Comments on: Ditto

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:43:22 +0000

“As for the Japanese – they lost their war. Their cities were knocked flat, their armies beaten, their navy sunk, their country occupied. Surely that is object lesson enough, isn’t it ? The war is now over. There is peace, and the matter should be concluded. Forcing people to remain forever on the stool of everlasting repentance does nothing but breed resentment and store up trouble for the future.”

You are correct—insofar as we did defeat them and forcing them to remain forever on the stool would do no one any good. Thing is, the other Asian countries can’t claim much of the credit for that beating. And they have seen little or no acknowledgement from the Japanese government that what happened to them HAPPENED, much less an apology to those individuals- still alive- who suffered that pain.

Once apologies have been made, along with restitution to those who ACTUALLY DID THE SUFFERING, the matter should be closed as far as I’m concerned. Let the dead rest.

By: Roy Berman

Roy Berman — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:32:02 +0000

“can either be read as intending just that, or it could have been written sarcastically, i.e. the Congress ain’t never going to do that, so just stop moralizing. Pray tell, Mr. Berman, which one you meant!”

Honestly, a bit of both. I do in fact think that if Mr. Honda were actually able to get the US Congress to pass their own slavery apology resolution then he might be able to gather more moral support for his crusade over Japan’s comfort women. On the other hand, I don’t think he’ll even try. I also wanted to suggest a bit of “try putting your own house in order before you criticize everyone else.”

By: El Jefe Maximo

El Jefe Maximo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:03:01 +0000

I’m with Rommel. Enough of the apologies. “Apologies” by those living in the present are pointless and serve no purpose except to allow some of us to engage in moral preening by proclaiming that we no longer engage in such activities, and to indulge their own smugness and advance political agends by pedaling the blood-guilt of others; at worst it amounts to public sanction of provincialism in time.

As for the Japanese – they lost their war. Their cities were knocked flat, their armies beaten, their navy sunk, their country occupied. Surely that is object lesson enough, isn’t it ? The war is now over. There is peace, and the matter should be concluded. Forcing people to remain forever on the stool of everlasting repentance does nothing but breed resentment and store up trouble for the future.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:12:29 +0000

It’s hard to read the actual meaning of Roy’s post. The phrase, “perhaps the US Congress should apologize for slavery at the national level before its members go overseas to demand that foreign governments do the same thing. Maybe by setting a moral example, Mister Honda might convince a wider audience of his credibility” can either be read as intending just that, or it could have been written sarcastically, i.e. the Congress ain’t never going to do that, so just stop moralizing. Pray tell, Mr. Berman, which one you meant!

By: Arcane

Arcane — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:19:47 +0000

I completely agree with Rommel. I’m really sick and tired of the apologies. The present generation in America never owned slaves and no slaves are still alive, so an apology is pointless. Why is the world so obsessed with these apologies? It seems like the sole purpose of the advocates of apologies is to humiliate and disgrace a nation before every new generation. This absurdity needs to stop.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:34:31 +0000

I don’t know that I’d go that far. Way I see it, apologies serve three potential purposes:
1) Acknowledging one’s (or one’s institution’s) wrong-doing to the victims. In our case, the victims are already dead; in Japan’s case, some are still alive.
2)Getting hard questions about one’s relationship with the victims’ groups out into the open—though this can be good or bad. Discussing the best way to help African-Americans out of poverty, or a warming of relations between Japan and her neighbors would be good. Letting it turn into a masochistic whipping session would not.
3) Once you’ve apologized and faced the hard questions about your relationship with the victims and their descendents, it should be much easier to turn further questions about YOUR behavior back on the questioner. “We’ve apologized for [slavery, Nanking, whatever], but YOU haven’t said anything about [their slavery background, Tienanmen Square, whatever]. Why not?”

By: Curzon

Curzon — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:17:26 +0000

Far more eloquent than my “ditto.”

By: Rommel

Rommel — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:05:25 +0000

Here’s a better idea… we stop this absolutely absurd, never-ending parade – and charade – of apologies and demanding of apologies. Armenian genocides, the Holocaust (a lesser known atrocity), slavery, American Indian holocausts, colonialism, blah blah blah … ENOUGH!

Accounts of the cruel and dishonorable manner in which Imperial Japan’s military treated POWs and civilians rightfully disgusts anybody with a soul, I’d have to say that the issue of comfort women was on the (relatively) mild end of the spectrum. The Bataan Death March and Unit 731 always won my horror, but maybe thats just me. Not to downplay the awful story of sexual slavery but….

I guess the world will never get tired of rubbing the whole Second World War thing in Germany/Japans collective faces, at least in this lifetime. Which baffles me, considering that Germany has long since been immasculated and neutered and Japan seems like the least threatening nation in the world right now (maybe you guys in Japan see a different side.)

All this said, the voters in California who elected this joker Mike Honda (whose previous occupation was level 5 boss in NES Mike Tyson Punch-Out, I believe) should boot him out of office come re-election time, for wasting their time and money advocating this bullcrap. Ditto for all the other lawmakers who peddle this kind of malarkey…