Subj : Japanese Common Sens  3/
To   : Bob Klahn
From : Lee Lofaso
Date : Fri Jul 19 2013 13:35:20

>>> Continued from previous message

>LL>We like to paint Nazis as being evil monsters, the same as

BK>Patton said a lot of Germans joined the Nazi party just for
BK>advancement.  Those who believed in it were monsters.

General Patton did not understand the German people.
At the time, everybody in Germany was a Nazi.  Until just
before the end of the war, Germans believed in Hitler and
his party.  They had been led to believe that the Jews
had simply left for new homes in Palestine.  They had been
led to believe der Fuhrer was keeping Germans safe from
those who wanted to invade their homeland.

Hitler and his National Socialist Party came to power in
Germany as moderates.  Not as radicals or extremists.  Germans
believed in Hitler, that he would bring prosperity to Germany.
And Hitler delivered on his promises.

Of course, what Hitler did to the Jews and others was truly
despicable.  But the German people did not know that, at least
not until well after the war was over.

Even today, Germans will ask Americans, "Why did you bomb
our cities?"  "Why did you bomb our schools?"  "What did we
do to you that was so evil?"

War itself is evil.  We kill others to teach others that
killing is evil.  Go figure.

>LL>we like to paint Japanese of that time as being evil
>LL>monsters. However, American soldiers also did much the same
>LL>thing, raping women and killing prisoners, along with
>LL>taking "souvenirs" of gold teeth, etc., back home.

BK>Not near as much. No where near as much.

How do you know?  Were you there?  I had an uncle who was.
He did not like talking about what our soldiers did in the
Pacific.  In fact, he was quite ashamed, being an American.
War does things to people.  People do things they otherwise
would not do.  Seeing your friends and comrades getting
shot or blown to bits is a very unsettling matter.  And yet
our soldiers had to continue doing their jobs, day after
day, never knowing when there turn would be up.

>LL>War is hell, and nothing to be proud of.  No people should
>LL>be ostracized because of past events, or because of a
>LL>military gone wild.

BK>Nor should Iran. OTOH, Saudi Arabia has not yet stopped being evil.

I met a Saudi Arabian guy some years back.  Nice guy.  A
construction engineer, he needed my help in a course he was
taking.  He had a paper he needed to turn in, but he did not
know how to type.  So I typed it for him.  For free.  Was
that evil, for the Saudi to cheat by having somebody else
type the paper for him?

OTOH, maybe I was the one who was evil.  I could have typed
the paper in gibberish and he never would have known ...

--Lee


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