Historical Guilt

My wife works in a German grammar school in Yokohama, Japan. There are a lot of German companies in Japan and their German workers need a school to send their kids to.

I taught there in our first year 2016 to 2017, and one day in a Lower School staff meeting the question of kids' bad behaviour came up and I asked what the disciplinary system was, which punishments were applied. There was a stunned silence and then the Head of School said: "We don't use the word 'punishment': we say 'disciplinary measures.'"

Seeing I was a bit surprised he added: "It's because of our history. The word is associated with the Nazis."

I didn't labour the point, but the thing is, NOBODY ALIVE is responsible for what the Nazis did. ALL the guilty (save possibly one or two prison guards over 100 years old) are long dead. NO GERMAN alive is responsible, and so should not FEEL responsible. The Japanese military was guilty of absolutely appalling crimes against humanity in China and WWII, but the Japanese TODAY cannot be held responsible.

Same with the Turks who refuse to accept the Armenian genocide; they SHOULD admit it happened because that is the TRUTH. It DID happen, but "Turkey" is not a sentient entity and cannot be held responsible for what Turks long dead did a hundred years ago. What IS reprehensible is to deny it happened (ANY denial of the Truth is reprehensible), but admitting it happened CANNOT make living Turks guilty.

Likewise, I am not responsible in ANY WAY for slavery, and as I am not responsible I refuse to feel guilty. I cannot be guilty - and I refuse to be MADE to feel guilty - for something my predecessors did. People such as Diane Abbott and others, however, accuse me of being guilty JUST BECAUSE I AM WHITE. What irony! Those who complain about 'racism' are actually among the most racist.

"I refuse to feel guilty." There is a caveat. I am part of the Human Race and share DNA with everyone else. I have a collective guilt, but not a personal one. If aliens landed and said: "We are going to exterminate your species because it is hideously murderous and guilty." I would be hard pressed to disagree with their arguments - but that still does not mean that Germans alive today are responsible for Auschwitz.

Finally - once again being logical - if people alive today are not guilty of crime X then why should they pay reparations? If the argument is once accepted that WE today should pay for crimes committed by our ancestors, then WHERE DOES THAT STOP? The Italians (for the Romans) would have a hefty bill, not to mention Scandinavia (the Vikings), the French (the Normans and Napoleon) and all the rest.

No, what is essential is to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again and that today all humans are treated equally and fairly (and THAT can never happen until DEMOCRACY RULES). And of course, MOST of the unfairness - and worse - takes place in other places than the UK - and since "No man is an island" what is happening to someone in a foreign prison concerns me - so I would protest outside Chinese, Iranian, North Korean and Cuban Embassies, not spend time ranting at contemporary Brits.