I'm not so sure Western values were "imposed" on Japan. Seems to me the Japanese deliberately decided to adopt Western style values in an attempt (possibly the most successful in history) to modernize their nation. And further, I would hesitate to classify Bushido as a "positive" aspect of Japanese culture (or rather, it had both what I would consider positive and negative aspects).
Damon. ------------------------------------------------------------ Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: Trumpeter's Marder I auf GW 38(h) Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld. -----Original Message----- From: jon louis mann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:28:33 To:Killer Bs Discussion <[email protected]> Subject: no more war!-) i don't believe it, i just dug out my old sunday school bible (phillips ed.) which has hardly ever been used, and it opened to Isaiah 2:4. the part about beating swords into plowshares... there is precedent for ending war... i am not saying that america is any worse than the shogunss or nazis. we did not start WWII but our imperialistic foreign policy in the context of history is not a shining example of altuistic leadership, either. certainly there were many grievances against our expansionist doctrines and trade policies. from columbus and possibly sooner, our colonial practices, genocide, speciescide and slavery is proof that our government was corrupt and hypocritical from the beginning. not that other countries were any better. some were and there have been periods in history when chivalry was taking root, but religion and feudalism was able to prevent those ideas from spreading, just like christianity and other religions became corrupt. i grew up in postwar japan, and have a japanese stepmother who didn't deserve the deprivation, starvation and be bombed to hell. she did not vote for tojo. maybe we should have just blockaded japan. after all it was perry who opened up that pandora's box and destroyed their bushido values by imposing our western culture. there is a lot that could have been done to give germany's jews hope, instead we turned them away, as did many other countries. by rights they should have been given bavaria for a homeland instead of israel where they are still vilified and attacked without end. i just watch syriana w/george clooney and it reminded me of the formula w/geo. c. scott. what i am trying to say, ronn, is that maybe now it is time to set an example and stop meddling in other countries affairs except to adopt fair trade policies instead of "free" trade, globalization, and new world order agendas. --------------------------------- Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
