So are you telling me I have no right to think you are being foolish by being angry? In otherwords, you are asking me to subsume my rights? Geez, talk about cultural imperialism. Really my point, I guess, in two parts is that mindless anger is not really productive to resolving the problems, and that if you wish to take issue with a whole set of Japanese cultural issues, there are probably better ways to procede than by attacking from the angle of a religious observance.
Did Iran have anything to do with WWII Germany? Why should we care what he say? Did Japanese government change history text to say Japan did not invade the rest of Asia?
True. But Japan is busy with making Prius, Playstation and other profitable stuff to go back to the old ways. Iran (or at least its political and religious leaders), on the other hand, may not have anything better to do than to blow up Israel.
So since US still have many people who hold dear their confederate heritage, people in the US should not criticize anyone about human rights?
I find this rhetoric very reminiscent of those in the US who defend the flying of the Confederate flag. As I said earlier Japanese certainly have the right to pray, honor or whatever the war dead. As far as I know no other Asian country has called to go to war to force Japan not to. That doesn't mean though that people don't rightfully find such actions offensive given the history. The Japanese shouldn't be forced to give up anything but if they want to truly forget the past and earn the full trust of their Asian neighbors this is something they should do. Think of it this way. Slavery in the US ended long before anyone here's father's father was alive yet it is still an issue that resonates to this day in US culture and politics. We can't undo slavery but in the US there has been a concerted effort to repudiate the legacy of slavery. That is all that the rest of Asia is asking from the Japanese.
Have I asked you not to say anything? You can say whatever you want I am not imposing anything on you but you seem to be determined to tell me what I should or should not be offended by. And once again you are missing the point. You are looking at the anger of a few to deflect attention. Most opposition to Japanese actions is peaceful and far more widespread than the PRC. You seem fixated on boiling this down to the actions of a few in the PRC rather than consider all the people from Indonesia to US POW's who find the revisionist actions of the Japanese offensive.
Could we backtrack a bit? Maybe you could provide a more in depth accounting of what led you from what I wrote to what you wrote, because honestly I don't understand how one follows from the other.
Following on Pirc's point let me ask you this Otto but anyone else is free to answer. Do you think it is foolish for black Americans to be upset about the continued display of the Confederate battle flag on the South Carolina State Capital?
You basically said because there is a Mao shrine in China, Chinese have no right to complain about Japanese WWII atrocities. So since people in the south still embrace confederate heritage such as confederate flag, people in the US have no right to complain about human right?
I said no such thing. Going back to the muslims in Britain, you can hate the british for eating pork. You can despise them all you want. You just don't have the right to use that hatred to outlaw all pork products from supermarkets. You shoul also be aware that your frequent tirades against evil british and their love of haram meat products probably helps the bottom line of the pork industry the more agressive you get. But your hatred is yours, so long as you don't express that hatred by force.
And who has talked about using force? And yes you did say we need to respect Japanese cultural traditions so we shouldn't take offense. Is that not saying we shouldn't complain about Japanese practices out of deference to their culture? If it isn't I have no clue then what your point is.
It depends on the issue. If they just are intrested in expressing.anger, is fine. Though I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the flag is still there. If they want to get the state to change, screaming at them that William Bedford Forrest is a war criminal and that by displaying the flag the state is stating approval is probably not the most effective method. Rather a more low key approach educating as to the hurtful nature of the flag might be more effective. If you want results, the most confrontational approaches tend to make people dig their.heels in.
Once again all you keep on boiling this down to those who got angry and violent. I fully agree with you that violence is wrong and neither I nor anyone else here has advocated violence. You keep on ignoring just how widespread disapproval of Japan's actions go. This would be like boiling down Civil Rights movement to the actions of the Black Panthers.
You asked about your right to be angry. I deliniated the line beyond which, IMO, it no longer becomes OK. I could not give blanket approval tp your anger, as the most extreme forms of anger come with a side of violence and mayhem.
Some of you have ever talked to a Japanese for real? I did and many. While many of them know the real history and have a sense of remorse, plenty other's views of WWII history are really troublesome, to say the least. I think it is largely attributed to the Japan's distorted education on the subject. Do you feel conformable living next to a neighbor that once vandalized your home and yet thinks he is the victim or what he did wrong was only not to kill you all and win the war. These general sentiments are not just extreme right wing stuff. The Japanese politicians play the game for a reason. Japan is a democracy.
Just......... Like I said, the real problem for Japan is that its people have gone too far in the other direction, acting like it can remain a pacifist country and kicking out Americans in a region that is filled with threats. And a Chinese person saying this makes this all the more rich. My mother refuses to believe Nanking happened and loves to rant on America was bad for dropping the bad. But like I said, it's a product of the older generation, those who grew up right after the war. Those of my age, generally understand that the Empire was not a good idea, for us as well as for the rest of Asia. And overall, it's just not that big of a problem as far as I'm concerned. The textbooks that got everyone else in a giant uproar were not some mainstream thing, and I don't know anyone who attended a Japanese school who thinks that we didn't invade Asia and do bad things. Admittedly, most of the coverage of the war goes simply into "War is bad" and discusses how war in general dehumanized everyone, something which is true. But there is an understanding of the causes of the war and how we screwed up. As for Iran
Once again it is not just the Chinese who would be concerned about Japan remilitarizing. Filipinos are concerned, Koreans are concerned, Vietnamese are concerned and etc... Those countries are concerned about the PRC also but that doesn't lesson worry they might have about Japan. Face it Japan's track record as a military power isn't that good. And I as I said before I have no problem with the Japanese people and I am glad to see that most of them recognize the history of Imperial Japan. The fact though that people like your mother don't and that politicians have pandered to them isn't a good thing. To give you another US example a good friend of mine's grandmother called black people "darkies". She wasn't mean about it but that was what she grew up with. Now she was a sweet old lady but that didn't make that right and to the extent that such views persist means they have to be addressed. Yet you pointed out that your mother still holds onto revisionist views. From what I know of Japan I agree with you that most Japanese do not hold those views yet they still persist. Most people don't hold every single Japanese responsible for what happened or consider every single Japanese to be an unrepentant Imperial Army sympathizer. All people are asking is that Japan at an official level recognize its history and take steps to address that. Its pretty much the same thing that Germany has done.
