An insult to humanity

[Wongo]

They slaughtered more than 300,000 men, women and children in one city.
They raped 20,000 women.
They used men and women for chemical and biological experiments.
They tossed an infant into the air and stabbed it with the blade at the tip of their raffle.
They had a killing contest.
And worse
They changed their history books.
They tell their children that they were helping their neighbours to develop.
They are hiding the truth from their young.
They have no sorrow.
They make me very angry.

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=109167&region=2

http://www.cnd.org/njmassacre/

[Termite]

Yes Wongo, I agree. The only consoling thing that I hold on to is the final coup de gras, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Phil Spencer]

Worked for those people once, never again.

[ptc]

My Father and cousin are buried in Burma.

[silentC]

The rest of the world is not going to forget in a hurry. It's a hard truth that they (the Japanese kids) are going to have to face up to. Their grandparents did these things. The only thing I would ask is should the children pay for the sins of the fathers?

We've all got skeletons in the closet...

[Slavo]

Unfortunately Wongo, this type of behaviour is not limited to one nation. Over the history of the human race there have been nations who have committed greater attrocities and have refused to acknowledge what they did was wrong.

This is not to take away from the hurt and sorrow that you and others feel over these actions

[Wongo]

Christopha, easy old man. Which part of my post is racist? If you don't like 'em, don't bloody well read 'em. So let stick with it eh!



I agree with your guys. No one is asking this generation to pay for their fathers’ wrong doing. History is history and it is not going to change.

Most of us (Chinese) don’t think about it much. We have moved on. We even buy Japanese goods. I love my Makita. :D

But it just gets me every time I see a Japanese veteran on TV saying “We did not do this, we did not do that…” or “I am proud of what I did.”

When I was in university, I had many Japanese friends. :)

[LineLefty]

I fully agree with Wongo on this one. The atrocities committed by the japanese in China should not be forgotten, He is not suggesting that the sins of the grandfather be the sins of the sons. He is simply angry that the sins of the grandfather are beign rationalised and glossed over.

Ask the Arabs and Persians and Jews of 60 years is enough time to forget...............

[silentC]

It is possible for a country to move on from it's past atrocities. They do however, need to acknowledge that it happened.
Like I said, we've all got skeletons in the closet...

[craigb]

Like I said, we've all got skeletons in the closet...

This is true. I guess you'd only have to ask the Tibetans.

However, the Jpanese have a history of glossing over their war of agression and the misery that they brought to millions of people.

I don't think it hurts for them to be reminded of it now and again.

I believe though that the "spontaneous" demonstartion of the past few days have probably been orchestrated by the Chinese government. But then I'm a cynic.

Craig (who thinks Hirahito should have been hanged as a war criminal) :(

[silentC]

I suppose the problem is that there is a tendency to perpetuate hatred down the generations if you make too big a deal of it. Fact is, it happened and no-one alive today can do anything about it. Denying it or playing it down is a misguided attempt to move on. However I don't think anything is achieved by pointing the finger and saying "you did this". It's probably the biggest thing that stands in the way of reconciliation. You have to get past the blame mentality and move towards forgiveness for the mistakes of the past. Otherwise we have no chance of getting on. This applies to many skeletons that I can hear rattling.

Too deep for me...

Time to start a sharpening thread I think... ;)

[Wongo]

I don't think anything is achieved by pointing the finger and saying "you did this".

Silent, the Chinese did not go around and say “You did this” when the weather is calm. It is when Japanese start saying “No we did not do this” that stirs things up.

It happened once in the early 80s and it is happening again.

Reconciliation is a 2 way game. One to regret and the other to forgive.

[silentC]

It is when Japanese start saying “No we did not do this” that stirs things up.
Fair point. I don't really know the extent of the 'glossing over'. I guess I don't remember too much stuff from my school days that made us Europeans look like the bad guys we evidently were either. I found out later though and I hope no-one blames me for any of it because I wasn't there.