Selective Retention - The Nanking Massacre

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HiKiddies, here's a topic sure to stir the pot... the historical record on Nanking is quite plain and pretty much indisputable - the list of authentic and credible reports of the proceedings is quite remarkable, as such wanton massacres go. This is mainly because Nanking was China's capital at the time and so had full complements of international diplomats, Red Cross, international news agencies and various other reputable witnesses to the events, who dutifully recorded the entire atrocity as it unfolded, in both still and moving pictures. There are two puzzling aspects to this matter, in my view, both regarding the Japanese treatment of the matter. Firstly, why is the official Japanese line to deny the fact? What does this say about the Japanese psyche? I should qualify that question with the observation that many non-government bodies in Japan have publicly acknowledged the history of Nanking and begged Chinese forgiveness. Yet the official Japanese Government line is still one of denial. Secondly, from everything that I read and hear reported on the subject, it seems that most of the current generation of Japanese are ignorant or even in denial about the subject. I understand the influence that a white-washed education might have had, but it still eludes me how the facts of the matter can still be denied in the days of the Internet when the full details of just about ANYTHING can be found without too much difficulty (especially something on the scale of the Nanking massacre). I'm not Chinese at all, yet know the full story in graphic detail. So does most of the rest of the world's literate population - except, apparently, a large proportion (if not most) of the Japanese population. To be honest, thinking on this keeps drawing me back to the question of the Japanese psyche. Is this just a matter of political expediency by the Japanese government which has grown into a general brainwashing of the general Japanese public, or is something else going on here?