Ryan Ginstrom wrote:

> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
> news:4172B950.E992CD1E@yahoo.co.jp...
> > So why be so pissed off at Japanese or Germans (only) for what they have
> > done,
>
> I'm not pissed off at the Japanese or the Germans.

I don't mean you.

> What does "categorizing" suffering have to do with doing something about
> something? If it is all nice and categorized, have we accomplished
> something?

We will have "categorized" something, which is something you brought up.

> > So you really have not heard about something which was made so public. So
> why
> > should you "not knowing" about wartime or occupation rapes even in the
> area
> > in which you live, mean anything?
>
> Why should "knowing" about this incident mean something?

If you say, you don't know about "mass raping", that means that you simply
don't know, not that it never happened.

And PS, I make no claim of "mass raping". Merely that rape did happen.

> > But if you see nothing to condemn US servicemen even during WWII,
>
> Au contraire, mon frere.
>
> The Americans committed their share of atrocities which were war crimes, and
> many atrocities which were not war crimes.

Fine.

> OTOH, the Americans were better behaved than the Japanese in war on a number
> of counts.

This is not the issue.

> They treated their prisoners much better. They generally did not
> pillage or "rape" defeated cities. They did not generally summarily execute
> civilians or military prisoners. And they didn't start the war.
>
> To me, the great tragedy of the Japanese participation in WWII was the
> complete fanatacism instilled in the general public.

I agree. If only they had put as much effort and national resources into an
industrial revolution, without going to war, they might have had at least a 30
year head start, drawing abreast of Europe and the US much sooner.

> A level of fanatacism
> such that fathers killed their wives, mothers killed their babies, entire
> villages committed suicide rather than dishonor the emperor by surrendering.

Yes, they told me that, too.

> A level of fanatacism such that the country plunged headlong into an
> unwinnable war because their absolute belief in the justice of their cause
> made them disregard its utter hopelessness.

I will believe the members of the general public who say they did not know, or
were not allowed to know. Leaders were fools.

> And I would lay most of the blame for this on the upper levels of Japanese
> government, who cynically inculcated this fanatacism, and callously spent
> the lives of their people, first in a bid of conquest, then in an attempt to
> sell their lives in exchange for a negotiated surrender.
>
> But should the Japanese today be held to blame for the actions of Japan
> during the war?

Blame? No. I feel sorry for Japanese who are discriminated against abroad, and
Asians who are discriminated against in Japan. But they can learn. Just like
Americans and other people should learn more about their history.

> Certainly not anyone who was a child or not yet born during
> the war. Probably not anyone alive today who was an adult during that time,
> either.

Why not? Even when Japan is sitting on some of Korea's national treasures? Even
when wartime gold is unaccounted for? Even when some of Japan's wartime figures
such as members of Unit 731, were in positions of influence in the medical
community in modern Japan? Even when modern companies achieved some of their
success due to wartime practices?

> > then what have you seen in your lifetime that
> > convinces you of what Japanese did in Nanking?
>
> Wrong rant, Eric. I know it's tough to keep track of who you are arguing
> with when you think the world is out to get you, but please try to keep your
> ravings sorted appropriately.

--
 "I'm on top of the world right now, because everyone's going to know that I
can shove more than three burgers in my mouth!"