When countries or societies or communities say they are ‘sorry’, it is time to sit up and question why. because it does not happen often.
AFAIK the concept of apologizing for crimes committed against a community or country, came into vogue only after World War 2. the new divided west germany, considered itself as the inheritor state to the nazi germany, and on reaching unprecedented levels of prosperity post war, took upon itself, and in a way answering to demands too, to give financial compensation to the victimized countries of nazi germany. Along with it came unconditional apologies
Israel and the jewish people, were the maximum beneficiaries of this german act, and rightfully so too.
Since then, it has become a sort of norm, for erstwhile victims to demand apologies for crimes committed against them,
historically or current.
Just this morning, japan apologized to Canada, for the illtreatment of 1000+ Canadian prisoners of war in hong kong 1941.
these soldiers were part of british empire troops sent there to stop Japanese aggression. About 4000 canadians participated,
3000 died and 1000 survived. That they were treated cruelly is putting it mildly.
I am aware that Canada has long been demanding the apology, and finally japan gave in and a formal note was presented to a
Canadian delegation today. I wonder, if japan is truly sorry, as to why it took so long (the war after all ended in 1945, ie 66 years ago) to render the apology. Does japan feel different today than what it felt all these years, and is filled with a sense of contriteness?
I don’t know. Most of the Canadian POWs are dead anyway or in their 80s., to appreciate any mode of apology from japan.
Still a late apology, is better than no apology, I guess.
were-sorry-japanese-government-tells-canadian-pows/
Japan has not been so kind to china. The Japanese troops committed unmentionable massacres there, with ‘the rape of nanking’ standing out, as among the citadel of the horrors of war. Even as recent as a couple of years ago, there were large anti japan demonstrations in china, tacitly encouraged by the communist government – the word Nanjing is a code word to remind china of the ½ million or so murdered Chinese by the marauding Japanese army.
/Nanking_Massacre
I guess japan will apologize to china one day, when it feels, that it has no choice but to utter some soothing words of sorrow, in turn, for some more trade concessions or monetary factors. Money, apparently instigates and greases any noble or ulterior act and anything inbetween.
The 20th century’s first holocaust was the massacre of million+ Armenians by the turks. Till today turkey has denied it. and the
armenians the world over, are pretty sore over it.
The british apologized for their role in African slavery in 15 through 18th centuries, though I don’t know if spain and Portugal, even bigger slave traders, apologized.
should the british apologize to india for having ruled her? if we go on to every stage of history, where will this apology thing stop? compared to what the belgians did in africa, or the french in algeria, the british rule and departure was benign. also to their credit the british did not destroy deliberately any religious place of any religion while they were in india. in fact, by founding the archeological society of india, they started the process of preservation of our ancient monuments, including the taj mahal.
The USA has not exactly said sorry to its black citizens. Yet. But it may be coming.
The other day bangla desh demanded an apology from Pakistan, for the crimes committed by pak army during 1971 bangla war of independence, which india midwifed.
Now, I think, it would be good for some own introspections and apologies within our own bharat. For starters, the upper castes might want to apolgize to the dalits for what I consider ‘crimes against humanity’ committed against the dalits (& still continuing in parts of india) over the milleniuims. i do not expect any takers on this currently, but who knows, in another
100 years, we might have developed enough civility in our life, to enact a formal apology in the lok sabha.
Another raw subject, many hindus are still sore, about the destruction of hindu temples in the north. somnathpur, madurai meenakshi, kerala temples by haidar ali/tipu sultan, aurangzeb....and the list can go on. An apology from muslims, for this act done by their ancestors, would, I think warm many a hindu’s heart.
Quid pro quo: an apology from hindus for babri masjid would also I think soothen muslim feelings.
Apologies, I think, do not demean us, or make us weak. It only brings out the better part of ourselves, and takes us to a higher and nobler plane.
I for one, am happy that germany started this concept of apology by countries – as a result today’s germans feel guilt free of nazi horrors and are a rich and prosperous country. The other part, east germany, which denied any involvement with the Nazis, is now no more. even the most ardent jew, will have to agree, that the german heart is rid of nazi sentiment. again like all generalization, this statement is flawed, but overall i think, it still holds.
In another forum, there was a healthy and heated thread about ‘introspection by brahmins’, with a view to apologizing to the other castes, for taking credit to manu’s ideas of caste especially the one, granting us privileges based on our birth, and parcelling out, the more unsavoury aspects of life to other castes, with the dalits ending up with the wrong end of the stick. Needless to say, the public can guess where I stood on that argument. Which was overwhelmingly denounced by the tambrams, and equally overwhelmingly upheld by the NBs.
There were no identified dalits in that argument in that thread. if there were, they did not identify themselves. but there was a nadar christian, who held the brahmins to crime, for preventing his grandmother and all mothers before her, from wearing a blouse to cover her breasts. apparently that was why his grandfather became a christian.
to sum up, if we see more apologies from communities and countries, i think, it better for humanity. and for world peace.
AFAIK the concept of apologizing for crimes committed against a community or country, came into vogue only after World War 2. the new divided west germany, considered itself as the inheritor state to the nazi germany, and on reaching unprecedented levels of prosperity post war, took upon itself, and in a way answering to demands too, to give financial compensation to the victimized countries of nazi germany. Along with it came unconditional apologies
Israel and the jewish people, were the maximum beneficiaries of this german act, and rightfully so too.
Since then, it has become a sort of norm, for erstwhile victims to demand apologies for crimes committed against them,
historically or current.
Just this morning, japan apologized to Canada, for the illtreatment of 1000+ Canadian prisoners of war in hong kong 1941.
these soldiers were part of british empire troops sent there to stop Japanese aggression. About 4000 canadians participated,
3000 died and 1000 survived. That they were treated cruelly is putting it mildly.
I am aware that Canada has long been demanding the apology, and finally japan gave in and a formal note was presented to a
Canadian delegation today. I wonder, if japan is truly sorry, as to why it took so long (the war after all ended in 1945, ie 66 years ago) to render the apology. Does japan feel different today than what it felt all these years, and is filled with a sense of contriteness?
I don’t know. Most of the Canadian POWs are dead anyway or in their 80s., to appreciate any mode of apology from japan.
Still a late apology, is better than no apology, I guess.
were-sorry-japanese-government-tells-canadian-pows/
Japan has not been so kind to china. The Japanese troops committed unmentionable massacres there, with ‘the rape of nanking’ standing out, as among the citadel of the horrors of war. Even as recent as a couple of years ago, there were large anti japan demonstrations in china, tacitly encouraged by the communist government – the word Nanjing is a code word to remind china of the ½ million or so murdered Chinese by the marauding Japanese army.
/Nanking_Massacre
I guess japan will apologize to china one day, when it feels, that it has no choice but to utter some soothing words of sorrow, in turn, for some more trade concessions or monetary factors. Money, apparently instigates and greases any noble or ulterior act and anything inbetween.
The 20th century’s first holocaust was the massacre of million+ Armenians by the turks. Till today turkey has denied it. and the
armenians the world over, are pretty sore over it.
The british apologized for their role in African slavery in 15 through 18th centuries, though I don’t know if spain and Portugal, even bigger slave traders, apologized.
should the british apologize to india for having ruled her? if we go on to every stage of history, where will this apology thing stop? compared to what the belgians did in africa, or the french in algeria, the british rule and departure was benign. also to their credit the british did not destroy deliberately any religious place of any religion while they were in india. in fact, by founding the archeological society of india, they started the process of preservation of our ancient monuments, including the taj mahal.
The USA has not exactly said sorry to its black citizens. Yet. But it may be coming.
The other day bangla desh demanded an apology from Pakistan, for the crimes committed by pak army during 1971 bangla war of independence, which india midwifed.
Now, I think, it would be good for some own introspections and apologies within our own bharat. For starters, the upper castes might want to apolgize to the dalits for what I consider ‘crimes against humanity’ committed against the dalits (& still continuing in parts of india) over the milleniuims. i do not expect any takers on this currently, but who knows, in another
100 years, we might have developed enough civility in our life, to enact a formal apology in the lok sabha.
Another raw subject, many hindus are still sore, about the destruction of hindu temples in the north. somnathpur, madurai meenakshi, kerala temples by haidar ali/tipu sultan, aurangzeb....and the list can go on. An apology from muslims, for this act done by their ancestors, would, I think warm many a hindu’s heart.
Quid pro quo: an apology from hindus for babri masjid would also I think soothen muslim feelings.
Apologies, I think, do not demean us, or make us weak. It only brings out the better part of ourselves, and takes us to a higher and nobler plane.
I for one, am happy that germany started this concept of apology by countries – as a result today’s germans feel guilt free of nazi horrors and are a rich and prosperous country. The other part, east germany, which denied any involvement with the Nazis, is now no more. even the most ardent jew, will have to agree, that the german heart is rid of nazi sentiment. again like all generalization, this statement is flawed, but overall i think, it still holds.
In another forum, there was a healthy and heated thread about ‘introspection by brahmins’, with a view to apologizing to the other castes, for taking credit to manu’s ideas of caste especially the one, granting us privileges based on our birth, and parcelling out, the more unsavoury aspects of life to other castes, with the dalits ending up with the wrong end of the stick. Needless to say, the public can guess where I stood on that argument. Which was overwhelmingly denounced by the tambrams, and equally overwhelmingly upheld by the NBs.
There were no identified dalits in that argument in that thread. if there were, they did not identify themselves. but there was a nadar christian, who held the brahmins to crime, for preventing his grandmother and all mothers before her, from wearing a blouse to cover her breasts. apparently that was why his grandfather became a christian.
to sum up, if we see more apologies from communities and countries, i think, it better for humanity. and for world peace.
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