I’m kicking myself: I read a brilliant review of Clint
Eastwood’s movie Letters from Iwo Jima, but
I threw out the magazine. A fantastic spectacle
of a movie, a wonderful cinematic experience, breathtaking action scenes, and
insightful and detailed historical research. Yet…. The writer, an ex-Marine, incisively
expressed that the movie blurred the lines between the good guys and bad guys and
cheapened the sacrifice of American lives. I agree. Eastwood successfully portrayed
the Japanese soldiers as equally human, sacrificial, ordinary, and fallible as
American soldiers. And there it was! Just like that, Eastwood destroyed the ‘myth’
of the Japanese bad guy by making the Japanese soldier ‘just another guy’. In
the movie, there is not the slightest odor of wrongdoing on the part of the
Japanese.
Similarly, recent movies about Emperor Hirohito make him out
to be a caring leader, who tried his best to rein in the militarists in Japan,
but who could not quite pull it off because he was very limited in power.[1] Yet another
movie, released in December 2013, presented the plight of the kamikaze pilots
through their own eyes.[2]
This is postmodernism. There is no right or wrong. Just
perspective. We are all human. And all humans err. “Was Hitler and Nazi Germany
wrong?”, I asked a class one summer. No one replied. At last, a young woman
piped up, “Well, it’s hard to say. What would you do if you were in their
shoes?”
But postmodernism has been gobbled up in the last few years
by something more evil, virulent, and nasty. Times
have moved on, pluralism and postmodernism, although the birth
parents of the new monstrosity, have been surpassed by their offspring. Like the
evil rising from the pit, so this new movement is decidedly wicked, taking aim
at all things traditional, seeking to destroy, corrupt, and kill. It takes the
form of Antifa, the Deep State. It is embedded like tics in universities. It
swarms like hoards in campuses. Blood drips from its mouth. Pluralism’s
offspring has big sharp teeth and means to hurt and maim.
The new beast is in the spirit of Ouroboros, the ancient
symbol of a dragon eating its tail. Self-cannibalistic, the new movement eats
its own. Western nations are self-loathing, hating themselves. President Obama
trashed the United States. Disney regularly ridicules white males and white
fathers. Right now in Europe, nations are taking scissors and are cutting of parts
of their bodies piece by piece. You cannot criticize Islam, for it is a
religion of peace. You must support Islam. Meanwhile, Muslim immigrants plot,
and rape, and kill citizens. If you criticize Islam, you're put in jail. If you
preach an old-school Christian message, your fined or put in jail. Ironically, Pim
Fortuyn, an openly-gay Dutch politician, opposed the influx of Muslim
immigrants. He was assassinated by a Dutchman, who declared, “I shot Fortuyn
for Dutch Muslims”.[3]
The next generation of American movies has already moved on
to eat its own. The monster is already showing itself in war movies. America
was to blame for this or that war, or for this or that military action. I can’t
even be bothered citing the movies, there being so many of them.
Be strong, brother and sister. There is right and wrong. It
is not a question of perspective. The Japanese were evil. Soldiers who
worshiped the emperor, slaughtered innocent civilians, and treated prisoners
like animals for the slaughter. Yes, the Japanese emperor was severely limited
in his power. Yes, he did not ‘control’ the nation. Yes, he was overpowered by
militarists. And, yes, he was, like the British monarch, essentially a figurehead
of state. Nonetheless, HE declared war. HE supported the war. HE was worshiped
as a god. HE had some power and influence, occasionally using it. As emperor
and ‘god’, HE could have stood up a lot earlier against the continuation of the
war, but he did not. HE did nothing about Japanese atrocities. And even though
HE knew that Japan was entering into a war with America that was reckless, HE
did not oppose it. Contrast that to King Haakon VII of Norway, during WW2, who
stood against Nazi occupation, refusing to yield the government, and had to
flee for his life. God is more powerful than Satan. Ouroboros will be slain. Only,
let us fight a spiritual warfare: the word of God is our confidence, the Holy
Spirit our protector. By faith we will overcome!
[1] Emperor, with Tommy Lee Jones, and The Emperor in August, starring my favorite Japanese actor, Koji
Yakusho.
[2] The Eternal Zero, directed by Takashi Yamazaki.
[3] Andrew Osborn, “ 'I shot Fortuyn for
Dutch Muslims,' says accused," The
Guardian (March 27th, 2003), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/28/thefarright.politics,
accessed 3/8/2018.
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