I felt I wanted to say something in this even though I'm not in any way privy to what goes on in Japan and an eventual rewriting of the history. I am however interested in the dark side of history, the things that aren't spoken about out loud, and I wrote my major thesis during my Museology studies on that subject (although it was focused on WWII and controversial cultural heritages in Europe).
First of all,
bluegreenangel, I'm sorry but I have to ask you based off what I've read in your posts so far: Do you
REALLY want to know what happened or are you simply looking for ways to confirm your own opinions and beliefs about what happened?
Quote
heh serves them right... they reap what they sow.... its kind of what they did to korean and chinese civilians..... use them for lab experiments, and their excuse was " we underestimated the pain they were feeling, we were sure we put pain killers or somewhat for them "... youre right, people DO remember what others did but what THEY THEMSELVES didnt... japan has no right to say anything about hiroshima bombing, because japan brought it upon themselves, they started the war, they know it, the other guys know it, i know it, you know it, and we all know it.....
[reply from bluegreenangel regarding the fact that people are still dying from cancer caused by nuclear radiation in Japan. (Catriona's note)]No matter the atrocities committed in the past, people living today (people who might not have been involved or even knew about the atrocities their country committed) should not have to suffer for it. If so, do you also think the everyday German should suffer from God knows what simply because some people in the past persecuted and killed other people during the WWII?
On a more general note regarding rewriting of history. Most countries do that or simply omit things from their history books. I doubt there is a single country in the world which hasn't at one point or another decided to rewrite, omit or flatly deny one or other event from their past. My country, Sweden, likes to go out with the fact that Sweden's such a neutral country which had practically no part at all in the WWII. However, most often, in the general school history book, the fact that Sweden turned a blind eye to what happened around them and allowed the Nazis to pass more or less freely through the country on their way to Norway and so on is either mentioned in perhaps a single side note that practically no one notices, or completely omitted. Also, they talk very silently about the fact that the Kaiser Wilhelm-institute (sp?) in Germany took inspiration regarding racial hygiene and eugenics from an institute here in Sweden (The National Institute for Race Biology, unsure of the correct name) that is considered to be one of the world's first such institutes.
So, in conclusion, I find it more unlikely that there's a country in the world who are completely truthful in their history books (even regarding the things they've done) than that history is frequently rewritten, altered or omitted. One always has to remember that there will always be at least two sides of everything and that each side will always try to make the scale tip in its favour. Not all Germans (even among the Nazis during WWII) were black-hearted, evil people who sincerely wished to eradicate Jews, homosexuals and so on. The US isn't through and through a country as great as its politicians and historians want people to believe (Even though there's a claim the US went into Iraq to "liberate" the people from Saddam's despotic rule or whatever the official explanation is, I tend to believe that there's always underlying political and economical motives), Sweden's not such a nice, innocent and neutral country as we claim to be. And so on through all the countries in the world.
There are skeletons in every closet and dust hiding under every mat or in every corner in every country. In many ways I believe it's the people's duty to view history with a critical and sceptical eye and to remember that history is written by humans. No text or story can ever be completely unbiased. Or as Martin Jay wrote on page 107 in the book
Probing the limits of representation- Nazism and the "final solution":
Quote
”[…]historical phenomena can never be made absolutely safe from either oblivion or distortion. No memory can ever survive the death of its original holder without the collective will to keep it alive.”
Last edited by Catriona at 10:07 am, Sep 24 2008________________
"I'm up for anything... as long as it involves handcuffs"
“It's never too late for stalking.â€
Infinity RP - Where we're infinitely trying to get more members:
InfinityRP