EVER seems to want to acknowledge this....
Interesting. Very similar to Texas, except the Texicans were Americans sent over to "settle" on the Mexican side of the border and eventually seek admission to the Union. Nothing like that in California, I'm sure.
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