Thread: Nanjing Massacre: The Movie

The "I'm not too sure about that" was only aimed at the "and they have suffered as much as their victims" line.

Turkey TO THIS DAY denies one of the largest massacres in our history.

And it's one of the reasons it has a lot of trouble being accepted into the EU.

Is Mai Lai in OUR textbooks? Why does the president tell us we're at war now? Is it true? Will Abu Grahib be something we tell our children about?

Mai Lai is a pretty minor incident if you ask me. And I hope Abu Grahib will be something to tell your children about, same for Guantanamo Bay.

Both sides of ANY conflict see only their own respective miseries.

Maybe during the conflict but afterwards I don't think so. I'm not looking at WWII only from an allied or axis standpoint either am I?

And in all fairness: there is a great deal of continuing, unreasonable hatred of the Japanese in Asia. People who did not experience the war are angry at people who weren't alive at the time. If Japanese citizens who were children, embryos or not even alive at the time of the war are to be hated for their actions with the zeal that many Chinese and North Koreans (and some South Koreans) hate them; it seems hopeless to even bother trying to make nice. No one likes to be wrong... but it's worse when you're going to be wrong and STILL be hated.

If the Japanese "apologizing" for Nanjing matters so damn much -- why aren't Americans paying reparations for slavery? In about 20 years... the situation will be similar, with no ACTUAL victims or participants alive to worry about it. It seems a bit late to be fighting over this. ACTUAL victims should seek reparations, by all means. But an ENTIRE government (completely different from the one in power at the time of the event) kowtowing to another? NO asian culture will allow that. It's a tremendous sign of weakness, it's a tremendous loss of face and it is political suicide to go against the people (who don't WANT to apologize for something they don't think they ~personally~ have done wrong).

The whole song and dance is a public relations game played by politicians. And while there are SERIOUS implications for the Japanese people THEMSELVES if their textbooks continue to be skewed and censored: I think it should be the LEAST of China's concerns until they clean up their OWN track record.

A government currently forcefully occupying another nation will get none of my sympathy for the occupation of their own 60 years past.

Somehow I'm getting the idea you're thinking I'm feeling pity for the Chinese and find that they should be getting a better treatment.
Trust me, I don't. China's attitude has nothing to do with it.
Japan just got off way too easy after WWII in my opinion. At least when you compare it to Germany. A kowtow would have been very nice. A good humbling once in a while is a good thing. (e.g. I still think one of the reasons why the USA is a lot more eager than most European countries to do some fighting is that they have never been utterly devastated by a war.)

Is it true that the United States among other countries help rebuilt Japan after WWII??

I want to get my facts right. I remember someone mentioning it once but I don't remember it in the textbooks.

Originally Posted by Legend

Is it true that the United States among other countries help rebuilt Japan after WWII??

The United States occupied, rebuilt and modernized Japan following the war. It is more or less directly responsible for Japan's rapid progress on the world stage. On the down-side it has also kept Japan completely dependant on the US for national security ever since (though Japan's relative lack of military spending has resulted in stronger national health and educational programs).

The military umbrella of the USA even came back to bite them in the ass because Japan's economic rise wasn't hampered with high military spending. The Japanese quickly (With the help of the Korean War) rose to the #3 spot in world economy and jumped over the Soviet Union for the #2 spot shortly after.
Nowadays talks about changing article 9 of the constitution are getting louder and louder. The USA sees no problems in it either of course since then they wouldn't have to spend all that money on protecting Japan. With recent wars in the Middle East the USA garnered some serious debts.