On 10/20/2004 5:15 PM, Ernest Schaal wrote:
> in article cl56d8$p0q$1@newsflood.tokyo.att.ne.jp, Scott Reynolds at
> sar@gol.com wrote on 10/20/04 5:08 PM:
> 
>>A lot of the criticism about Japanese whitewashing seems to focus on
>>what people (politicians, etc.) didn't say, rather than on what they
>>actually said. I'm happy to hear that you don't subscribe to that sort
>>of thinking.
> 
> I disagree with you. The criticism about Japanese whitewashing is similar to
> that about Yoshida, who argues that all stories of the abuses and atrocities
> are overblown, without any admission that abuses and atrocities really
> occurred. It isn't that they are condemned for their silence, but for their
> blanket rejection of any hint of the atrocities.

On the contrary. Yoshida-san never said there were no atrocities. You 
are jumping on him for not saying there were atrocities, rather than for 
something he actually said.

> A similar situation would be a Southerner who refuses to condemn slavery,
> but instead heaps praise on the South for resisting the Union's
> "interference" with their economy. 

But here again, you cannot assume that such a person actually thinks 
slavery was beneficial, or does not think it was wrong, just because he 
"refuses to condemn slavery."

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Scott Reynolds                                      sar@gol.com