04.22.12
Posted in Book Reviews, History at 9:28 pm by Administrator
Understanding world politics and events can be a very daunting challenge these days. African history is particularly difficult to follow because its history is so vast as well as the territories and the long string of foreign involvement and tribal conflicts. The little bits of news we receive from the media make it even more confusing at times because we only see a small portion of what’s going on in parts of Africa. Years ago I read a book called Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Romeo A. Dallaire in an effort to try to understand what the Rwandan genocide was all about. It was horrific to say the least, but even so it was still so confusing to me. There was mention that even after the Rwandan genocide many more lives were lost as the refugees flooded into Uganda. I also read Me Against My Brother: at War in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda by Scott Peterson, which also shed more light on what has been going on in parts of Africa and helped to give a more insider perspective of the attitudes of the people. It touched upon the “blackhawk down” incident in Somalia and thus the reluctance of the U.S. to get involved in Rwanda during the genocide. Peterson touched upon how much of foreign aid ended up strengthening the rebel forces and many times never made it to the refugees. Then I read King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild. Wow, that was another eye-opener regarding the long cruel history that had been endured in the Belgium Congo because of the rubber trade (or really rubber boom as there was really no trading going on, but looting and stealing using the Congolese as forced laborers). So when I stumbled across Jason K. Stearns’ book Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: the Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, I was glued to the pages.
So why did I mention those other books I’d read that didn’t mentioned the Congo in their titles? It was because I was surprised to find when reading Dancing in the Glory of Monsters that the first and second Congo wars had been intricately tied to Rwanda and the other countries surrounding it. It was like a continuation of where they left off. Literally millions of people have died in the Congo wars between 1996 and 2006, yet we have heard practically nothing about it. Even though I read those books, I had no understanding how they affected the lives of the Congolese. Stearns does an excellent job of explaining the intricate history between the various groups of peoples like the Hutu, Tutsi, Congolese, Ugandans, Rwandas, etc. He interviews various people, both military and civilian, who were involved in the Congo conflicts thus detailing the different perspectives of each side. Or in this case, the various sides since there were more than just two sides. There were about 30 insurgent and government groups involved. Not all those who fought in these wars fought for the same reasons–some fought for power, some for revenge, some for wealth, etc. Some of the civilians didn’t even know why they were attacked or by who.
It’s amazing to me how a country like the Congo, so rich in natural resources, can be suffering so much poverty. For more than two hundred years the Congo has been exploited for it’s natural resources, including it’s people as slaves. I urge anyone interested in helping others to read Stearn’s book. It helps to clarify some of the arguments I’ve read on various sites regarding aid to Africa that their problem is due to over population and/or they need to learn how to farm or sustain themselves. People that make those types of comments apparently have no clue. These Africans are not starving because they are lazy or don’t know how to grow food, but because they’ve been forced off of their lands, their villages burned, their people raped and killed by insurgent groups. At times we even help fund these militant groups by buying minerals they sell in order to fund their war machines. How can we help? One place to start according to Stearns is to at least understand the politics involved. The problems in the Congo are complex, so trying to learn more about it’s history and culture might in turn help us make more intelligent decisions regarding the Congo. Two thumbs up for Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: the Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa.
Marlakins
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04.06.12
Posted in Anything goes, Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Historical Trivia, Movie commentary, family stuff at 5:57 pm by Administrator
It’s Black Saturday here right now. Again, I’m not used to this because we generally don’t celebrate this back in Los Angeles that I know of. Well, actually there are a lot of Catholics in Los Angeles, but since we’re not Catholic I’m not very familiar with this observed holiday.
Black Saturday here in the Philippines is also known as Holy Saturday when Jesus’ body was laid to rest. It’s recognized here as an official holiday, so that anyone working on this day is supposed to get double pay. But at least I think some stores will be open now (unlike yesterday, Good Friday), and likely the movie theaters. So I think that’s what I’ll do today–head across the street and see what’s playing. Last weekend mom and I watched The Hunger Games, which turned out to be entertaining. Mom usually doesn’t like to watch movies, but she enjoyed this one. One of the reasons I like to watch movies here is because they are so much cheaper–equivalent to about $4 as compared to about $9 back in Los Angeles.
Other than observing this day as the day Jesus was laid to rest, I don’t think a whole lot is done. Unlike on Good Friday when everyone seems to be out church hopping and praying all over the place, Black Saturday seems to be rather mild. I spoke to one of my aunts last night and asked her how her Good Friday was, and she said that she had gone to Quiapo for the Good Friday events. She said it was extremely crowded, and people were pushing her in all directions. Yikes! I’m glad mom and I stayed home. Instead we enjoyed a nice visit with another auntie and her daughter’s family.
Since tomorrow might be quiet as well because of Easter Sunday, I might try to catch up with uploading some pictures we took at Manila Ocean Park last Thursday. Hard to take good pictures of those marine animals as they don’t seem to like to hold still for the camera, ha! That didn’t stop me from trying, tho, and I think I managed to get some decent shots. I’ve also been managing to get a little reading in while doing my nightly foot soaks, so I do want to update on one of the books I’ve been reading regarding the Congo called Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, by Jason K. Stearns. It seems to be a very good book and quite enlightening for anyone wanting to understand some of the complexities of the wars that have been ravaging their people.
Marlakins
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02.05.12
Posted in Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, History at 10:47 am by Administrator
Plutonium: a History of the World’s Most Dangerous Element by Jeremy Bernstein is another informative book for anyone interested in nuclear issues. This book is rather short (only 171 pages), but still full of interesting information. It primarily deals with the discovery of plutonium and the many key scientists involved in its discovery. Often times we read about scientists like Oppenheimer, Curie, Rongent, Becquerel, Fermi, Szilard, Seaborg, Teller, and Ulam, etc when discussing the discovery of radiation and the development of the A-bomb. But Bernsteins’s book reveals many more scientists who’s paths crossed and thus contributed to the discovery of plutonium. While the book is short, at times it’s a bit challenging to read for lay people like me because Bernstein is a physicist, so along with explaining the history of plutonium’s discovery, he gets a little more detailed about the properties and behavior of atoms and elements than the average non-scientific author. It does make the history much more interesting, though, because it helps to explain the quandaries and dilemmas the scientists were faced with and had to overcome. Bernstein also briefly describes the climate of the time and why some felt the urgency to develop the bomb first. I was particularly surprised to learn of the several other women involved that we don’t commonly hear about when discussing the invention or development of the atomic bomb. Women like Ida Noddack and Lise Meitner, while they weren’t involved with the development of the atom bomb, were involved with the discovery of fission.
Another notable aspect of Berstein’s book deals with the millions and billions of dollars spent on developing nuclear bombs along with the millions and billions of dollars needed to “clean up” the mess that’s left behind, which unfortunately, much of the mess left behind is still not cleaned up, and the price tag for cleaning those sites up is still increasing each year. For example, Bernstein writes about the Hanford site in Washington State that was the facility used to make the plutonium for the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. That site cost about $350 million to build and operate. After WWII and the cold war the site was supposed to be decommissioned. In 1989, about 45 years after it’s construction, discussion and debate raged as to how to clean up the site which stored 54 million gallons of radioactive waste in 177 underground tanks, some of which were leaking. This is not to mention the concern of contamination to the Columbia River where the plant was built alongside, or the downwind contamination from the venting of the reactors. In 1991, the plan to vitrify the waste tanks into glass were abandoned because it wouldn’t be fast enough. In 1995, the DOE decided to privatize the project by contracting British Nuclear Fuels to do it. That contract was canceled five years later, and a $4.3 billion contract was awarded to Bechtel to complete the project, which increased to $5.8 billion in 2002 as an incentive to complete the project by 2011. Then it was decided that it would not be completed by 2015, and the plans were delayed further due to concerns of earthquake safety, etc. Bernstein wrote that the present estimate to clean up the site is $9.65 billion and will require the further man-hour equivalent of 2,300 engineers working full-time for a year. His book was copyrighted in 2007, more than 60 years since the construction of the Hanford site. Some progress has been made, but there’s still a lot of clean up to do. Now consider that Hanford is only one site. The U.S. has about 100 other nuclear plants in operation, and a few other sites that have been decommissioned. How many billions of dollars and contaminated soil will all this amount to? Who will pay this price for both environmental clean up and medical expenses due to the deleterious health effects of radiation? The above mentioned clean up price tag doesn’t include medical expenses or pain and suffering.
It’s staggering to me to think of how many billions of dollars is invested in the nuclear industry, which is not as clean as many tout it to be. Nuclear energy still uses much non-nuclear energy to operate because for example, the mining of the uranium requires the use of a large amount of fossil fuels. Consider uranium 238 only contains about seven tenths of a percent of natural uranium 235, one would have to mine a ton of U238 to get a pound of U235, the grade commonly used for nuclear fuel. I still haven’t read of any calculation of how much fossil fuel energy that amounts to in comparison to the calculation that nuclear plants in the U.S. provides 20% of our energy needs. If they subtract the amount of fossil fuel consumed to provide the fuel for nuclear plants, I wonder if that 20% would go down? My primary peeve is the contamination issues of nuclear energy. The monetary costs alone are daunting, but the contamination cost is what really blows me away. I think of the miles of contaminated lands that are no longer habitable by people, and I think of the thousands of people who have been displaced due to nuclear contamination, and I wonder what God thinks of us. He originally put us here to tend the land, to be fruitful and multiply. I think of when God came to Cain after Cain murdered Able and asked him, “What have you done?” When God comes back as He said He would, there will be no hiding what we have done.
Marlakins
P.S. Two thumbs up to Jeremy Bernstein’s Plutonium: A History of the World’s Most Dangerous Element.
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01.23.12
Posted in Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, History, quotes at 12:23 pm by Administrator
For anyone interested in nuclear issues and the history of it’s discovery, I recommend reading The Plutonium Files by Eileen Welsome. I actually finished reading this book back in November, but was too busy to sit down and give it a proper review. Now that I’m currently reading another book called, Plutonium by Jeremy Bernstein, I figured I’d better pound out my comments on Welsome’s book before I forget about it. That would be a shame because her book is very informative and an excellent commentary on how our government has operated. It also exposes the blatant disregard of peoples’ lives for the sake of science. Another reason I’ve held off on commenting on Welsome’s book is because it is so full of information, I didn’t know where to start. What particularly struck me was that her book tied in a lot of information that I had read in previous books, so The Plutonium Files helped to put many things in order in my mind.
The Plutonium Files is a 489-page book dealing with America’s secret medical experiments in the cold war. Welsome explains how plutonium was once so rare that the largest stock of plutonium in our laboratories was too small to be seen by the naked eye. As more plutonium was produced, it was held in a beaker the size of a sewing needle. Now we have hundreds of tons of the stuff that we don’t know what to do with. According to Bernstein, author of Plutonium, “aside from making nuclear weapons, plutonium is good for nothing else.” Basically, it’s a deadly poison that is now here with us for the rest of lives.
While I have read about secret programs such as Operation Paperclip where after WWII German scientists were brought to the U.S. and allowed to continue their work here like Von Braun on the V2 rocket and others that helped with mind control experiments later revealed as MKUltra, and even other medical experiments such as those described in Acres of Skin on prisoners, I had not realized the extent to which secret medical experiments were carried out. Sure I had read about G.I. guinea pigs, which I actually read a book years ago by that same name, which described how our military was exposed to harmful chemicals such as Agent Orange and also purposely exposed to radiation in the many nuclear bomb tests such as Operation Crossroads and the others that followed. But Welsome reveals experiments that were performed on unsuspecting and uninformed U.S. citizens, including children and pregnant women. Sure I realize it was a time when medical ethics codes were not strongly enforced (think the Tuskegee experiments), but just the fact that they did these experiments in secret shows that they knew it was not right. Yet it was done at the hands of professional scientists and medical personnel using government funding. Experiments such as feeding plutonium to young boys in their oatmeal and having pregnant women drink radioactive “cocktails,” on the pretense that they were having a nutritional drink were among these secret experiments that lasted for decades.
As I type this, I realize again why I have put off writing my comments on this book–it’s very disturbing to me and really wears me out emotionally. It saddens me to think how people treat each other. I find it ironic that these discoveries and inventions (i.e. nuclear bombs) were said to have been necessary for our safety, but yet, the safety of our soldiers and civilians is compromised by those very forces behind trying to protect us with these nuclear devices. The same forces that have developed bombs to protect us has endangered all of us from the threat of nuclear war to the contamination of our environment–soil and water. We are left today with highly contaminated areas and tons of radioactive wastes that they “still” don’t know what to do with. With the Chernobyl accident and now the Fukushima accidents, which is still not contained, our world is being blanketed with radioactive particles contaminating our food and water. And yet, they continue to march on creating more and more radioactive waste every day, every minute. The silence in our media reflects the U.S.’s disregard for our true safety and well-being because less information to it’s public translate into less opposition to nuclear technology. The more sane countries such as Austria, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Belguim, and Spain have at least acknowledged the dangers of nuclear power and are phasing them out.
The nuclear issue is so complicated that I don’t even want to start into that subject right now. However, I do find it upsetting that many of us have no say in what happens or if nuclear projects get funded. The secrecy is astounding. An example is that even the Manhattan Project, which cost billions of taxpayers’ dollars, was so secret that even Truman, the vice president at the time, wasn’t even aware of the project until Roosevelt died. It appears this is the way our government operates, with many highly secret plans and operations. For a supposedly Christian society, this culture of secrecy is contrary to the Bible–John 3:20 states that,
“For everyone who doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
So many government operations are secret, and for the most part, the public is completely kept in the dark. This secrecy ensures no outcry or opposition to these projects. Strangely enough, this secrecy creates the “in” groups vs. the “out groups.” Those who are “in” (who know of these secret projects) feel privileged and possibly superior to the “out groups,” who don’t know of these projects. So they convince themselves that they have a right to “experiment” on others for their “higher cause” (commonly patriotism is the name of that higher cause). This is again contrary to the Bible regarding treating others as you would like to be treated. Or even contrary to the biblical concept of caring for those who are poor or needy (many secret experiments are carried out on the underprivileged like prisoners or lower income groups). It’s contrary to the biblical concept of not participating in evil so that good will come from it. But light will eventually shine as the bible does tell us in Luke 12:2-3 that,
“For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
“Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoke in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”
This post is turning out to be a book in itself, so I’ll wrap it up here. But first, one last point I want to bring up is Welsome’s title of chapter 20–Shields Warren: ”Patriotic Enough to Lie.” This chapter documented how some of the scientists were being questioned by ethics groups regarding their participation in some plutonium experiments. Many of these scientists covered their butts with lies or acted like they didn’t know about these projects. One such scientist was Shields Warren of who fellow scientist Merril Eisenbud once wrote, “some people are patriotic enough to lie.” Again, another contradiction to the bible wherein we are told not to lie, patriotism is not an exception.
Welsome’s book is excellent, and especially insightful as it ties in so many other books I’ve read such as the Radium Girls and Yellow Dirt and others. Definitely two thumbs up!
Marlakins
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11.09.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History at 6:50 pm by Administrator
This week started out pretty hectic for me, but despite that, I managed to finish reading Judy Pasternak’s book, Yellow Dirt, An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed. Every free moment I got, I poked my head in Pasternak’s book; it was that engaging.
Why was Yellow Dirt so engaging? I guess it’s because it’s about another significant part of American history that is an amazing story, yet not well popularized. I mean, I’m sure all of us Americans have heard of the Gold Rush, but likely not as many have heard of the Uranium Rush. Likewise, many of us have heard about the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, yet how many of us have even considered where the uranium for the bomb came from? Where did all the uranium come from to build all the nuclear warheads during the cold war? Who mined it and what ever happened to those people?
Pasternak basically lays down the history of the discovery of uranium in the Navajo Nation to the mining of the ore along with the milling, and the inter-relations/actions that occurred between the Navajos and the “White Man” throughout the 1930s to the present day. I found this Youtube video of Pasternak describing her book.
I give Judy Pasternak’s Yellow Dirt, an American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed two thumbs up. I highly recommend this book and wish more people were aware of the state of our country’s involvement with other nations and how we treat our own people. I find it very sobering and humbling.
Michael Connelly, author of Nine Dragons wrote regarding Pasternak’s book, “This book is a masterwork. It is journalism at it’s very best–a story told fully and eloquently. A story that everyone should know.” I agree. This is a story that especially all U.S. citizens should know.
Marlakins
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10.19.11
Posted in Book Reviews at 10:55 pm by Administrator
The Age of Deception by Mohamed Elbaradei is a very interesting and informative book for anyone concerned with nuclear proliferation. Mohamed Elbaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), explains in his book the duties and limitations of the IAEA and how those limitations affected their dealings with nations such as North Korea, Iraq, and Iran. One thing he wrote was that he wished more people understood the purpose and scope of the IAEA and in particular the limitations of the IAEA–that is, the IAEA can only enter a country and make inspections of their nuclear facilities “if” they are given permission or invited by that country. I found that to be an interesting point because I did not know that. And it explains and verifies some claims that there really isn’t anyone in charge of the world’s nuclear programs although some countries try to exert more influence upon others. It helps to explain why three of Japan’s nuclear reactors can be melting down, but little seems to be done about it by other nations (not that there’s anything they can really do about melt-downs anyway) . It explains why North Korea, Pakistan, India, and Israel seem to be able to do what they want in terms of developing nuclear weapons because not only are they are not members of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but no one really enforces measures to prohibit nuclear weapons development. Sure there are attempts to deter nuclear weapons development through negotiations and sanctions, but with all the mistrust between countries, nuclear development continues to march on.
Elbaradei’s accounts of the IAEA’s dealings regarding WMDs in Iraq, North Korea, and Iran are also very insightful. Not only does he explain what actually transpired in those countries (according to IAEA knowledge), but also possible reasons why those countries seek nuclear programs. His accounts also highlights how a lot of misinformation is released by the mainstream media either as a result of assumptions, preconceived ideas, or from outright misinformation disseminated directly from various governments. At times mere suspicions or speculations are passed on as facts without verification, i.e. Iraq’s WMD charges before the second Gulf War.
Acquisition of nuclear technology through the black market was also discussed in The Age of Deception. Apparently, like any other technology, particularly weapons for wars, there’s money to be made. It amazes me how such a dangerous and complicated technology can exist this way. Just goes to show that if there’s a will, there’s a way.
Overall, I give Mohamed Elbaradei’s book, The Age of Deception; Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times two thumbs up. I found that it helped to clear up some of the confusion or seeming conflicts regarding nuclear threats or perceived nuclear threats. At the very least it’s more/additional information (and different perspective) than what we normally get through the mainstream media on the nuclear proliferation issue.
Marlakins
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08.13.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia, family stuff at 2:10 am by Administrator
Brian, Matthew, and Aaron have arrived home safely yesterday. So now, Mom, Andrew, and I are left here in the Philippines. Still have a few more loose ends to tie before we head back home in a couple more weeks. But now that it’s gotten a little quieter here, I’ve had a chance to read one of the books I purchased here last February. Actually it’s a book I found in the “juvenile” section in a book store I visited here in the Philippines. Now that I’m reading it, it’s turning out to be quite interesting and right up my alley of study. It’s called, Living with the Enemy, A Diary of the Japanese Occupation. The book is basically the diary of Pacita Pestano-Jacinto. It’s compared to the Diary of Anne Frank, only this woman was older (in her 20’s) and newly married and pregnant. I’m finding her insights quite interesting, and it’s also bringing up more topics or points of interest that I want to research more. Such as the allied prison camps in Capas and San Fernando. Last week we took a trip up to the rice terraces. On the way there we passed Cabanatuan City (where the famous allied prison camp was located in The Great Raid or the prison featured in Hampton Sides’ Ghost Soldiers). I wasn’t aware of the prisons in Capas and San Fernando, although we did pass through both places on our way back down to Manila. During our trip through Banaue and Sagada, I was surprised to learn that fighting had reached all the way up to the rice terraces. . . So, now I must add General Yamashita to my list of things to research. Supposedly he was famous for fighting in that region. We’ll see. . .
So in the meantime, I thought I might add one of the day entries of the book I’m reading. I would add August 13 (since that’s today), but there is not an Aug 13 entry, only Aug 12 and then Aug 23. So, here’s her entry for August 12, 1942.
“August 12
Oscar’s best friend, Hans Menzi, has been picked up and thrown into Fort Santiago. He is Swiss but has Filipino citizenship. his mother says that the charge is guerrilla activities. It does not seem possible but Oscar is afraid there might be some truth to it. He grew up here and has often said that he loves the Philippines even better than he does Switzerland.
The night of my baby’s christening party, he was so full of laughter. He stood godfather to my child. A shiver runs up my spine when I think of what he may be going through. I keep on thinking of how doubly cruel the Japanese can be to a white man.”
Fort Santiago is a prison fort that was used by the Spanish, then by the Japanese during WWII. It is located in Intramuros here in Manila. It is now open for tourists. I’ve blogged about it before on my past visits here. To see some pictures I took there just click here and scroll down to about the 4th picture and following.
Toodles until next time!
Marlakins
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07.14.11
Posted in Book Reviews at 12:52 pm by Administrator
For anyone interested in WWII history, I recommend George Weller’s First Into Nagasaki. The book was edited by Weller’s son, Anthony Weller, who also added an essay at the end and a recommended reading section. I found the book fascinating not only for the content (the book was compiled of writings by George Weller regarding his first U.S. eyewitness accounts of the aftermath of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki as well as accounts of being the first outsider to open up the allied POW camps in Nagasaki), but also that these writings were censored by the U.S. military. As a result, much of these writings never made it to the public awareness until recently, about 60 years “after” the dropping of the bomb. As Weller explained, “timing is crucial in censorship.” Wait long enough and even when the information eventually comes out, the thunder is gone. We see the same thing happening today. More news-worthy topics are hidden behind petty news, and when the report finally makes the light of day, hardly anyone cares anymore.
First Into Nagasaki is a compilation of George Weller’s writings back in 1945 about what he saw in Nagasaki approximately a month after the atomic bomb was dropped there. He wrote about the destruction to the city and landscape, what he saw in the hospitals, and interviewed the POWs regarding their reactions to the atomic bomb and their ill treatment at the hands of the Japanese military. Also included is Scotty’s Diary on Wake Island, which chronicled the events after the Japanese took Wake in 1941, and a very detailed description of events on the Oryuko Maru, one of the notorious “hellships” that sailed from Manila to Kyshu. The many hellships was another of many topics that have been censored and rarely discussed. There were about 200 such ships that traveled from the Philippines to Japan that carried U.S. and allied prisoners as well as other Asians to work as slaves. Conditions were atrocious, and many, many people died from the ordeal from disease, starvation, beatings, stabbings, gunshots, suffocation, and allied bombings. The featured ship in Weller’s account, the Oryuko Maru, carried not only Japanese military and Japanese civilians, but also about 1,600 U.S. POWs. The trip took about 17 days and by the time they reached Japan, only about 300 POWs survived. The experience was horrific. Why this information was censored is a curiosity for me, and I can only speculate as did the author of why that would be.
My personal feeling is that if more people experienced the horrors of wars or could get detailed glimpses into the atrocities of wars, there would be a lot less wars and less war chest thumping. And that is why so much of war details are censored–to control public criticism. If more people knew the horrors, there would be more outcry against wars. At least that would seem reasonable, but who says all people are reasonable? Sigh.
When I was younger, I used to think that the U.S. had free press and was proud of our freedom of speech. It was only other countries, I thought, run by dictators and communists that censored their press and curtailed public opinion. But alas we do it here, too. It’s just done more craftily. I’m not saying that I envy dictatorships or communists! America is generally a very pleasant place to live! But at what expense? And besides, that’s another topic. . .
Anyway, two thumbs up for First Into Nagasaki by George Weller, and the essay by Anthony Weller. Not only is it a good collection of historical on-the-ground journalism, it’s also a good commentary on censorship in the U.S.A. It seems all countries practice censorship. The book I’m reading now is called, The Nanjing Massacre by Honda Katsuichi. It’s an in depth look at the atrocities committed in China by the Japanese during WWII. It’s another controversial book in that much of the information had been censored in Japan as well. Many Japanese civilians had no idea what their military was doing abroad. For many years, those things have been kept away from their population, and today there is still contention between the Chinese and the Japanese regarding the issue. When I was in high school there were a lot of Chinese and Japanese students in my school. I didn’t know why, but the Chinese and the Japanese students did not get along. From learning about their histories, I can see why. Even though censorship is strong in governments, we are fortunate that there have been brave people who have cared for the truth enough to come forward with it. Their honesty can give humanity hope because in revealing the truth, evil can be kept in check. Censorship helps guilty parties avoid accountability and makes innocent, unwitting people easily manipulated.
Marlakins
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07.11.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia, History, quotes at 10:18 am by Administrator
A friend of mine told me recently (after learning I was reading a book on the bombing of Nagasaki), that I should read about current events. Actually, I do read about current events, but I find that learning about past events helps me to understand current events better.
Another brief conversation I had with a friend was about “historical revisionists,” and how they try to “change” history. Granted, I do realize that there are those who try to re-write inaccuracies into history, but the fact is that because of so many “classified documents” and other eyewitness accounts that were not previously considered when writing “history,” there is a legitimate place and role for bonafide revisionists. Also, as time passes, more information is revealed from different angles. That information helps give a more complete picture of the situation at the time and helps to determine why certain decisions were made or to question whether certain decisions were wrong or not. To ignore other sources would be like trying to judge a court case using only one side of the argument.
I know of people who only read certain publications because they don’t trust other publications. But if one only limits themselves to certain publications, then they increase their chances that they don’t get the whole picture and thus form their opinions based on faulty or less informed information. My approach to that would be to read or watch those publications “knowing” that their information is questionable, but at least hearing them out so that I would at least understand the opposing viewpoint. As Admiral Rickover once said, “Open discussions and disagreements must be encouraged, so that all sides of an issue are fully explored.” So long as we go into a discussion humbly and not take differences personally, we can all learn something when we try to listen to the other side of an argument. If it doesn’t change one’s mind, then it can strengthen one’s already preconceived ideas. I think the Bible encourages knowledge and wisdom while discouraging baseless arguments. There is a big difference between discussions to learn the truth, and heated arguments to be divisive. Like the Bereans in the New Testament, I think we should search to learn if things are so. That was considered a good thing. Why live a life based on lies and false information?
Well, now I think I’ve meandered enough! Originally, I was going to write about the book I’m currently reading, First Into Nagasaki. I’m almost at the end. I’m reading the last portion of the book written by Weller’s son wherein he describes the backdrop to his father’s writings. One of the main highlights is how censored our news is and how skewing facts and history has been a common practice throughout history. As I remember hearing in high school, “history is written by the victors of wars” so we usually only read one side of the story. From my readings it seems that people are pretty much the same all over the world. We just view others as lower or enemies because of our ignorance of each other. And with our ignorance we are less compassionate.
But to get back to my thoughts while reading First Into Nagasaki is how controlled our media is today. We have three or four wars we currently know about today, but I’m sure there’s so much that we aren’t being told or are not even allowed to know. George Weller wrote,
“A censorship is supposed to keep political criticism under control.”
Weller’s son wrote that “every war correspondent has been censored.”
For what reason? I’m sure there are several reasons, but one reason can be understood through a letter sent to George Weller from one of General MacArthur’s censors,
“We believe that a correspondent has a certain duty towards the Commander of the Forces whom he represents, and it is the Commander-in-Chief’s desire that nothing of a political nature be released as coming from his staff of correspondents, and nothing that may be in any way criticizing the efforts of any Commander of any of the Allied nations.”
Weller went on the write, “What the United States badly needs is a long cold bath of reality.”
If “control of public opinion” is what the game is all about, we will never get that dose of reality. And our history books will be more political propaganda books, than real history books. The sooner we understand that, the more we can understand.
Marlakins
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06.26.11
Posted in Anything goes, Book Reviews, Hmmm Moments, humor at 12:10 am by Administrator
Last week I was driving along when I found myself behind this vehicle . .
I couldn’t help but notice something unusual mounted on the back spare tire. Here’s a closer shot. . .
Yikes! That was not a picture! It was a taxidermed head of what, I’m not sure. This is the first time I’ve seen such a thing. Yes, I’ve seen taxidermed animals before, but not one mounted on a spare tire. Maybe because I live in the city, this is unusual to me, I don’t know. At first I thought it was a fox, but I think it’s illegal to hunt those, so I think this is a dog? I didn’t grow up doing or seeing this kind of thing, so it’s a bit weird to me, and thus why I had to take a picture of it.
Okay, so I didn’t see anything else unusual that day. We just went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and did a little shopping. I’m still working on another one of my cross stitch projects and reading some of the library books I checked out. I’ve slowed down on the Hiroshima in America book because I ran into the portion where the author seems to be psychoanalyzing Truman to determine what his thought process was in deciding to go ahead and use the atomic bomb on Japan. Personally, it’s easier for me to just read the known facts and perhaps even use those facts to try to speculate why something was done but, I have a hard time psychoanalyzing people. I would make a terrible shrink! So instead I have been spending more time reading Weller’s writings from First Into Nagasaki. Included in the book is part of a daily diary written by a U.S. Marine who, along with a friend, managed to hide out on Wake Island after the Japanese took control of it.
Wake Island is very small, and there were about 3,000 Japanese troops occupying the island during the writing of Scotty’s diary (one of the two Marines, the other being Stevens). That made it tricky for those two Americans to evade capture, but they managed to hide out for about three months before turning themselves in. While they hid, Scotty wrote a daily diary. I found it quite interesting because it explained how the two men managed to hide and find food while the Japanese troops were literally all around them, almost stepping on them at times! They basically laid down all day long, then scrounged for food late at night and buried the cans (when the Japanese bombed Wake Island, the military rations got strewn all over the place). Luckily for them they had plenty of food that way, although he did complain that they were lacking starch, which he believed added to his weakness. Of course everything was canned, too, so I bet that didn’t help, either. One thing I couldn’t help noticing was at even amongst the danger and fear, these guys still managed to have a sense of humor. I found that while reading other books of POW accounts. Here’s one daily entry that I found humorous.
“Feb 4
Fred has a hunch help is coming soon–first time he has been optimistic about it. With planes up all morning half the day is licked, which is something to us as we are living from hour to hour now. Little lizards crawl over us catching flies. They are so tame now we have to brush them off while writing. Their heads and bodies are just 2 in. long and tails about 3 in., dark brown with three gold stripes from end to end of body. There are six on me as I write and I love them. One has a purple tail and one little fellow is speckled an has not stripes–I guess he’s just a private.”
Tee hee! Funny.
So I’m about 3/4ths of the way through the book and have just started the section regarding the “Hellships.” I had read a little about that from other sources, so I’m interested to learn what else others reported.
Okay, so other than that I’ve just been doing the regular family stuffs. I’ve been a bit disappointed with how the media has forgotten all about the Fukushima disaster and hasn’t updated much on the condition of the Nebraska nuclear plants, either. It has forced me to scour the internet for any info on those plants, which seems like such a shame. Normal citizens are doing the work that paid journalists should be doing. I saw “nothing” in our TV networks regarding the nuclear protests in Japan. It was only through the internet and home videos that I saw anything about those protests. At least Italy and Germany have come to their senses and are making the effort to go nuclear-free. The U.S., on the other hand, acts like nothing is wrong. Where are all the “environmentalists?” They seem very silent on this issue. . .
Marlakins
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