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Super Squirrel

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37 minutes ago, Tjack said:

Find me a country in all of history that hasn’t done the same crap or worse and then we can talk.

 

Well, I would argue that it's not a matter of "They did it too." but rather "We - collectively - did this and reaped certain rewards as a result, but we're now taking responsibility for the actions of our predecessors partly because its the right thing to do but also as a reminder to avoid such actions in the future." Some people will make the former statement in order to avoid addressing the latter sentiment. Adults (in this case, nations) own up to their own actions...they don't point fingers to absolve themselves of culpability. Question: are you upset with any and all measures the United States government took in order to best ameliorate the scars of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How about the internment of Japanese-American citizens?

 

P.S. I don't consider "America" (specifically, the United States of America) to be synonymous with "white"/Caucasian (as broad as the term is)/European, but that could just be me.

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1 hour ago, Ragitsu said:

 

Well, I would argue that it's not a matter of "They did it too." but rather "We - collectively - did this and reaped certain rewards as a result, but we're now taking responsibility for the actions of our predecessors partly because its the right thing to do but also as a reminder to avoid such actions in the future." Some people will make the former statement in order to avoid addressing the latter sentiment. Adults (in this case, nations) own up to their own actions...they don't point fingers to absolve themselves of culpability. Question: are you upset with any and all measures the United States government took in order to best ameliorate the scars of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How about the internment of Japanese-American citizens?

 

P.S. I don't consider "America" (specifically, the United States of America) to be synonymous with "white"/Caucasian (as broad as the term is)/European, but that could just be me.


   That would be the part about “I accept responsibility for what my country has done.”   Mr. Carlin (who’s comedy I generally enjoy) was playing to the crowd. And I believe he had gone further than the premise allowed. 
    The type of revisionist history I’m speaking of casts America of wantonly killing an innocent populace out of malice or racism when the invasion of the Home Islands were predicted to have a cost in human lives on both sides many times over the number killed in both bombings. 
  The Japanese citizens were being extorted to fight to the last and then commit suicide rather than accept the invasion of their homeland. The fight to the last man mentality was proven at Iwo Jima and other places.  
  The bombing of Nagasaki took place because the Japanese Govt. refused to accept the removal of the Emperor as part of the surrender. 

   The internment of Japanese-American citizens however was more than partly motivated and tolerated by racism.

I do believe that the crimes against humanity spoken of against the “black, red and brown” people’s by my country were reprehensible, and must be acknowledged and and dealt with. 
 What I said however was that what has happened in other countries around the world throughout history proves that this behavior can’t be singled out to any one country or race.

  To your P.S.;  I do not in any way believe you personally hold this view, but may others do. It is to them that I object.

   Thank you for your calm reserve in what on other sites could have been a mud-sling.
 

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Where I've always felt America departs from most other countries, is that it was founded on explicit principles and ideals which in practice it has frequently ignored or violated, often egregiously, throughout its history. The disappointment is greater because the proclaimed aspiration was higher.

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