Pearl Harbor Day

[dedalusdedalus]

Let's not forget that boys on the other side lost their lives on that day because of a power-hungry war mongering savage who brainwashed his subordinates and deceived his emperor.

Let's also not forget the Rape of Nanking and the Bataan Death March. Great bunch of boys those were on the other side.

Oh, Nanking is in Pearl Harbor? I thought it was in China. I thought this thread was about Pearl Harbor. I must have misread the title.

I don't believe in honoring the war dead of an army that's committed atrocities to the extent that the Imperial Army did. If you're going to honor their Pearl Harbor dead, then why not also the ones that died in connection with Imperial Army atrocities like the Rape of Nanking? I'm sure some Chinese civilian got a lucky shot or stab in and killed one. If I didn't make that explicitly clear, then mea culpa, my friend.

I'm not trying to make an ad hominem attack against you or anything, but if you're bringing up your family anecdote to show that you somehow have a greater claim to this history and a greater right to forgive the Imperial Army, then it's a wash. My grandparents fought against the Imperial Army, and they're a lot less forgiving than yours are.

Either way, I'm afraid you and I are just going to have to agree to disagree, but I just wanted to state a dissenting opinion on these boards.

Tell me with a straight face that if you were a solider in WWII, that you'd rather surrender to the Japanese than the Americans.

I'd probably pick neither. Better to live as a free man for an hour than a slave for 40 years as we say.

Admirable sentiment.

However, just for your information, approximately 100% of people who don't dodge hypothetical questions would choose to be a POW with the Americans rather than the Japanese.

[hashiriya1]

I don't believe in honoring the war dead of an army that's committed atrocities to the extent that the Imperial Army did. If you're going to honor their Pearl Harbor dead, then why not also the ones that died in connection with Imperial Army atrocities like the Rape of Nanking? I'm sure some Chinese civilian got a lucky shot or stab in and killed one. If I didn't make that explicitly clear, then mea culpa, my friend.

I'm not trying to make an ad hominem attack against you or anything, but if you're bringing up your family anecdote to show that you somehow have a greater claim to this history and a greater right to forgive the Imperial Army, then it's a wash. My grandparents fought against the Imperial Army, and they're a lot less forgiving than yours are.

Either way, I'm afraid you and I are just going to have to agree to disagree, but I just wanted to state a dissenting opinion on these boards.

I brought up my family to show that most of what I learned about the events in China is from first-hand accounts and not from a history book or propaganda like some people I have encountered....who are quick to attack the Japanese people as whole based on the actions of a few. Tojo and his cronies are the animals, not an entire nation.

My original post in this thread was to express sympathy for the kids who were forced to die for something they did not believe in nor wanted to do. They weren't America's enemy, they were brainwashed by those who wanted to be America's enemy. Not all of those guys in those zeroes were 'on board'. Even Isoroku Yamamoto himself, who was educated at Harvard, was very opposed to the attack because he believed America was a great ally to Japan.

Anyhoo, no hard feelings.

[dedalusdedalus]

Anyhoo, no hard feelings.

Yeah, same here. Both of us have made explicit our reasons for believing what we believe, no reason to keep beating this point.

[Droid party]

Tell me with a straight face that if you were a solider in WWII, that you'd rather surrender to the Japanese than the Americans.

I'd probably pick neither. Better to live as a free man for an hour than a slave for 40 years as we say.

As Emiliano Zapata once said.I'd rather die on my feet rather than live on my knees, or something like that.

[Haoie]

Hey, if you can make a movie out of that, you can make a movie out of anything.

[Ack]

Hey, if you can make a movie out of that, you can make a movie out of anything.

Ok, I was asked to close this thread, but I see I'm too late. Someone has already managed to make a reference to the Michael Bay film.