arndt@neavax.DEC (08/27/85)
You may recall my posting on 'Happy 40th Hiroshima and Nagasaki'. This is a followup. The other day on the telly I saw a National Geographic Explorer special (basically a kids program) on 'The Angels of War'. It was all about the natives of New Guinea and how they were pressed into service on both sides during the fighting there during WWII. I fell off my chair at the footage about the natives and the Japs. A couple of Japanese returned to the island during the filming and were defeated again! The Japanese, in shorts and sunglasses arrive at the village (scene of former glories) and are greeted by natives they knew back when. One of the Japanese bounces around and grabs one of the natives and piles his luggage on top of him to the merriment of his fellows (and mine!). Then there was a scene (absolutely priceless!!) of them all sitting on a log and reliving the 'good ole days'. After a few words of good cheer from the Japanese (we weren't really that bad) one of the natives nukes 'em! He is patting this head Jap on the back and he says that some of the Japanese killed and ate his people but THIS Jap didn't do that and was ok!!! The poor Jap hid behind his sunglasses and smiled like he had gas but wasn't going to let us know if he could help it. He didn't know WHAT to say! Things just sort of stopped for a moment. I'd like to think the native knew what he was doing and perhaps he did. It was like a little child calling you a dirty name in public. What do you do? The point of this whole posting is that the truth of what happened and how people feel about it is there for those who have eyes (not blinded by the latest ideology) to see. There ARE differences between cultures and their views of the value of human life and goals in life, so that to base a foreign policy or human contact on merely a reflection of what YOUR views are is just asking for trouble and downright stupid. Today we are facing foreign cultures in the East and MidEast where people do not share our values or point of view on many issues. To understand the way things will work means to have an understanding of those cultures that somehow goes beyond 'they're people too'. This is what, to a large degree, I feel was left out of the 40th rememberances. All this 'we are the world', touchy feely, love one another crap makes me want to puke. It's CHILDISH!!!. Just like the imortal words of Samantha Smith (RIP - so sad) when she 'saw' the Russian children and they were 'just like us'. So I view most of these 'peace longers' as children! Dangerous children. Regards, Ken Arndt