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Richard Littlejohn

Why Liam? I think if you've lived through atrocities perpetrated by soldiers of another country then you've got every right to feel aggrieved and I fully understand the viewpoint Littlejohn is putting across here. Maybe you're too young to fully appreciate it, but being of the generation where our fathers/grandfathers served in the 2nd World War, I can assure you that what he's saying is not going to be a rare opinion.

Humanity and humility several generations on is a lot easier than if it's been first hand.
 
Fair play for many of the comments slacking off this waste of space and an insult to the few remaining decent journalists (is now hoping Kelvin Mckenzie is seized upon by the Black one legged benefit living lesbian he fears so much)
 
I'm pretty sure that if I phoned up my Grandad (a Japanese POW too) he'd be disgusted by the Littlejohn article too. I agree with Warchest, Littlejohn is a ****
 
Why Liam? I think if you've lived through atrocities perpetrated by soldiers of another country then you've got every right to feel aggrieved and I fully understand the viewpoint Littlejohn is putting across here. Maybe you're too young to fully appreciate it, but being of the generation where our fathers/grandfathers served in the 2nd World War, I can assure you that what he's saying is not going to be a rare opinion.

Humanity and humility several generations on is a lot easier than if it's been first hand.

Which is odd, because the relatives I spoke to at the weekend who experienced the second world war were very quick to outpour their sympathies for those effected by the earthquake and tsunami. The actions of the fathers and grandfathers of these people doesn't exclude them from sympathy at a time like this... If the same tragedy was to befall Germany tomorrow morning, would you begrudge them sympathy because of what Naziism caused?

It's a deplorable article written intentionally to spark controversy, as Littlejohn is nothing more than an attention whore these days.
 
I'm obviously missing the point here then............

I agree there are far too many "minutes silences" at football matches and I also agree with the thought that former POWs are somehow wrong in not wanting to join in the show of grief over the natural disasters that have affected Japan. Is this my latent right wing tendencies showing?
 
Have to agree with the lefties here... Respect should be given, even for germany and the argies
 
Have to agree with the lefties here... Respect should be given, even for germany and the argies
But why for Japan and not for New Zealand? I think that's the crux of it here, is it just the size of the tragedy or is it something else? It is inbred in us these days to let our feelings show - to weep, to wail, to wring our hands and then dig deep to come up with the funds to right wrongs and yet I can certainly understand that there will be those who refuse to join in. Who on here has actively given money to any appeal for the Japanese victims or is it just felt that the Government's funding is sufficient? Of course I think it's a terrible thing to have happened, and I feel very sorry for the thousands of people affected but I am just saying that I can understand that there will be those whose lives have been blighted in the name of that country who may (and evidently do) feel diffferently.
 
But why for Japan and not for New Zealand? I think that's the crux of it here, is it just the size of the tragedy or is it something else? It is inbred in us these days to let our feelings show - to weep, to wail, to wring our hands and then dig deep to come up with the funds to right wrongs and yet I can certainly understand that there will be those who refuse to join in. Who on here has actively given money to any appeal for the Japanese victims or is it just felt that the Government's funding is sufficient? Of course I think it's a terrible thing to have happened, and I feel very sorry for the thousands of people affected but I am just saying that I can understand that there will be those whose lives have been blighted in the name of that country who may (and evidently do) feel diffferently.

The latest death toll for the New Zealand earthquake stood at 182.

The latest death toll for the Japanese earthquake stood in excess of 9,000, with another 20,000 missing. That's not to mention the widespread damage and the fact that whole towns and prefectures have been literally wiped off the map.

You simply cannot compared the two tragedies, they're light years apart.

And, yes, I donated money to the Red Cross.
 
The latest death toll for the New Zealand earthquake stood at 182.

The latest death toll for the Japanese earthquake stood in excess of 9,000, with another 20,000 missing. That's not to mention the widespread damage and the fact that whole towns and prefectures have been literally wiped off the map.

You simply cannot compared the two tragedies, they're light years apart.

And, yes, I donated money to the Red Cross.
Good for you, and yes, that's sarcastic. For such a leading country, situated as it is on such a major fault in the earth's crust, personally I would have expected better warning systems and certainly better vision than to have built nuclear reactors facing out in the direction that a tsunami would likely come. Now, I'm no mathematician, but maybe someone could work out what 182 is as a percentage of the population of 4,296,756 of New Zealand compared to the 29,000 (theoretical) as a percentage of the population of 127,176,667 of Japan? In human terms I doubt it is as significantly different as you believe.
 
The latest death toll for the New Zealand earthquake stood at 182.

The latest death toll for the Japanese earthquake stood in excess of 9,000, with another 20,000 missing. That's not to mention the widespread damage and the fact that whole towns and prefectures have been literally wiped off the map.

You simply cannot compared the two tragedies, they're light years apart.

And, yes, I donated money to the Red Cross.

In terms of casualties yes, but they are comparable tragedies, and bear in mind this was the second large quake to hit Christchurch inside 3 months.

Back to the point, I'd point people in the direction of The Naked Island by Russell Braddon, The Miracle on the Kwai by Ernest Gordon and The Railwayman by Eric Lomax. These men suffered almost indescribable cruelty at the hands of the Japanese (and Koreans for that matter). For every sleeper on the Burma/Thailand railway you can count a British or Anzac life.

My Dad, and many of my relatives (plus a few million others) fought in Europe, at sea and in the Far East, and talking to them they are certainly more forgiving of Germany than they are of Japan. POW's weren't treated well by the Germans or Italians for that matter, but they weren't driven to slave labour in alien weather conditions to the European on minimal rations. If it were me and I lived through this and survived I wouldn't forget and I doubt very much if I could find Christian forgiveness to forgive.

However what happened 70 years ago has no bearing on the tragedy that has overtaken Japan recently. Aside from which I've worked closely with Japanese companies over the last 20 years and I've gained a great deal of respect for them in that time.
 
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Good for you, and yes, that's sarcastic. For such a leading country, situated as it is on such a major fault in the earth's crust, personally I would have expected better warning systems and certainly better vision than to have built nuclear reactors facing out in the direction that a tsunami would likely come. Now, I'm no mathematician, but maybe someone could work out what 182 is as a percentage of the population of 4,296,756 of New Zealand compared to the 29,000 (theoretical) as a percentage of the population of 127,176,667 of Japan? In human terms I doubt it is as significantly different as you believe.
For impact on their nation your logic is correct - however as outsiders, the percentage should be vs world population.
 
Good for you, and yes, that's sarcastic. For such a leading country, situated as it is on such a major fault in the earth's crust, personally I would have expected better warning systems and certainly better vision than to have built nuclear reactors facing out in the direction that a tsunami would likely come. Now, I'm no mathematician, but maybe someone could work out what 182 is as a percentage of the population of 4,296,756 of New Zealand compared to the 29,000 (theoretical) as a percentage of the population of 127,176,667 of Japan? In human terms I doubt it is as significantly different as you believe.

So, by your logic, a death in a family of 10 isn't as important in one of 4? I didn't realise the importance of human life was only as a percentage, gauged from how many other humans there are. Silly me.
 
Why Liam? I think if you've lived through atrocities perpetrated by soldiers of another country then you've got every right to feel aggrieved and I fully understand the viewpoint Littlejohn is putting across here. Maybe you're too young to fully appreciate it, but being of the generation where our fathers/grandfathers served in the 2nd World War, I can assure you that what he's saying is not going to be a rare opinion.

Humanity and humility several generations on is a lot easier than if it's been first hand.

However that means hatred is feastered over many generations , even to those who neitehr share the generation or in some cases the culture of a the previous generation (the people of Japan 1920's lived by Empirical doctrine and a warped version of Bushido (which is based on Buddhist teachings ). And they havnt had their isolation policey for many many generations now.
 
Good for you, and yes, that's sarcastic. For such a leading country, situated as it is on such a major fault in the earth's crust, personally I would have expected better warning systems and certainly better vision than to have built nuclear reactors facing out in the direction that a tsunami would likely come. Now, I'm no mathematician, but maybe someone could work out what 182 is as a percentage of the population of 4,296,756 of New Zealand compared to the 29,000 (theoretical) as a percentage of the population of 127,176,667 of Japan? In human terms I doubt it is as significantly different as you believe.


The region has teh best warning system you can get . WE have a warning system that will tell us when our Sun goes Super nova (hopefully not for billions of years ) theres sod all we can do about it , gosh wernt we daft living in a solar systems where a star might explode one day.
 
For impact on their nation your logic is correct - however as outsiders, the percentage should be vs world population.

true but I think OBL weights her impact factor by the Englishness of the victim. So nice little hobbity New Zealanders mean a very bad tragedy compared to those nasty yellow Japs
 
I'm obviously missing the point here then............

I agree there are far too many "minutes silences" at football matches and I also agree with the thought that former POWs are somehow wrong in not wanting to join in the show of grief over the natural disasters that have affected Japan. Is this my latent right wing tendencies showing?

Definitely!
 
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