History can be a hagiography, a morality tale, and a
cautionary tale, all to some extent, because history normally has a purpose for
being told. If history is being taught in school, it is not only to educate
children on facts of the past, but also to present to them morals and cautions
which can be learnt from our history.
For example, there are many elements omitted by Japan in
their history textbooks, including facts about their conflict with China and
the invasion of Manchuria. Although it seems here that the historian is
deliberately twisting the truth, it is not necessarily false, and it is history
written for young Japanese students. The bias comes not only from the
historian, but also from the audience, who supply the demand for history that has a
ulterior motive.
Rwandan Genocide and the Truth reconciliation commission
The talk on the Rwandan genocide raised questions on what
is evil. Philip Zimbardo, the professor who conducted the Stanford prison
experiment in 1971, defined evil as someone who abuses power by intentionally
hurting another person. He also created a thesis, The Lucifer Effect, which
looks at what brings out the evil in ‘good’ people. Therefore, when looking at
history and judging why certain decisions were made, we need to look at the
power dynamics of the time. For example, being the one who feed the information to the public gives one power. That person has the power of language, and can manipulate the thoughts of people in different ways.
Conflict is mostly caused by everyone thinking they are the victims to a problem. Nonetheless, an apology doesn't necessarily solve the problem, as it can be hollow. In the case of USA's apologies to its indigenous communities, the apologies do not mean a lot. However, in the case of Japan and China's ongoing rivalry, neither are willing to admit any responsibility and apologize. I think conflict is almost unavoidable, but as long as the rivalry is relatively peaceful, then it is just like rivalry between sport teams, except political. As long as the living standards of the people are relatively good, violence or major events do not occur.
Conflict is mostly caused by everyone thinking they are the victims to a problem. Nonetheless, an apology doesn't necessarily solve the problem, as it can be hollow. In the case of USA's apologies to its indigenous communities, the apologies do not mean a lot. However, in the case of Japan and China's ongoing rivalry, neither are willing to admit any responsibility and apologize. I think conflict is almost unavoidable, but as long as the rivalry is relatively peaceful, then it is just like rivalry between sport teams, except political. As long as the living standards of the people are relatively good, violence or major events do not occur.
testing
ReplyDelete