Forum - View topicNEWS: Hiroshima Asked to Stop Using Barefoot Gen Manga in Schools
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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Sewingrose
 Posts: 579 |
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I've read Barefoot Gen, and they are right, it is one-sided, because it is not covering the politics of the time as seen by the world leaders but by a person on the ground, and for all the people who were nothing but victims of the war, there really isn't much to be seen in the other side.
I'm damn curious as to what they would recommend as "politically neutral" considering how most texts on war that aren't outright propaganda often take the side of war as hell. And Apollo-kun, I am so not getting into this argument on an ANN forum, but there is a hell of a lot more to the munition sales to Allied countries then simple "profiteering" along with the knowledge about the capabilities of the Atomic Bombs at the time. There were certainly no angels in that war, and let's leave it at that. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I'm a New Zealander and would like you to point out where my country committed war crimes. I'm pretty sure any Finns would rightfully defend their country too, seeing as how the Soviet Union invaded it out of sheer dickery. If you define "horrible" as shooting people who invade your country then that's a pretty loose definition. Can we just end this general talk of World War 2? A bunch of ultra-right nationalists in Japan want to re-write history by denying schoolkids to be shown a famous semi-autobiographical account of the Hiroshima bombing. That is what this thread should be about. Not whose grandpas were in the right or wrong. |
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Apollo-kun
Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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Apollo-kun
Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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These are crazed pro-war right wing extremists.
The counterpoint is very brief: In "Barefoot Gen", the author actually shows a very "neutral" position on events. He shows the horror of atomic warfare and the suffering the civilians went through...but he doesn't explicitly blame the United States for this (he isn't fond of the bombing of course). He makes it a point that Gen's father is against the war, his father says that Japan's corrupt leaders themselves started the war to oppress other people in Asia....and he points out that the Japanese military made a news blackout about Hiroshima, for fear that the public would demand peace on hearing of the A-bomb.......the result was that major cities weren't evacuated nor did they take extra bomb drill measures, and as a direct result, Nagasaki had no idea what nuclear weapons were when it was bombed. He treats that as the Japanese government's fault for not wanting to tell people the war was assuredly lost. In closing, 1 - Barefoot Gen was a refreshingly even-handed look at the Hiroshima bombing, and entirely "neutral" (the part you feel bad about is that Gen's father died in the bombing, and he didn't even support the war, and indeed Gen was facing harsh treatment at school for his father's anti-war sentiments.) 2 - As "Update 2" pointed out, these people are basically saying they don't like films which portray nuclear bombs as a "bad thing"....I doubt they're even angry about the parts where Gen's father points out that the Japanese military-dominated totalitarian government brought this upon its own population by fighting wars of aggression. |
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yotsubafanfan
 Posts: 653 |
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I'm just going to simply say this, "It's not the people that start wars, it's a goverment that looses control that starts wars."
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Thank you. I appreciate this. |
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dannavy85
 Posts: 114 |
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As an American who's relations lived through that war and who's stories are as fresh to me now as they were when I was a child, I am ashamed at you. Japan put itself into the disaster it suffered, not the other way around. Aparently they don't teach history at schools any more but mindless America hating propaganda. Perhaps you should be dragged around the Pacific and given an in your face lesson on Japanese attrocities in China, in the Phillipines, in Thailand, in Malaya? I'm not ashamed. Japan would not be where it is today without the American occupation. Imagine if we'd turned them over to the Russians in 1945, ever heard of the rape of Berlin? Obviously not since you're probably a toddler compared to my age. Before you spout this ashame garbage youngster, you better know what the hell you're complaining about. |
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mrsatan
 Posts: 909 Location: Olympia, WA, USA |
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I never read the manga, but I watched the two anime and read the fully-autobiographical I Saw It. I also agree that it already took a neutral point of view. It was about a young boy just trying to stay alive in a never-before-seen hell.
In my experience in college in Japan, I would say this is one of the top three topics never to talk about. The Japanese young people seemed to be totally oblivious to any atrocities that Japan had committee prior to that bombing. They also incorrectly assumed that I, as an American, approved of the bombings. And strangely, most of them had no idea Nagasaki was also bombed. |
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Apollo-kun
Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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EDIT: Using your age as a leg-up on me in terms of knowledge is also quite mean-spirited, considering my grandfather lived through WWII as did many of my older family members. Insinuating that I haven't heard of the Rape of Berlin simply because I'm younger is really presumptuous, because you're assuming that I don't like to learn things and make myself more cultured. Disagreeing with me is fine, but being confrontational and rude, and saying because I'm a "toddler" compared to you, I don't know certain key historical events? Come on, man. Not cool. Through all of this, my father's advice to never bring up religion and/or politics in normal conversation is becoming all too clear... :I |
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Sewingrose
Posts: 579 |
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I presume these are the same youths who wear t-shirts with Swastikas and Hitler's face with no real knowledge of what they mean. There are definite problems with the education system in Japan concerning WWII. |
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Apollo-kun
Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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GATSU
Posts: 15296 |
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Sewing:
If you were a victim of firebombing and nukes in your neighborhood, you'd be "one-sided", too. 
_V_: It's my belief that the Japanese government was willing to let the A-bomb happen so they could make it easier to run like rats from the sinking ship.
Well, I hope they're in the line of sights when we go toe-to-toe with Iran and China next. dannavy: Well, the thing about this is that I probably would've hated on Japan entirely, I just read that we pardoned and/or covered for certain war criminals in exchange for germ warfare info. In that case, it's typical American "do as we say, not as we do" bs. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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I was going to reply to the rest of the post, but it is a little off topic. Suffice it to say that any defending the Allies' actions needs to consider whether the refusal to talk terms(and the resultant, staggering cost to the entire world) was really justifiable.
Which ties into what Atomic Bomb Survivors Seeking Peace and Security is trying to do: hiding facts to whitewash Japanese history. If one seeks to whet people's appetite for "national greatness" and war, hiding the cost is a major requirement. [1]For a less hot-button example, see the Trobriand Islanders' Kula: meaningless gift exchange or a quest for bragging rights? |
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