Sunday, September 04, 2005
Dispensing With the American Imperailism Canard Through the Words of a Vanquished Enemy
Japanese diplomat Toshikazu Kase, in his 1945 report to Emperor Hirohito on the ceremony aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) marking the surrender of Japan, and the end of the Second World War, wondered "whether it would have been possible for us, had we been victorious, to embrace the vanquished with similar magnanimity [as the U.S. embraced the Japanese]. Clearly, it would have been different." He contnues, " After all, we were not beaten by dint of superior arms. We were defeated in the spiritual contest by virtue of a nobler idea. The real issue was moral--beyond all the powers of algebra to compute." (Taken from William Manchester's "American Ceasar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964" pg. 534)
I find it striking that many Americans, especially those who fly under the banner of "America First", who wail about the myth of "American Imperialism" fail to see what was so clear to a diplomat of a defeated nation that was one of the most bitter enemies America has ever faced.
I find it striking that many Americans, especially those who fly under the banner of "America First", who wail about the myth of "American Imperialism" fail to see what was so clear to a diplomat of a defeated nation that was one of the most bitter enemies America has ever faced.
