New
Japanese History Text Denies World War II Atrocities
(By R. A. Pearson)
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The proposed introduction of a new history textbook for
Japanese middle school students has raised a major protest
on both sides of the Pacific. The proposed textbook omits
the Japanese atrocities committed by the Japanese Empire
during the Second World War.
The government of South Korea protested the proposed textbook
by recalling its ambassador for a short period of time.
The textbook failed to mention the brutal occupation of
Korea during the war, and the forced prostitution of Korean
'comfort girls' used to fill the brothels used by Japanese
soldiers. Especially infuriating to China is the textbooks
failure to mention the 'rape of Nanking', where tens of
thousands of civilians were massacred by the Japanese
army. The textbook also glosses over Pearl Harbor, the
Bataan Death March, and the forced labor and inhumane
treatment of allied POWs by the Japanese during the war.
(Remember over 60% of allied POWs taken by the Japanese
died).
Japanese officials justify this by indicating that the
textbook is designed to make the Japanese students feel
good about Japan and its history. The officials indicate
that they do not wish to 'brainwash' the students by teaching
negative things about Japan.
The casual observer, however, has to notice the Japanese
take every opportunity to criticize the United States
for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in an effort to
end World War II.
In a non-related episode, the Cartoon Network pulled a
cartoon from their Bugs Bunny Marathon earlier this spring
due to criticisms that it presented a negative Japanese
stereotype. The cartoon entitled Nip the Nips, was released
during World War II after Pearl Harbor. While it did show
the Japanese solider in stereotype (short, glasses, and
buckteeth), the cartoon was totally slapstick. Of course
Bugs Bunny outwits the Japanese solider in much the same
way that he outwits Elmer Fudd (the great white hunter)
the Tasmanian Devil, and all the other cartoon adversaries
Bugs Bunny has to face. The plot of almost any Bugs Bunny
cartoon could be taken from The Uncle Remus Stories.
Perhaps the world is going out of its way to be to deny
the past and become politically correct. I hope we don't
rewrite World War II, and please continue to show Bugs
Bunny and Giovantti Jones at the Hollywood Bowl. The world
needs them both!
The
US And Europe; Why Do We Disagree? (By Sam
Merier)
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The recent dissing (disrespect) shown to President Bush
on his European trip has caused major concerns to conservative
Americans. While President Reagan was able to deal with
a conservative leadership in Europe and Clinton dealt
with a liberal leadership, President Bush (a conservative)
is forced to deal with a liberal (even at times a socialist)
set of leaders in Europe. During his recent trip protesters
in Scandinavia mooned our President, and he received less
than cordial receptions for his ideas and plans from the
European leaders and press.
NATO nations and Russia have opposed President Bush's
plans to build a Missile Defense System to protect against
missile attacks from rogue nations. NATO seems to overlook
the word 'defense' in the plan. Defense is the reason
for NATO in the first place. Russian President Putin in
his vehement protest to the Missile Defense Plan seems
to forget that many rogue nations got their nuclear warheads
from Russia.
Another major point of contention between the US and Europe
is the Kyoto (environmental) Treaty. While protesters
called Mr. Bush the 'Toxic Texan', and the governmental
leaders called for the US to ratify the treaty, Europeans
overlook the fact that not one western European country
has signed on to the Kyoto Treaty.
Europeans are quick to encourage the US to adopt their
ideas of socialized medicine, higher taxes, gun control,
and the abolition of capital punishment. While Europe's
institutions are in chaos, our institutions are the best
in the world. Europeans seek health care in America when
European health care is insufficient. American agriculture
is able to feed much of the world and prevent major outbreaks
of Mad Cow and Hoof and Mouth Disease. To Europeans, living
in their government-controlled countries with a European
Union controlled economy, the American system of shared
powers between local, state and federal governments is
a totally incomprehensible concept. Americans do not interfere
with their lives and institutions, why should they dictate
ours?
Perhaps the leaders and people of Europe have forgotten
the US contributions to their current freedoms. The US
loans and military equipment given to Europe under lend-lease
helped Europe fight World War II. Many American lives
were lost and much American blood was shed to liberate
Western Europe during the Second World War. The Marshall
Plan helped to rebuild Europe's cities, industries and
economy after the war. During the Cold War, the American
military presence helped deter the spread of Soviet influence
into Western Europe. Many of these loans and debts have
gone unpaid. Yet, Europe continues to diss America. The
US asks for a little respect for our leaders and way of
life. After all¾we are still allies!
Note: Socialism has made inroads into the American
political system. Several US Congressmen and Congresswomen
are socialist. Fifty-four members of Congress are members
of the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA). Bernard
Sanders of Vermont is one of the leading socialists in
the Congress today. The other 53 are listed at:http://etherzone.com/morso012201.shtml
.
The
War Between The States Revisited: A Personal Account (By
David S. Pearson)
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The American "Civil War" (a popular misnomer)
was a pivotal point in world and American History. Consequently
it is the subject of fact, fiction, and fascination. Some
of the more enthusiastic amateur historians actually try
to recreate the events and emotions of the time through
a hobby called War Between the States Reenacting. I have
been reenacting 11 years and recently attended a 4 night
3-day national event "The Vicksburg Campaign".
Campaigning events are designed to separate the wheat
from the chaff and the fit from the frivolous. If you
cannot carry it for 3 days you do not have it. If they
did not have it then, you should not have it with you
(although they do not make some things like they use to).
We try to live as close to the actual event as we can.
For this event we did not do the static trench siege but
the runnin' and gunnin' series of battles that drove the
Confederate Army into the trenches on the Mississippi
River. The battles were typical of the Western Grant/Sherman
style movements (get on em' and stay on em' till the weak
point is found), and the Confederate reactions to the
strategy.
I was on a reenacting vacation, having been in Selma,
Alabama the previous weekend. I was in Vicksburg, Mississippi,
all week. I visited the park there. It was my second trip
so I knew right where to spend my time. It is a great
park and rivals Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in size and impression.
The remains of the ironclad Cairo are there in an amphitheater,
and visitors can sit and watch the ongoing restoration.
I was there an hour or so, looking at the ship and the
Mississippi beyond. I toured the preserved trench lines
and read the state memorials, thinking of the men who
lived there 3 months during the siege. I walked through
the area where 3 major attempts were made by Union forces
to break the Confederate lines. I stood on some of the
Union Battery positions, which locked in the city and
terrorized the besieged populous.
Thursday I checked my gear one more time and went to the
site of the reenactment near Raymond, MS. I was one of
the 1st at our Battalion staging area, arriving by bus
from the parking lot. I began thinking of the key players
in these battles and of the men who fought them in 1863.
I was portraying a Union Sergeant in the 44th Illinois
Infantry.
I began to spruce up the place for a fire, make some coffee,
and talk to the men who were arriving. The brigade was
comprised of men from California, the Midwest (Michigan
& Illinois), and our battalion of men from South Carolina
and Alabama. When I went to sleep there were about 25
men in our battalion present. When I awoke there were
110 men and by noon 150 men answered muster. At noon we
formed with the brigade ( 2 other battalions). There were
about 500 men, officers and support personnel. I was assigned
to the Color Company. By 3:00 we were marching on a dusty
trail through a large cornfield. Soon musket and artillery
fire was audible on our left. One of the other brigades
had met the Johnies somewhere. There were about 5000 reenactors
present. We moved into a forest where we halted. A company
of skirmishers was sent out and sporadic firing began
on our front. More firing began on our distant right.
We were ordered into a battle line: the Rebs had been
found in our front on the opposite bank of 4-Mile Creek.
There was a bridge across the river there. The Rebs were
fairly well placed with at least 4 artillery pieces across
the road. We began brigade volley fire and after a few
volleys the 1st battalion was moved forward blocking the
road. The other 2 battalions were oblique, right, and
we were going to try to force a crossing on their flank.
Two artillery pieces arrived and unlimbered with our battalion
on the road. We had moved to the Rebs far right and began
to move across the stream.
It was a typical reenactment battle. People seldom seem
to know or see the way we try to live, the camaraderie
we have, and the great expense in time and money reenactors
place in the hobby. This is why men and women reenact.
This could be a whole other story.
This was not to be a typical reenactment.
You may surmise this is a dangerous hobby (armed men shooting
at one another). Well this is one of those times the unthinkable
happened. Within 30 minutes of the start of the battle
a man in our battalion was shot, not 40 yards from me.
The shot went through his gonad area and into his buttocks.
I immediately took off the blue coat. The Mississippi
Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident and
a deliberate sniper situation is not being ruled out.
Current thinking, however, is that it was an accident,
and the man who did it is not fessing up. Either way reenacting
will continue, perhaps with more emphasis on arms inspection
and security than in the past. If you ever have an opportunity
to see a reenactment or living history you should check
it out. There are over 50,000 reenactors in these Lincoln
United States.
In
1925 John W. Butler, a farmer turned legislator, introduced
a bill into the Tennessee legislature which bared the
teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools. The legislature
passed the bill as a symbolic gesture. Governor Austin
Peay signed the bill into law, also as a symbolic gesture.
The anti-evolution bill was part of a nationwide crusade
being waged by fundamentalist clergy and lay leaders,
including the 'Great Commoner', William Jennings Bryan.
The symbolic law was soon to be the subject of a trial,
which would receive nationwide attention, and catapult
the subjects of evolution, academic freedom, and even
freedom of thought into the forefront of American public
opinion.
The idea to hold a test case on the Butler Bill was developed
by several good ol' boys (leading citizens) at the drug
store in the sleepy little town of Dayton, TN. The storeowner
and member of the school board even sold the state-approved
Biology textbook in his store. The textbook included a
discussion of the 'Theory of Evolution' as developed by
Charles Darwin in Origin of Species. This citizens group
asked John Scopes, a young science teacher and football
coach at the local high school, if he would volunteer
to test the law. Scopes agreed and was arrested. The case
was placed on the court docket.
The Scopes trial began to make national news when William
Jennings Bryan agreed to become a co-prosecutor at the
trial. The American Civil Liberties Union secured councils,
including Clarence Darrow, to serve on the Scopes defense
team. William Jennings Bryan was a hero of the common
folk in America from 1896 till his death shortly after
the Scopes trial. His 'Cross of Gold' speech at the 1896
Democratic Convention made him a leader of the free silver
movement and the Democratic Party. He ran for president
3 times and served as Secretary of State under President
Woodrow Wilson. He spoke out in favor of female suffrage
and the prohibition of alcohol. During the 1920's he championed
the anti-evolution laws being enacted in various southern
and mid-western states. Clarence Darrow was a famous attorney
who had defended Nathan Leopold and Richard Lobe during
their famous case in 1924. While Leopold and Lobe had
plead guilty, Darrow had successfully used the insanity
defense and saved the two boys from execution. Darrow
was a known agnostic. The Scopes trial now became a duel
between these two knights and their causes.
The state's case was simple. Scopes had taught that the
'Theory of Evolution' existed. He taught it right out
of the state-approved textbook. Bryan had little to argue.
When Darrow tried to put the anti-evolution law on trial,
the judge forbade it. Darrow was unable to call his scientific
experts. Darrow eventually put Bryan on the stand as an
expert on the Bible. Darrow eventually forced Bryan to
admit that some things in the Bible, like a creation day,
may be allegorical and symbolic. Darrow asked Bryan "if
God created the day and night on the first day and the
sun and moon on the forth day where did the light come
from for the first three days?" Bryan had no answer.
Scopes was convicted and fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme
Court threw out the verdict on a technicality and never
ruled on the Butler Act. Scopes went to graduate school
and then to work for an oil company. He tried to fade
away from the limelight. William Jennings Bryan died shortly
after the trial. Some people assume it was from the stress
of Darrow's questions; while others contend it was from
the huge meals the Great Commoner consumed in the Tennessee
summer heat.
The movie, Inherit the Wind, staring Spencer Tracy,
Fredric March, Gene Kelley, Dick York and Harry Morgan
used the Scopes trial as a setting for a social and political
commentary on McCarthyism in the 1950's. In Inherit the
Wind the names have been changed to protect the guilty;
however, the parallels are easy to deduce.
The state legislature had interfered with educational
matters it did not understand. The legislature, the Governor,
and good people of Tennessee became the laughing stock
of the nation. History's currents or current history?
You decide!
