Bazza Posted June 18, 2010 Report Posted June 18, 2010 Ok guys, things have been said and sensibility expressed, so please back to topic Well, yes. These things can go on forever, but there is just one thing I would like to say, and I say it to people who express the horror so eloquently written above, even to my own Mother, now 89. I am also very well read in the area of World War 2 atrocities. We must not forget that tens of thousands of good Japanese people were abused - and murdered - in their own country by the political police, the Tokkō, Japan's approximate equivalent of the Gestapo. The enemy here is not the Japanese officers handing over their swords, it is the untrammelled abuse of centralist power and the militarist mindset of total control of the population. It has happened in modern times, it is happening even as we speak. I am not in two minds and have no trouble reconciling the abuse of power over centuries with the fabulous art of Nihonto. And of course, there was lots of abuse with the Spanish sword, the English sword, the German sword... Edit after reading later posts: War is the most profitless of all human activities. Regards, Barry Thomas aka BaZZa.
sanjuro Posted June 18, 2010 Report Posted June 18, 2010 May I say as the voice of reason, that recriminations serve no purpose, and that in war, no one on either side can emerge without blame or stain upon them. In terms of culpability, neither victor nor vanquished can be judged with impartiality in the aftermath. War is war. It is not fair, it is not sensible. It is an event of madness, and in the final analysis it does not solve differences. Chewing over this old soup is not productive, nor is it in the spirit or purpose of this forum. Please gentlemen enough is enough! Pray stop before it takes us to a place we none of us wish to go.
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