The Germans' contemporary attitude toward nationalism and apologising for their history might strike Americans (us Canadians too -- but I do think Americans tend to be more patriotic) as overly self-flagellating and no longer necessary, but as a child of immigrants, I really appreciate the thought into promoting that sort of attitude of "We must never forget". Because really? Powerful nations in history have shown us time and time again that yes, we WILL forget and pretend these bad things in the past never happened.
I'm Chinese-Canadian and I absolutely sympathise with older generation Chinese people who dislike Japan and their government for not really acknowledging the war crimes they've committed. I dislike that the Japanese government doesn't address this, but I definitely don't hold it against the Japanese people in general, and quite like them.
I mean even Canada, which is an amazingly tolerant and diverse country, is guilty of tiptoeing around history involving some pretty awful mistreatment of Native people, for example.
no subject
The Germans' contemporary attitude toward nationalism and apologising for their history might strike Americans (us Canadians too -- but I do think Americans tend to be more patriotic) as overly self-flagellating and no longer necessary, but as a child of immigrants, I really appreciate the thought into promoting that sort of attitude of "We must never forget". Because really? Powerful nations in history have shown us time and time again that yes, we WILL forget and pretend these bad things in the past never happened.
I'm Chinese-Canadian and I absolutely sympathise with older generation Chinese people who dislike Japan and their government for not really acknowledging the war crimes they've committed. I dislike that the Japanese government doesn't address this, but I definitely don't hold it against the Japanese people in general, and quite like them.
I mean even Canada, which is an amazingly tolerant and diverse country, is guilty of tiptoeing around history involving some pretty awful mistreatment of Native people, for example.
/rant