Righteousness

I read Bush's speech in VFW, which was criticized in Bostonglobe for his views on Vietnam War.

To me, what annoyed me most is the sentence, "They(the Japanese in WWII) killed Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force their ideology on others."

The sentence expresses what Matthew Arnold called Hebrewism, based on the words in the Hebrews, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see(11/1)."

Bush, you should know that there can be differences between what you think right and what we think right. Japanese do not think our grandfathers were thoroughly correct, while they reject the Americans was perfectly right.

Democracy and education

What is democracy? I have been thinkig about this since I read a post in Aljazeera English, which emphasizes violent actions have been done by those thinking and stating democracy is the most important.

Democracy is a system selected by the people to govern a community in which they live based on the religion, philosophy, environment, and history proper to the community, so first of all, democracy cannot be given by any other force living outside the community.

Of course, dictatorship should be criticized but it must be taken away by the people. This statement is not mine but Edward E. Said's.

I'm beginning to think he was right, while I found I hadn't given enough thought to what democracy is.

But if this is true how should I react to dictatorships, like Saddam Husayn or Kim Jon Il?

When US was preparing for the war with Iraq, Said was afraid what would happen after the war: chaos.

He didn't live long enough to see the result but he was right. Before, Churchill called democracy was the least good system of government. When it is thought to be bad, the people are not wise enough to judge, so Said was also right in saying intellectuals play important roles in establishing good democracies in communities.

Intellectuals need to let people know what will happen after each of the opinions on the table is selected, so they must not belong to any other factions. But as discussing with a friend of mine in university, recently intellectuals work on their majors in universities but do not work to improve societies or to let people know what they should know. Rather, looks like they work to keep the present framework of society unchanged.

I must confess till now I didn't know how important education is....

Big Sigh

On August 6 sixty two years ago, a nuclear bomb was exploded in Hiroshima to kill 140,000 persons including civilians. Whether the decision was right or not has been one of the controbersial topics in Japan.

According to the Gallup Poll 2005, fifty-seven percent of the Americans approved dropping an Atomic bomb on Hiroshima mainly because it reduced the number of the possible persons who would die in the war. Forty one percent of the Americans thought it was useful even for lessing the number of the possible Japanese who would die because they must have fought to their death.


But what if they were going to surrender and the American leaders knew it?

Secretery of War Henry Stimson (July 16th, 1945) and the President Truman knew it. Below is the diary of Truman of the United States of America (July 18th 1945).

Ate breakfast with nephew Harry, a sergeant in the Field Artillery. He is a good soldier and a nice boy. They took him off Queen Elizabeth at Glasco and flew him here. Sending him home Friday. Went to lunch with P.M., at 1:30 walked around to British Hqrs. Met at the gate by Mr. Churchill. Guard of honor drawn up. Fine body of men Scottish Guards. Band played Star Spangled Banner. Inspected Guard and went in for lunch. P.M. and I ate alone. Discussed Manhattan (it is a success). Decided to tell Stalin about it. Stalin had told P.M. of telegram from Jap Emperor asking for peace. Stalin also read his answer to me. It was satisfactory. Believe Japs will fold up before Russia comes in.

The Japanese leaders had tried to asked Russia to settle the war since the spring, so they needed to find a good time when Japan should surrender.

Do you think it necessary to use atomic bombs on Hiroshima in the way effective enough to succeed in surprise-attack(it is discovered that Enola Gay, the combat plane loading the atomic bomb, pretended to go away from Hiroshima to let Hiroshima lift the warning)?

But many of the Japanese know Japan's flying corps did surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which triggered the war between Japan and USA, though Japan didn't plan doing that (the diplomats didn't submit that by the date), so some of them conclude they're not qualified to blame USA either.

However, I was stunned to read the article in Bostonglobe, shown below:

Relations between the two countries have long been contentious and mutually distrustful. From Pyongyang's perspective, Japan's military alliance with the United States and its history of harsh colonial rule have remained impediments to normal relations. From Tokyo's perspective, North Korea's brazen abduction of Japanese nationals during the late 1970s and early 1980s, its repressive authoritarianism, and its flagrant militarism make North Korea a repellent neighbor.

According to this article, a feud has been established between Japan and North Korea for the reasons above.

But I doubt that Pyongyang has the view. It just tried to unite two Koreas into one by any means necessary(one of the examples). In doing that, N. Korea abducted some of the foreigners including Japanese to make them help N. Korea, and began to be criticized by Japan.

You know, N. Korea had to do those secretly and has to hide Kim Jong Il was involved in those terrors, so it needs to build the feud for the alleged reasons, one of which should be Japanese alliance with USA, which is also useful for legitimating its nuclear programme.

I love and read Bostonglobe, a liberal newspaper in US, but liberals often blame countries which seemed to be allied with American conservatives. I completely agree with Norman Mailer saying in Big Empty,

Where is the good American who does not nod his or her head in blank despair at his or her desire to believe --- even a little of what they rush to tell us all the time?

Do not allow N. Korea and some faction to deceive you.

Related article: NO POLICE.

I'm the person

I love this joke:

A: "I'm sorry--- I quite forgot your party the other evening!"
B: "Oh, weren't you there?"

I'm always the type of person who are treated in this way (TEAR).