What Japanese (and American) history lessons leave out

Originally posted by Slugworth
reply to post by Hopechest

 

Certain wars are almost completely skipped over because their impacts were relatively minor. Vietnam had major cultural impacts at the time but it didn't really change anything in the world.

The people of My Lai would probably disagree, as would the people of all of the other villages that were burned down or shot up, as would the thousands of soldiers and civilians from all sides who were killed, maimed, or psychologically traumatized by the war, as would their family members, as would every Vietnamese kid who has stepped on a landmine since the war ended, as would anyone who has since survived a non-combat trauma because they were airlifted to a hospital.

Now why in the world would you want children to read such horror stories?

Originally posted by Slugworth
reply to post by Hopechest

 

Certain wars are almost completely skipped over because their impacts were relatively minor. Vietnam had major cultural impacts at the time but it didn't really change anything in the world.

The people of My Lai would probably disagree, as would the people of all of the other villages that were burned down or shot up, as would the thousands of soldiers and civilians from all sides who were killed, maimed, or psychologically traumatized by the war, as would their family members, as would every Vietnamese kid who has stepped on a landmine since the war ended, as would anyone who has since survived a non-combat trauma because they were airlifted to a hospital.

Yes those involved with the war were impacted but looking at the conflict on a global scale, it was relatively minor.

reply to post by XaniMatriX


This is gonna sound so cliche but,"those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it again." The reason why that is said is for the people who think we should all forget past events to shape the future. To forget the past is a dis service for all the people who died and is actually insulting to even entertain doing.

reply to post by XaniMatriX

Now why in the world would you want children to read such horror stories?

I never mentioned children. Not all students are children. 15 year old students are 3 years from voting, so its maybe a good idea to start exposing themselves to the real consequences of bad policy. We're not talking about elementary school kids, but young adults on the verge of impacting elections and policy.

Originally posted by Slugworth
reply to post by XaniMatriX

 

Now why in the world would you want children to read such horror stories?

I never mentioned children. Not all students are children. 15 year old students are 3 years from voting, so its maybe a good idea to start exposing themselves to the real consequences of bad policy. We're not talking about elementary school kids, but young adults on the verge of impacting elections and policy.

We are all children, and with all respect, no one here impacts ANYTHING when it comes to elections and policies.

Originally posted by yuppa
reply to post by XaniMatriX

 

This is gonna sound so cliche but,"those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it again." The reason why that is said is for the people who think we should all forget past events to shape the future. To forget the past is a dis service for all the people who died and is actually insulting to even entertain doing.

You know, i would never honor anyone who has fought in a war, nor do i have any respect for those people.
Also, i would agree with you if those lessons were taught properly, but so far it's nothing but propaganda when it comes to history, living in the past learning about war in history, wont change a god damn thing, people have been doing it for years, and yet there is no result, because the way it is taught actually makes people live in that terrible moment instead of learning from it.

reply to post by XaniMatriX


Well since I cannot change your mind thats your opinion alone. anyway HAve a nic elife and know that I an dmany others disagree with such opinions. Good day sir.

When I was in Pakistan, the propaganda that was forced into our heads was incredible. You should know that I went to a private school, which was considered one of the the best in the city. Apparently, the Ottoman Empires downfall was actually the Allies conspiring against the Muslims. Gandhi and the Congress were secretly trying to subvert Muslim children towards Hinduism during a period of Congress rule in British India. In another class, we learnt that Jews were actually always conspiring against Muslims. It was pretty sad. These were some of the richer kids, sons of powerful men, who'd grow up with such biased views.

I knew a lot of people who were in the Vietnam War. None of them said anything good about it. Some said that they felt as if they were put there to get killed. Many were paranoid when they came back, especially of the intent of what was going on. It seemed to them that they were being sent on missions where their success of returning was not meant to be very good. Hear enough stories and you start to wonder if their deep down instinct was right...was it all about killing off or crippling all those that could challenge the authority of the people in charge of this country at the time Is that what war is really about, an agreement between tptb? A way of keeping the economy going and lowering population of your country?

Maybe I'm a little paranoid myself, after talking to a lot of vets all of your life you start to wonder about things.

My high school history classes never made it past WWII. We would never talk about the modern era. But looking back, I could care less about that because when I took history in college was when I learned the most. The difference between a high school history class and a 100 level college history class is IMMENSE. This is so much the case that European history, Asian History and American history classes are split up into two separate classes.