WM - OT OT - You know for a fact that whole civilian populations commited suicide? How? A mass falling on swords.
Read the history of the invasion of Okinawa. In many cases whole families and small towns committed suicide. Along the same vein, how many Japanese POWs did the allies capture? BTW - It is you making the judgements not I. Why is it that the West seems to suffer from Judgementitis. There was no judgement in what I originally said, only a statement that different cultures are, well, different in how they treat human life. Why is this a good/evil thing?
I dont remember reading about that. I do seem to recall the fire bombing of Tokyo and a couple of nuclear incidents at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Ok, so? You can't really want to get into a debate over WW-II war crimes? I assume that you are trying to somehow make the point that the West and Japan were equally casual with human life? I assure you that, without doubt, had the situations been reversed and the West had lost, the Japanese of the WW-II era would have been much more ruthless with the civilian population. If you do insist on believing otherwise I would suggest reading the new book about the Rape of Nanking. Or read about the civilian populations in the Phillipeans. Or, the mass bombings of cities in China. Or the orders by the Japanese military that all Allied POWs be executed in the event of a landing on the main islands. Or the whole concept of kamakazis. Again my point is that different cultures place different values on things, including life - both their own and others.
Oh the good citizens of Dresden Germany must have had suicidal tendancies too, so much so that the US and British felt compelled to help them meet their maker
Et tu Brutus? Making a straw man to tear down? Where did I mention Germany?
I know may Chines and Japanese, and they would put many. Americans to shame regarding family values.
Great. I agree. So another difference rears its head. (BTW - It is not incompatible with valuing life differently)
Clark
PS What is it with the education system in the country. Of course, I'm assuming you are all Americans, right?
Given your ignorance about WW-II, you are in no position to start casting stones. I would suggest that this particular line (ad hominem) be stopped.
PPS One of the 'in' things to do now in psychology is to study the differences of the members of various cultures in various social situations. For instance, there have been several studies about how Japanese respond differently to peer pressure than Americans. The goal is to find what is universally true of humans everywhere, and what is cultural. |
