Hi Erick,
Thanks for the clarification. I think we concur on many points:
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Erick Mead wrote:
I think he does a creditable job of not editorializing.
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I agree. In fact, I view his efforts at non-editorialization valiant in comparison to his predecessors.
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Erick Mead wrote:
My criticisms are directed to those who take the information too far beyond its first order inferences.
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Absolutely. I'm reminded of the implication presented as fact line of questioning that was routine in the television series 'In Search Of.' "Could it be that the enlightenment experiences spoken of by Ueshiba were in fact messages from extra terrestrials?"
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Erick Mead wrote:
Because there are countervailing facts of association with different people of far different interests that rebut what I see as a drumbeat but superficial accusation (by others) of hypocrisy in the moral issues, from the mere fact of nationalist associations and military adventurism.
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Perhaps if you presented the "countervailing facts of association" it would prompt a more coherent dialog that would be even more revealing. In other words, how about a factual "tit for tat" presented in juxtaposition? That would be really cool AND I think Peter has already asked for that kind of feedback!
Nationalist Associations are one thing. Virtually all Japanese citizens alive at the time of WWII (and some not alive - thinking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) were pronounced "guilty by association" with their ruling government and paid dearly for it courtesy of the U.S.A. {This to my mind has profound implications for those of us that have the luxury of electing our National leadership.] Meetings taking place on one's property, repeated and prolonged association with key figures in several active groups and direct implication in an assassin's memoirs are an entirely different matter. Still, I'm unaware of Ueshiba Morihei being convicted of war crimes.
Military Adventurism is such a strange and seemingly innocuous term isn't it? I can't quite make sense of it. I envision scenes from Apocalypse Now with the theme from Dukes of Hazard playing in the background.
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Erick Mead wrote:
The world is rarely so simple. Warfare, specifically, is not so simple. Japan is NEVER simple, peace or war.
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Once again, I agree completely. The world is complex, humanity is complex,war is complex, cultures are complex, people are complex, individuals are complex. Brilliant people have spent their lives trying to figure them out and brilliant people are still scratching their heads.
Allen
(I scratch my head too . . . but I'm not brilliant . . . my head just itches.)