Comments on: China-Japan Historical Struggle Reaches MIT

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:28:41 +0000

Perhaps the reason peoples react to having the wrongs committed against them contextualized is exactly the same as a child sitting a corner, resolutely refusing comfort or expressions of empathy. They want to make sure everyone knows how hurt they got, but once context is added, understanding follows, just like the little kid, they’re afraid you might say, “We understand, but it’s over now, so get over it.”

National apologies and reparations can not undo the deed, nor should it be thought they “smooth” everything out. Only contextual understanding and an individualized, personal change of mindset will prevent global-scale atrocities from recurring, and for that we must understand the past, in context.

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Wed, 03 May 2006 09:01:00 +0000

I don’t think it’s quite so simple as to be mere imitation, but there’s no question that Spencerian/racialist ideas did play a role in the Japanese redefinition of China as an inferior other, as part of the creation of a modern (if aided by traditional narratives) national identity.

There is a basic human desire to be unique, I think, and to have one’s wrongs acknowledged. I don’t understand, myself, why context is considered anathema to victims, but it often is. The problem of “understanding” as a form of “forgiveness”….

I actually don’t find that empathy and justice are exclusive, but it’s complicated that way, and most people prefer their justice simple.

By: Ira Socol

Ira Socol — Tue, 02 May 2006 23:38:36 +0000

Thanks Jonathan – that puts it into an interesting perspective for me. Am I right in assuming that “we” would frame this as the Japanese imitating the behavior of European empires? Is there a basic human desire to have been victim of “the worst” aggression? (the Irish list the 800 years, the Jews the 6 million dead, West Africans the centuries of slavery) Is this a competition? It is strange. One of the films that most affected me as a college undergrad was Hiroshima, Mon Amour. Perhaps that kind of empathy is just a fairy tale.

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Tue, 02 May 2006 20:27:44 +0000

can I use your advisory on my next syllabus

Feel free.

And don’t bother with credit: Syllabi are so much boilerplate at this point anyway…. To be entirely honest, mine is adapted from a colleague here in Hawai’i, so it’s not completely original, either. Though that was from another department, so I did have to be a little creative about the adaptation.

Would they be happier if all records of Japanese brutality were wiped from the historic record? I really thought that China was aggressively pursuing the world understanding these facts.

It’s a fine line: they don’t want anyone to forget that the Japanese did what they did, but they also don’t want anyone doing anything which might in any way contextualize it. Perhaps that’s the real trouble here: by putting it into the context of Western Imperialism and racism, it becomes less of a uniquely Japanese sin, and harder to use as a bludgeon against them.

By: Ira Socol

Ira Socol — Mon, 01 May 2006 23:22:59 +0000

I am completely confused by this. Should the Irish insist that Paul Greengrass’s “Bloody Sunday” not be shown because it shows British brutality? Should Americans tear down the Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument in Brooklyn because it is indeed disturbing that 11,000 American POWs were killed in New York Harbor during the Revolution? Should European-ancestry Jews demand the closure of the Holocaust Museum?

It is impossible to truly understand history, and understand the depth of meaning behind it, without bringing up disturbing – often extremely disturbing – images, stories, facts. That Chinese students would object to this seems bizarre. Would they be happier if all records of Japanese brutality were wiped from the historic record? I really thought that China was aggressively pursuing the world understanding these facts. Perhaps this is simply the work of a minority of poorly educated people – as so many email campaigns are these days.

That said, can I use your advisory on my next syllabus (with credit, of course)