Japan was certainly not the first to commit this type of atrocity.

Is he any different, I wonder, from the millions of Americans who think we have never committed atrocities? The old 'my country, right or wrong and we are never wrong' meme.

I am not defending his crap, but I wish we would be as honest about our own activities. It might wake up the dead heads who think the military is just wonderful.

...indicting any involved in the loathsome activity of sexual slavery and human trafficking. I don't blame the Mayor for those events. I'm sure he wasn't even around at the time. What, IMHO, is loathsome today is saying:

He was simply stupid enough to say it in public, for public record.

No one is denying it is loathsome behavior and loathsome to try to justify it. OTOH...I wonder how many women would have preferred sexual slavery to being raped, literally to death, as happened in Nanking? Or in the Ukraine. Or in Germany, when the Russians retaliated in kind.

Years ago I read a line that went something like this: War is declared by old men, to be fought by young men against women and children. There is so much truth to that statement it is sickening.

...he was stupid enough to say what he said because he believed it.

It was only my point that these beliefs are alive today. There are folks who believe this stuff, who will try to justify it. Responsibility is that guiding principle that doesn't accept such behavior nor any attempt to justify it. I've been wrong many times in my life. I'm glad to say not about anything like running a slave brothel but I've been wrong. Something I've learned is that the correct action to respond with is to simply apologize and admit your mistake. Explanations, excuses and sharing the blame do nothing for the injured parties and only make one look a bit more sleazy.

My wife is Armenian. She's recounted stories told by her great aunt who was there in April of 1915.

I don't think anyone needs to face the choice of slavery, sexual or otherwise, or being raped to death. I'm personally sick of those who engage in running a slave brothel or genocide or anything in between getting sentenced to terms like tens years in prison.

all over the world they are the same.

I agree that it is sickening...my grandmother had horror stories from WW I... my mother was the result.

While I appreciate your outrage, and agree that such choices are despicable...we have not yet learned how to end all wars...and these things will remain the reality until we do.

One of the best examples of irony IMHO is that a good reason not to vote for a candidate is his/her being a politician but then...

Wars will remain, and sadly it's usually not the Captain's lips that lay pale and still. Evil finds ways to start wars and, once started, evil will always find a way to make the suffering worse or more widespread. Evil finds a way to spread evil whenever "good men do nothing." The Khmer Rouge, the Ottomans, the RUF... some use wars as an excuse and others need no excuse, genocide is just a decision for them. Nothing unites like uniting against a common enemy.

In 1996 Gregory Stanton, the president of Genocide Watch, presented a briefing paper called "The 8 Stages of Genocide" at the United States Department of State.

http://www.genocidewatch.org/images/8StagesBriefingpaper.pdf

Stage 8 = Denial:

Humanity needs an alien race to swoop in & threaten our existence. Then maybe we'd get along?

...CALL THE MEN IN BLACK!

Not even a little bit. He's just trying to share the blame. He's correct in the the childish "everybody else did it too" but Japan specifically and systematically slaved women as part of thier warrior culture. If I recall correctly the mllitary took over the Japenese government in a type of coup, and though they were superlative warriors, they were also entitled asshats. (The military, not the Japense people) With an interesting system of hierarchy.

It's like "sharing" AIDS.

Or just fiction, or non-fiction about war, you're going to find this behavior. There are a few select passages in the bible about it, and we won't talk about what happened to the women of the Iliad.


Historically it hasn't been in our social conscience to question it. The fact that we are now, is a very good sign.

A "good" sign in that it's a sign of improvement not necessarily acceptability.

BTW, here's a pdf I found:
http://www.genocidewatch.org/images/8StagesBriefingpaper.pdf

Thank you for the link

Several years ago I attended a nursing conference and one of the presentations was using nursing process not only to detect areas of high potential for genocide, but to help prevent it through early intervention. It was a fascinating lecture.

...I can't help but think there is a component to some anger based violence that could be detected and its impact attenuated with the proper type of intervention.