[QUOTE][/QUOTE]There is a truism that history is written by the winners. Sometimes it is rewritten by the losers.
If you describe yourself as a far right Japanese politician, your agenda is to deny the history of World War II, all in the name of a kind of patriotism. The chief cabinet secretary of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government Friday said he would examine the historical documents that were the basis of Japan’s apology to Korea in 1993. That so-called Korea Statement, acknowledged the thousands of Korean women during World War II who were coerced into becoming what the Japanese military called “comfort women.” In other words, they were forced into prostitution to service Japanese soldiers.
South Korea’s female president, Park Guen-hye, was quick to respond. “True courage lies not in denying the past but in looking squarely at the history as it was and teaching growing generations the correct history,” said President Park.
Prime Minsister Abe’s denial of what it did during World War II is an insult to the intelligence of its wartime enemies – who should now be its allies – and it demeans Japanese people as well.
One could construct an American analogy. Perhaps like denying the hundreds of lynchings that occurred during the Jim Crow era. Or saying that Japanese-American citizens did not lose property while confined to internment camps during World War II.
Read more : [url]http://www.dailyastorian.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-japan-s-abe-rewrites-history/article_6edcbdd0-a4b0-11e3-8896-001a4bcf887a.html[/url]
The right-wing Japanese PMs seem to love doing this to piss other countries and pacifist factions off. Koizumi started it, and Abe's picking up his legacy.
Oh yeah I remember that from my history classes. Fucking nuts how one can straight up deny the entirety of 6 years of history on the scale of a country and get away with it.
Historical revisionism is a terrible terrible thing. There should really be some kind of international law regarding it.
[URL]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/how-japans-bbc-is-rewriting-its-role-in-second-world-war-9115827.html[/URL]
That's also an interesting read. Incredible how someone that believes "... Japan was [B]lured into the Second World War [/B]by America while [B]liberating Asia from white colonialism[/B]" and "denies war crimes such as the 1937 Nanjing massacre" can sit on the board for a national news network almost as big as BBC.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;44186304]
That's also an interesting read. Incredible how someone that believes "... Japan was [B]lured into the Second World War [/B]by America while [B]liberating Asia from white colonialism[/B]"[/QUOTE]
To be fair, that was pretty much the official government-sanctioned opinion at the time.
If there's one thing I hate with all my heart it's historical revisionism. You need to be able to acknowledge everything people did to one another and use it to not make the same mistakes.
Japan... We truly want to keep being friends, but you're making this really fucking awkward.
[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;44186325]If there's one thing I hate with all my heart it's historical revisionism. You need to be able to acknowledge everything people did to one another and use it to not make the same mistakes.[/QUOTE]
And let's not go into revanchism
Japan is sort of responsible for the liberation of Asia from colonialism. That just wasn't their intent since they wanted to replace it with Japanese Colonialism.
EDIT: The pacific theater was double plus good
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;44186401]Japan is sort of responsible for the liberation of Asia from colonialism. That just wasn't their intent since they wanted to replace it with Japanese Colonialism.[/QUOTE]
A few decades of civil war and revolution was the result.
I'm thankful they didn't get near India.
[QUOTE=Grenadiac;44186287]Historical revisionism is a terrible terrible thing. There should really be some kind of international law regarding it.[/QUOTE]
Historical revisionism can be terrible, it's not necessarily - here yes though
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;44186401]Japan is sort of responsible for the liberation of Asia from colonialism. That just wasn't their intent since they wanted to replace it with Japanese Colonialism.[/QUOTE]
Exactly so it wouldn't have made any difference, but tbh if I were a Hong Konger at the time for example I'd prefer to be under Britain instead of Japan considering what they did
Just think, arguably if there were no Japanese Empire there'd probably be no North Korea
From my point of view, in one side I see that re-writing history helps not to bring back terrible deeds that we have done in the past, so that people don't take inspiration from an evil dictator such as Hitler, and make another terrible repeat of history. It would be nice to totally forget that the lynching of blacks people, the jim crow laws, the assassination of abe lincoin, the assassination of JFK, the murder of students who stood up against the draft, the red scare, stuff like that could leave a mark in our history, and some people young and ignorant may think that we was terrible people in the past and we are bound to become terrible people still.
On the other hand, the history rewrite will give us the false information, and possible causes some problems for people who are interested into uncovering the vale of this false information and will cause some terrible things to happen in the future, such as a group of people dedicated in uncovering history will be branded as enemy of the state or some shit like that.
Uncovering history helps teach us new things that we did not noticed before, and help bring in more of the past that was not written down in our history books that we been studying on during school and college. The pursuit of knowledge and the hunt for ancient secrets help teaches us many things, such as hidden artifacts during the crusades, the witch trails, the spanish inquisition, hitler, WW2, WW1, ancient Egypt, etc.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;44186478]Historical revisionism can be terrible, it's not necessarily - here yes though[/QUOTE]
what makes you say that
[QUOTE=Cone;44186632]what makes you say that[/QUOTE]
Being able to rewrite history in light of new information about the past I suppose.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;44186401]Japan is sort of responsible for the liberation of Asia from colonialism.[/QUOTE]
They made their own Colonial empire that was probably worse than the Europeans.
[QUOTE=darkedone02;44186598]From my point of view, in one side I see that re-writing history helps not to bring back terrible deeds that we have done in the past, so that people don't take inspiration from an evil dictator such as Hitler, and make another terrible repeat of history. It would be nice to totally forget that the lynching of blacks people, the jim crow laws, the assassination of abe lincoin, the assassination of JFK, the murder of students who stood up against the draft, the red scare, stuff like that could leave a mark in our history, and some people young and ignorant may think that we was terrible people in the past and we are bound to become terrible people still.[/QUOTE]
[url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1374291]Except[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1374380]there[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1373612]will[/url] [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1373859]always[/url] [url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/world/meast/israel-intercepted-weapons/index.html?iref=allsearch]be[/url] [url=http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/06/syria-is-top-training-ground-for-al-qaeda-senate-is-told/]terrible[/url] [url=http://beforeitsnews.com/mediadrop/uploads/2013/38/69600b2b76a5aaea2f8b8cfa21535b9dd274a14f.jpg]people.[/url]
Teaching history about bad things that have happened in the past isn't really warning for us not to repeat it. It's more of a warning to be prepared when it does.
[editline]9th March 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;44186644]Being able to rewrite history in light of new information about the past I suppose.[/QUOTE]
That's not revisionism. That's just updating, really.
Revisionism is writing history with a different perspective than what really happened, essentially turning it into propaganda.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44186673]
Revisionism is writing history with a different perspective than what really happened, essentially turning it into propaganda.[/QUOTE]
How does Japan explain the existence of Koreans in their country because of ww2 slave labor? Strange questions.
As a Korean, this really pisses me off. Maybe I've just gotten more nationalistic since I've left Korea but the Japanese government actions are not only insulting but shocking that it is even happening this day and age. Japan is a first world nation with huge amounts of money and power. It's not like Japan needs to stir up nationalism to keep the country together. What's the point of this except to piss of your two powerful neighbors? Hell, I was even reading an article about how there is a recent movie in Japan that honors kamikaze pilots that is being watched by tons of people (including our favorite neoconservative Prime Minister, Shinzo "I Wish I Was Back In 1941" Abe). The shitty thing is that I know there's tons of Japanese people hate this but they can't really do anything about it. It seems like us Asians just can't do democracy right for whatever reason.
[QUOTE=Smooth Jazz;44186702] What's the point of this except to piss of your two powerful neighbors?[/QUOTE]
Flag waving patriots who want an army and more influence. Nationalism being one of the best ways to win votes also helps out.
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;44186695]How does Japan explain the existence of Koreans in their country because of ww2 slave labor? Strange questions.[/QUOTE]
They came here because JAPAN IS THE GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD WHICH EVERYONE WANTS TO LIVE IN!
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;44186644]Being able to rewrite history in light of new information about the past I suppose.[/QUOTE]
yeah, i guess there could do with being a better distinction between the two forms of revisionism. alright then
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44186673]That's not revisionism. That's just updating, really.
Revisionism is writing history with a different perspective than what really happened, essentially turning it into propaganda.[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism[/url]
Historical revisionism is sometimes seen negatively because of what you described. However, the ability to rewrite history in light of new or forgotten evidence is considerably important as it allows us to come closer to understanding what really happened then, seeing that history is a form of science that seeks to construct a better model of reality in the past.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;44186673]That's not revisionism. That's just updating, really.
Revisionism is writing history with a different perspective than what really happened, essentially turning it into propaganda.[/QUOTE]
there is actually a word for the specific kind of revisionism like in Japan here: "negationism." historical revisionism does of course literally mean just updating it to a different form, so i guess you could just think of the bad form of it as just a being really dryly ironic usage of the term.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;44186738]considerably important as it allows us to come closer to understanding what really happened then, seeing that history is a form of science that seeks to construct a better model of reality in the past.[/QUOTE]
Shame thats not what Abes doing.
[QUOTE]For centuries, historians thought the Battle of Agincourt was an engagement in which the English army, though overwhelmingly outnumbered four to one by the French army, pulled off a stunning victory—a version especially popularised by Shakespeare's play Henry V. However, recent research by Professor Anne Curry using the original enrollment records, has brought into question this interpretation. Though her research is not finished,[17] she has published her initial findings,[18] that the French only outnumbered the English and Welsh 12,000 to 8,000. If true, the numbers may have been exaggerated for patriotic reasons by the English[/QUOTE]
Well shit.
ya but in this context the revisionists are denying that the history existed contrary to an alarming amount of evidence, in some ways the Japanese were worse than the Nazis when it came to viewing other people as inferior, all other races were inferior to the nationalists back then.
How would Abe explain this though
[t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Japanese_bayonet_practice_with_dead_Chinese_near_Tianjin.jpg[/t]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Unit_731_victim.jpg[/img]
ninjad
The Japanese are just pushing their neighbors towards China's influence. Because of the war crimes they committed Japan needs to get off everyone's shitlist, by owning up to what they did and apologizing until they make it right, before they can hope to hold off the Chinese from owning them.
It's only a matter of time till other east Asian countries give up on the Japanese and come to terms with China.
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