Something Ryan said...

"History's defining moments"... that is what Ryan said I question on mere technicalities and cause people to pull out hair.

I still define history as an exact science. When I say that the Declaration of Independence was signed and accepted on July 4th, 1776... it is an exact fact, not something to be debated. As exact as the mathematical fact that two plus two equals four, or the astronomical fact that the earth's rotation around the sun causes our ability to see the sun to begin on the eastern horizon (meaning the sun will rise in the east).

Just because history is an exact science doesn't mean our understanding of history is exact, or that the exact facts of history are universally applicable to all people. "Defining moments" in history are relative to the society, nation... hell, sometimes to the individual himself. Certainly a defining moment in Ryan's life was the birth of his sons, but much of the rest of the world isn't going to feel the same way, are they?

If the trials at Nuremberg were, in fact, a defining moment in the history of the West, or even in the history of the US alone, why aren't the Tokyo trials accorded the same status in our (meaning as individual an opinion as those found here at the Bund) history books? If we take into account ALL the trials held by nations attacked or impacted by war with Japan, then we see more than 5,700 trials ending with the imprisonment, death or detention of more than 5,000 Japanese officials and officers for any one of three criminal indictments, ranging from crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes.

China held 13 tribunals, Korea had another two. Are these "defining moments" in history, or are they simply sidebars in the greater history of American interests towards justice? Why is it that when we discuss addressing "crimes against humanity" we automatically think of Nuremberg, but almost never consider Tokyo? Is it because the Nazis were worse than the Japanese? Were the Jews of Europe more valuable than the women and children of Nanking?

Of course, I'm NOT suggesting Ryan feels any of my questions are true... I'm being dramatic to make a point: history is an exact science that is relative to those that understand it. No one in the UK is going to have the same feelings about the Fourth of July as their American cousins, right? Even though the "defining" nature of the event is universal and undeniable... it is less than important to someone from outside the US.

Perhaps I was suggesting that an idealistic view of American participation in the Nuremberg Trials stemmed more from an over-developed sense of justice than of actual historical fact, but that is not always a bad thing, and something I am very prone to myself. Immediately discounting my "technicalities", though, as something brought up for no other reason than to cause my Bund Brothers hairline distress seems a bit unfair, too.