***OT *** Clark - you force me to respond with your jibe
Given your ignorance about WW-II,
So Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki are figments of my imagination?
Don't be so insulting! Personal attacks are an indication of a losing argument.
I would suggest that this particular line (ad hominem) be stopped.
Well of course you would....
There seems to a fixation on this thread that the Chinese (and all orientals for that matter) somehow alien. That is flat out racist.
I don't deny cultural differences, especially when you compare a 5000
year old culture with one that is struggling to find it's own identity. I'm suggesting that on a fundamental level those differences are not as great as you might imagine.
Adressing the rest of your note.....
Okinawa - point me at a reference.
BTW - The Okinawans are not Japanese, and consider the Japanese in much the same way that the Irish consider the British. Therefore I presume you are referring to Japanese occupiers of Okinawa?
Japanese POWs
The Japanese soldier was trained to believe capture to be most shameful, for himself and his family. They still didn't kill themselves en-masse.
Judgementitis
Nows theres the pot calling the kettle black.By holding an opinion - you have must have made a judgement? .....
WWII crimes
Your thesis is that the 'orientals' value life differently. I hold that there are examples of indiference to life in all cultures, East or West. The difference between the Rape of Nanking and the destruction of Hiroshima might be said to be technological. Adopting a 'hands off' approach doesn't lessen the horror of the deed.
The pictures of the attrocities commited by the Japanese during the Rape of Nanking are just as horrific to me as footage of Japanese survivors of Hiroshima
BTW - Regarding the recent book about Nanking. The author voiced concern about the indifference of the West to the attrocities committed by the japanese in Nanking and during WWII.
In fact, the Americans went out of their way NOT to prosecute major War criminals.
Kamikaze
The concept of a warrior dieing for his emporor (a god) is not unique to Japan. Vikings had their Valhalla and the good Christian Crusaders
were 'guaranteed' heavenly access if they were unfortunate to be killed while dispatching the heathen moslem. Not to be denied, Islam has it;s Jihad, alive and well and being practised by young men in
the middle east, eager to die while bombing an Israeli bus, or an American Embassy.
Dresden
I mention Dresden as an example of industrialised slaughter.
I could have mentioned the Holocaust.
For instance, there have been several studies about how Japanese respond differently to peer pressure than Americans.
I would be interested in a reference. Peer pressure seems to be alive and well in our street gangs and High schools. |
