This represents yet another one of those internationally sanctioned and widely promoted anniversaries where the U.S. is expected to lower its head in shame and endlessly apologize. Like ‘global warming’, slavery, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Hiroshima/Nagasaki is designed to eclipse every shred of good we have ever done and paint us as a pariah among the nation states.
It remains a puzzle for me to understand how eternally willing we are to play this game; even to the point of creating a brand new position at the very highest level of our government - Apologizer-in-Chief - specifically entrusted to sacrifice our nation on the altar of someone’s open-ended notion of ‘social justice’. It’s almost as if we automatically accept the premise of any argument that has ever been advanced against us. It’s almost as if human sin never existed before we declared our independence; that we immediately thereafter willfully and deliberately agreed to play the role of Eve - the forever condemned temptress of Adam - leading the whole world down the path of ignominy.
Interesting, that every evil ever done finds its way to our doorstep. A car bomb goes off in a busy market in Baghdad and we are at fault. Harare descends into unfathomable chaos, as does Darfur, and (again) the finger points our way. Russia invades Georgia - who else? American swims across a moonlit Myanmar lake... Now we’ve even come to the point of taking blame for ‘acts of God’ – hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, rain, drought and the like.
It’s no wonder that we’ve become desperate to atone for ever so much guilt; the sheer weight of it – unshared by a fatally wounded God – crushes the very breath out of us. How can we possibly continue with this scarlet letter pinned to our collapsing chests, marking us as having dared to survive so much failed history while others merely suffered and died? Is it even possible to atone for so many dead, now that our own arrogance has replaced Him?
It occurs to me that those with their gods still in tact find it infinitely easier to function. They are able to blame both their gods and the godless for their sins, whereas we have only ourselves to punish for transgressions real or imagined.
Posts
Hey Peter:
ReplyDeleteWhat people forget, and this includes the Japanese, is that they started it, and not only did they start it, but they committed some of the most horrific war crimes in China and other asian countries. I don't belief they teach the true history of WWII in their own country. In Germany on the other hand, the holocaust is something they they are never allowed to forget. I think we made a mistake with Japan not instituting that type of cultural memory when we rebuilt Japan. Think about it, we had to drop two bombs to bring them to the table to surrender, the first one didn't do it. Anyway, nice blog.