16 November 2004
This is a little late in posting, but I think it's important.
Iris Chang found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound.
I remember when I first read The Rape of Nanking, I was positively horrified. I couldn't believe the Japanese government had done something like this, these brutal killings and rapes, without so much as a peep from anyone. I mean, I didn't even know about it until I read this book. For a long time, I hated the Japanese, and was depressed that I couldn't do anything about it.
Eventually I came to realize that countries commit these sorts of atrocities all the time, all over the world. As awful as what they did was, if I continued to hate the Japanese then I would have to hate every country. I still believe what they did was wrong. And I still believe that they need to own up to it (last I heard, there was no mention of it in Japanese textbooks).
It's easy to see why Ms. Chang killed herself if she immersed herself in this sort of gruesome history every day.
Iris Chang found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound.
I remember when I first read The Rape of Nanking, I was positively horrified. I couldn't believe the Japanese government had done something like this, these brutal killings and rapes, without so much as a peep from anyone. I mean, I didn't even know about it until I read this book. For a long time, I hated the Japanese, and was depressed that I couldn't do anything about it.
Eventually I came to realize that countries commit these sorts of atrocities all the time, all over the world. As awful as what they did was, if I continued to hate the Japanese then I would have to hate every country. I still believe what they did was wrong. And I still believe that they need to own up to it (last I heard, there was no mention of it in Japanese textbooks).
It's easy to see why Ms. Chang killed herself if she immersed herself in this sort of gruesome history every day.