Saturday 14 March 2009

History is written by the victor.

Just finished watching a show about the hypocrisy, I guess, in regards to us trialling the losers of Dubya Dubya Deuce at Nuremberg. 'We' were just as guilty of war crimes as the Japanese and Germans. For example about how the creators of Gulags, the Russians, 'liberated' the the likes of Auschwitz then reopened it for their own 'political prisoners'.

He mentioned Dresden and the mass murder that went on there and also what went on at the caves of Okinawa and on the Pacific islands.

The dude had a point, and I don't totally disagree with him, but I felt he was lacking a few facts that should have been mentioned to give a more rounded story rather than the agenda that seemed to emanate from the screen.

He basically SAID that the Japanese didn't surrender throughout the Pacific DUE to the treatment they would cop from the allies. Probably true a decent percentage of the time throughout island phase of the war but it took a nuke to get them to stop, which was another crime, he said.

Dropping the caves of Okinawa on the people hiding in there was another crime. Forgetting to mention that the Japanese were beaten by then. Who would volunteer to walk the caves practically guaranteeing your death when the end of the war was in sight?.

I think there's is a valid point in what he was saying. I'm glad we got the write history as opposed to the alternative. I'm sure a large percentage of the world feel the same. Just ask the population of Asia and China that fell under Japanese rule, or the people of Europe and the Mediterranean who fell under Nazi rule. Would they have preferred the alternative?.

We're heading a similar direction with the current conflict against a passionate and driven enemy. If the people of Pakistan have a certain amount of sympathy towards their extremist brethren how else do we BEAT such a foe without laying to waste the whole nation?.

Either we lose our freedom, or they lose their lives, to finish it. Not a pleasant choice.

5 comments:

  1. Slightly off topic but only slightly. Let's never also forget the impact of the worse than useless Treaty of Versailles and the ramifications of that document and its completely unpalatable and reasonable 'war guilt clause' and the bankruptcy inducing level of reparations imposed on Germany. It was a recipe for disaster from the minute it was signed. If history has taught us anything it's that victory is a time for graciousness if peace is to be maintained.

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  2. 20th century version - Victor writes the history, the victors kids apologize and apologize

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  3. Lest we forget, sadly, exactly that seems to be happening, all over the world.

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  4. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity". -Yeats, William Butler

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  5. Just blow them up before they blow us up..

    Of course that is their mindset over there..however we have the might and generally the world would hate us..except the dead..only the dead have seen the end of war.

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