X-Message-Number: 16675
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 07:38:34 -0500
From: "www.IGGY.net - KC Homes" <>
Subject: Only Tanya is Left - Historic Inaccurasies
References: <>

> Presumably, the writer is referring to the Aztec civilization.
> As ritual torture and human sacrifice were an integral component
> of Aztec religion, and practiced on a truly massive scale, the
> Spanish, for all their brutality as seen from our perspective,
> didn't arrive a moment too soon.  Essentially, Cortez fought a
> war of liberation, freeing a large number of other groups from
> Aztec oppression---that's why they flocked to his banner.  (Of
> course, as with all wars of liberation, the native peoples thus
> "liberated" soon found they had a new master almost as bad as
> the old, and infinitely more powerful.)

 >Don't forget that Japanese Americans were put in the concentration
> >camps in the USA during WWII, while their sons were fighting
> >Japan and Hitler.  Isn't this a paradox?
>
> It was absolutely necessary!  Military authorities estimated
> that perhaps as much as five percent of the Japanese-American
> population would have welcomed a Japanese invasion of the
> west coast.  Ever heard of the "Black Dragon"?  Uh, these are
> extremely politically incorrect subjects, but the Black Dragon
> was a group of Japanese-Americans ready to commit sabotage if
> a Japanese invasion materialized.
> > Yes, that's the best attitude!  It's completely pointless to
> label large historical groups as "stupid".  It's much more
> productive to try to understand WHY they did what they did.
>
> (Quiz for the curious:  In what city did more people die during
> a conflict than any other city in history, and by a factor of
> about five or ten?   Hint: "Only Tanya is left.")
>
> Lee Corbin

Lee:

Thanks for your corrections about Aztecs and insights into American
involvement into WWII. You are right about Aztecs, as far as US bombing of
Japan I am not sure about factual data (e.g. ##s of American lives saved by
A-bombs). No matter what the math is - "collateral damage" is unacceptable
by whatever ratio of civilians to military in my opinion. But again, this is
what thinking about WHY this happened, that's important - we can agree to
disagree and that's the beauty of it. Russians, British, and Americans
bombed Germany and occupied Europe very heavily, however I don't believe
there was rational calculations to "killing civilians" over "hitting
military targets." Japan is somewhat a different story - civilians were
targeted, not armories, tanks, or vessels. This is a thing to ponder over.
II am sure that this idea was ripe for its time - again, one of the
paradoxes.

As far as your comment that the Japanese Americans had to be put into
detention camps and it was absolutely necessary, why not take it further,
why weren't German Americans (1st and 2nd generation) put into camps? I
don't know too much about that side of the US history and just will leave it
to further research and scholarly speculation.

As far as your "quiz" on "Only Tanya is left" - perhaps, it is the siege of
Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the Soviet Union that you are referring
too. My Russian aunt Zina (now deceased) was in the Civil Defense Brigade
during the siege and WWII. Food supplies were shut off by the Germans to
Leningrad and the only route to the city was through the lake adjacent to
it. Starvation set in, people were dying off like flies in the severest
winter ever, dropping dead on the streets, hauled off on sleds as firewood,
placed in piles at warehouses... Rats were the delicacies, while a potato
considered the modern equivalent of a buffet meal.

Again, thanks for your clarifications. One thing that you and I agree is
that history cannot be judged, it can only be learnt from.

Sincerely,

IGGY Dybal

Broker Associate
RE/MAX Best Associates
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