The Manipulation of History Essay Example for Free

The Manipulation of History Essay By looking at the past we are presented with conditions of possibility which makes the past constitutive of the present. Such an act involves the individual’s consideration of culture’s role in the authentication of specific memories. Memories emerge spontaneously from people’s stories about their nations. Culture, on the other hand, chooses specific stories which it legitimizes with objectivity by attaching to it the term history. Story lines emerge continually from man’s consciousness however culture with its demands for social order and progress denounces the memories of common people and relegates the task of remembering to the institutions within the public sphere. Such an act leads to the repression and later on the elimination of the peoples desires to tell their own stories. Due to culture’s capability to make memories dissipate from people’s minds while reimbursing it with its own notions of truth, people tend to forget that the accounts of the events given to them may not necessarily be the truth rather they are just one of the several accounts of an event. This shows culture’s power to control the circulation and exchange of ideas society. Furthermore, this shows us that â€Å"truth is a thing of this world†¦produced by multiple forms of constraint and regular effects of power† (Schmidt and Warenberg 288). Historiography, in this sense, only presents us with events which are in accordance with the ideology of the group who is in power. Within this perspective it is interesting to consider how this is apparent in the works discussing a particular event in history. In line with this, this paper’s task is two-fold. First, it aims to present the different accounts regarding a particular historical event. Second, it aims to present an analysis of how these accounts provide an interpretation of an event which manifests the perspective of the individual who discusses the event.   For the sake of brevity, the focus of the paper will be on the Nanjing Massacre as it is presented and interpreted by Iris Chang in The Rape of Nanking and Honda Katsuichi in The Nanjing Massacre. The event known as the 1937-1938 Nanjing Massacre became one of the most reported events by both the Western and Chinese press during the war as it became a major case at the military tribunals in Tokyo and Nanjing after Japan’s surrender. At the end of both trials, the verdict for both the Tokyo trial and the Nanjing trial was the same. The tribunal led to the execution of five Japanese officers who were found guilty for either participating in the said massacre or failing to apprehend the said massacre. The difference between both trials merely lies in the death toll recorded in the former trial. The Tokyo trial of the Nanjing Massacre claims that the aforementioned verdict stands as a result of the occurrence of organized murder, random killings and rape, looting and destruction of the Japanese troops in Nanjing during a six week period on the Winter of 1937-1938 which led to the death of over 200,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war as well as the occurrence of 20,000 cases of rape (Pritchard and Zaide 49604-08). The Nanjing trial claims the same things however it states that as opposed to the 200,000 death toll specified in the Japan trial, the death toll reached 300,000 (Second 603-12). In the years that followed the Nanjing Massacre, the information specified on both trials became the springboard for the construction of accounts that presented claims and counter-claims regarding the Nanjing Massacre. Different accounts have circulated regarding the event wherein some accounts affirm the occurrence of the said event whereas others deny its occurrence. One of the most recognized accounts that affirm the occurrence of the Nanjing Massacre is Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanjing. Iris Chang (1997), an American journalist of Chinese ancestry, wrote the first non-fiction account in a Western language of the Nanjing Massacre in her book The Rape of Nanjing. Within the text, Chang claims that the Nanjing Massacre stands as the East’s equivalent of the West’s Holocaust of the Jews in Europe as both events represent the most heinous cases of violence in recorded history. Chang’s subtitle The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II emphasizes this claim in the aforementioned text. In the introduction of the text, she states, Just as Hitler’s Germany would do half a decade later, Japan used a highly developed military machine and a master-race mentality to set about establishing its right to rule its neighbors†¦marked by countless incidents of almost indescribable ruthlessness†¦ One event can be held up as an example of the unmitigated evil lying just below the surface of unbridled military adventurism, that moment is the Rape of Nanking. (Chang 3-4) As can be seen above, the beginning of Chang’s text may be seen to present the reader with a fixed moral judgment regarding the events that occurred in Nanjing. This moral judgment considers the event in Nanjing as an act of evil. It is important to note however that although, a moral judgment has already been specified in the initial part of the text, Chang clarifies in the later part of the book’s introduction that this judgment does not necessarily aim to establish â€Å"a quantitative record to qualify the event as one of the great evil deeds of history, but (it aims) to understand the event so that lessons can be learned and warnings sounded† (5). The lesson which Chang hopes to be learned from her work refers to the necessity to prevent a â€Å"deliberate attempt†¦to distort history† which she perceives to be evident in Japan’s refusal to recognize the Nanjing Massacre (13). In addition to this, Chang perceives her book as her â€Å"attempt to rescue (the) victims from the degradation by Japanese revisionists and to provide†¦ (her) own epitaph for the hundreds upon thousands of unmarked graves in Nanking† (220). As a text classified within the non-fiction genre, the significance of Chang’s work lies in its presentation of the events in Nanking through the accounts of those who experienced and survived the Nanjing Massacre. It is important to note that Chang was a granddaughter of one of those individuals who escaped Nanjing as Japanese soldiers arrived in the land. Chan’s family thereby stands as one of those who were directly affected by the war since it has forced them not only to leave their homeland but to create new roots in the United States. Within this context, one may argue that Chang’s interpretation of the event may be seen as a result of her attempt not only to remind individuals of the effects of instances wherein they are freed from moral restraints but also as her attempt to recapture her roots and her history. It within this context, that one may understand Chang’s comparison of the Nanjing Massacre to the Holocaust of the Jews. Chang’s comparison of the Nanjing Massacre to the Holocaust of the Jews may seem farfetched since the death toll as well as the duration of the Nanjing Massacre is miniscule in comparison to that of the Holocaust however the comparison may be significant in terms of the politicization or the symbolic use of both the Nanjing Massacre and the Holocaust by its perpetrators since both events served as a symbol of the brutal character of their perpetrators in such a way that the Nanjing Massacre served to symbolize the military aggression of the Japanese army during that time. Chang’s aforementioned text has been continuously questioned. The Japanese publishing company, Kashiwashobo Publishing Company, for example, considers the text to be â€Å"based on prejudice and misconceptions (as a result of) its author’s basic attitude† (1). In the 20 May 1999 press release given by the Kashiwobo Press after its cancellation of the Japanese version of Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking, Kashiwashobo Press states, We must provide good history books on the War in order to learn from the past and to avoid the same kind of tragedies in the future. But this publisher also believes that we are responsible for publishing qualified books for the good of the public†¦The fundamental cause of the termination of the contract is the original work, which†¦due to its errors and inaccuracies, The Rape of Nanking has contributed to reviving deniers of the Nanking atrocities in Japan by giving them bullets to challenge the historical event. (1-2) One of the errors of Chang’s text lies in stating that there are no Japanese texts which have recognized the occurrence of the Nanjing Massacre. Such texts however exist. One of these texts which was published prior to the publication of Chang’s text is Honda Katsuichi’s The Nanjing Massacre. In the introduction of the Honda Katsuichi’s The Nanjing Massacre, Katsuichi’s states, I wrote this book not as a means of apologizing to China but as a means of revealing the truth to the Japanese people. Having been a child at the time, I bear no responsibility for the actual massacre, but as a Japanese journalist, I bear some responsibility for leaving the story unreported for such a long time†¦I hope that that the mere fact of my reportage being widely read overseas will serve as gaiatsu and will bring about a change in the disgraceful anti-internationalist behavior of the Japanese government and the conservative forces. (xxvi-vii) From the very beginning of the text, one sees a difference between Katsuichi’s approach to the Nanjing massacre as opposed to Chang’s approach to the said event. Although both individuals are journalists and both of their works do not use sophisticated methodology in order to support their accounts within their texts, one notes that Katsuichi’s goal is for the redemption of the Japanese people. As the subtitle of the work states, Katsuichi’s text aims to ‘confront Japan’s national shame’. This shame may be seen to be a result of the following factors: (1) The Japanese government’s refusal to recognize the Nanjing Massacre and (2) The Japanese people’s inability to recognize the veracity of this event as a result of the Japanese government’s refusal to recognize the aforementioned event. For Katsuichi, retelling the event may enable the enlightenment of the Japanese people which may further enable the Japanese peoples’ recognition of the necessity to change the framework of their government. Katsuichi’s aim in retelling the events of the Nanjing Massacre is for the occurrence of an ideological revolution within the country. Such an aim was supported by his factual reportage of the events within his work. Within Katsuichi’s The Nanjing Massacre, for example, one notes that the Japanese atrocities would not have been prevented even if the Chinese surrendered peacefully since the Japanese troops were already committing atrocious acts along their way to Nanjing. In addition to this, one notes that the Japanese did not find the act of murdering Chinese as an immoral act since they have long considered the Chinese to be inferior entities. Furthermore, as the book progresses, one also notes that the Japanese did not recognize the regulations set within the International Safety Zone as the Safety Zone was continuously entered by the Japanese troops. Katsuichi’s text, in this sense, affirmed the occurrence of the Nanjing Massacre. What makes his text and his account distinct from Chang’s is the perspective from which he perceives the event. One may state that Chang’s highly graphic portrayal of the events in Nanjing as well as her misguided notion that the Japanese failed to present an account of the event may be seen as a result of her position as a victim of the Nanjing Massacre. As was stated in the aforementioned discussion, Chang’s family stands as a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre. As opposed to this, Katsuichi’s more objective portrayal of the evident may be seen as a result of his position an heir to the Japanese people who have committed the aforementioned evident. Within this context, one may state that an author or speakers interpretation of a historical event is affected by his position in relation to the occurrence of the event. If the author or speaker stands in line with the perpetrators of the event, he may either present an account which aims to defend the people who committed the atrocities or he may present an account which aims to sanctify the people who committed those atrocities or to sanctify the succeeding generations affected by the stain of those who committed atrocious actions. If however the author or speaker stands in line with the victims of the event, he may either present an account which aims to commemorate the victims or he may present an account which aims to further vilify the perpetrators of the crime. Given these two accounts of an event from two different perspectives, the goal of the reader does not merely lie in considering whether an account presents the truth or not but to consider that as history is necessarily a nihilation and hence one cannot accurately determine one account as to comprise the totality of what transpired, hence the purpose of a supposed event is to be open to interpretations. Works Cited Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II.   New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Gibney, Frank, ed. â€Å"Editor’s Introduction.† The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan’s National Shame.   By Honda Katsuichi. Trans. Karen Sandness. New York: East Gate Book, 1999. Kashiwashobo Press. Kashiwashobo Press Release about the Cancellation of the Japanese Version of Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking. 20 May 1999. Katsuichi, Honda. The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan’s National Shame.   Ed. Frank Gibney. Trans. Karen Sandness. New York: East Gate Book, 1999. Pritchard, John and Sonia Zaide, eds. International Military Tribunal for the Far East: Tokyo War Crimes Trial. 22 vols. New York: Edwin Mellen P., 1998. Schmidt, James and Thomas Warenberg. â€Å"Foucault’s Enlightenment: Critique, Revolution, and the Fashion of the Self.† Critique and Power: Recasting the Foucault/Habermas Debate. Cambridge: MIT P., 1994. Second Archives of China et, al. Archival Materials on the Nanjing Massacre by the Invading Japanese Troops. Nanjing: Np, 1987.

Barnsley Venue Guide :: essays research papers

Music and Arts Guide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The following document features a variety of different venues in Barnsley, which are good for live bands or DJs. This should be of use to any unsigned band wishing to get gigs in the area. Some places might pay to have a band, others don’t. It all depends on the quality/ size of the venue and how well known you are as a band or DJ.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is Butterfield’s Bar on Market Hill, Barnsley. Tel: 01226 733854. It’s a trendy town centre bar, which serves a good range of food every day from 11am to 7pm. As far as evenings go, Wednesday is student night with two for one offers on all drinks and there is a DJ playing every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Butterfield’s also has bands playing sometimes when it is not a DJ night. Overall, It is a very clean and well-run bar.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is Bodegas Bar on Pitt Street, Barnsley. Tel 01226 210220. Website – www.bodegas.co.uk. It is a lively student pub with Pool tables, Darts, two large TV screens and cheap drinks all the time. They have live bands every Wednesday, which are usually Rock or Heavy Metal in style.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chennell’s Bar on Pitt Street Barnsley. Tel 01226 210220. A popular pub for meals and drinks due to the low prices and decent quality. The dà ©cor is old-fashioned but this is still one of the busiest pubs in town due to the friendly staff and cheap drinks. It is not really a place where bands play often; however, It would be worth a try if you could not get gigs anywhere else.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Lord Nelson on Shambles Street, Barnsley. Tel 01226 737151. A student friendly pub with cheap pints upon production of student ID. There is a quiet bar upstairs with a pool table and plenty of room for drinking and eating. Downstairs is a music bar with a dance floor, which is open every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. It is a fairly good venue with plenty of room both on the dance floor and the stage area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Durty O’Dwyers Bar on Market Hill, Barnsley. 01226 786100.Website – www.odwyers.co.uk. An Irish theme bar with associated dà ©cor and a good food menu from 11am to 3pm daily. It is a fairly small place with live bands on Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons. There is also a practice room upstairs for  £10.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Panama Joe’s is on Pitt Street, Barnsley.

Public versus private school education Essay

When it comes to the education systems, parents are usually faced with great tasks in choosing the best place for their children in line with the public and private education systems. Parents will basically look for a setting which will allow their children to thrive in their studies. May I start by affirming that the final decision of the parents is based the advantages that one system has over the other. Both the private and the public education systems have differing merits against one another. Many would prefer private education system due to a number of underlying factors and merits over the public school system. Most of the private schools have outstanding and rigorous academic performance and even though there are public schools that also have a tremendous performance in academics, some of these public schools still perform under the bar. Another prominent factor that we consider is the ability by the school to adequately prepare the child for college. Private schools surpass public schools in terms of college preparation this is because for a child to pass in the public schools will depend greatly on the geographical location of the schools unlike the private schools whose performance is commendable irrespective of the location. Another factor that puts the private schools at the par over the public schools is the number of the children per class or rather the entire school population. Naturally, the population in the private schools are quiet manageable than the population that is in the public schools. The public schools are faced with the challenge of admitting any student within the school vicinity and therefore they end up clogged thus making administration burdensome (Sargent, P, 1914). Unlike the private schools which generally has low admission and thus manageable class sizes. Another added advantage of the private education over public education basing on the class and school size is the individual attention that the students in private schools enjoy unlike their colleagues in public schools. Thirdly, the general school environment and the safety measures also dictates the school one attends or is taken to. Parents are greatly concerned with the security of their children and would prefer where the security is readily guaranteed. Since the private schools choose who they enroll their security level is quiet sure than that of the public schools although a good number of the public schools also have safe environments conducive enough for learning. The fact that most of the public schools are funded by the local property tax, their school budget usually becomes a political business thus most of the school activities are refrained as a result of this. There is limited room to respond to budgetary demands especially in areas where the voters live in poor communities with fixed amount of monthly income. However, the private schools are better placed to raise a substantial amount from the development activities and their strong allegiance with their alumni. They can also easily solicit funds from the founders and the corporations. The private schools are less restricted in their development of curricular because they are not subjects to the budgetary limitations imposed the state unlike the public schools. Both the administrators and the educators of the private and the public schools do work to ensure that they create the best learning environment as possible. Although there are good public schools but the best overall schools are usually the privately sponsored. Administrative support is another factor that draws the difference between the public and the private schools. The private are quiet advantaged in that they have a lean management structure since the expenditures comes from endowment income and the operating income. On the other hand, the public schools are characterized by the larger bureaucracy thus making major decisions is greatly hampered. The private schools rarely have or even need teachers unions unlike the public schools which have union contracts and also need political considerations. The facilities in the public schools are sometime mediocre because of the effects of political support and the economic revenues. They are also affected by the economic realities of the surroundings such the rich areas will have schools with best amenities whereas the poor surroundings will lack them Conversely the private schools have the ability to attract the endowments and other forms of financial support thus may have good amenities and facilities than even the universities (Sargent, P, 1914). In as much as one school may outweigh the other, there are still some other underlying factors that must be considered in choosing the best school. For instance the cost, most of the private are not affordable to all the parents thus is only affordable for the rich. Most of the public schools are located within the vicinity of the homes unlike the private which maybe far from home and some public schools offer transport to and from school whereas the private schools may or may not. Public schools offer general programs which are designed for all whereas the private schools have flexibility to create specialized programs such as outdoor tips after class session. At times the private schools create their own curriculum and assessment systems and thus put their students at the advantaged side when they do the standardized tests. The law requires that all public schools educate all children thus they accept any child regardless of race, economic status, religious affiliation or sex. The private schools are not so, they have no law as regards their admission and they have no required educational program for special needs. The enrollment is earned by merit on the grounds of academic performance. If a child becomes unruly the school decides to expel without any intervention from anywhere so also if a child fails to perform as required by the school he or she easily looses admission. Though not all, many private schools have religious affiliations whereas public schools are not affiliated to any religion. It is quiet clear that there is no overall rule as to which school is right and which one is wrong. For parents who are faced with choice of school, the best advice is to outweigh the factors which one considers as important and the settle for the school that meets those factors. Reference: Sargent, P. (1914). The Handbook of Private Schools: Survey of Independent Education

The Souls Of Black Folk And Three Negro Classics - 1158 Words

The Souls of Black Folk and Three Negro Classics are stories of the new class of taught African Americans that perform duties. Du Bois said â€Å"I taught school in the hills of Tennessee where the broad dark vale of the Mississippi begins to roll and crumple to greet the Alleghenies† (253). That they found themselves able to ace this world but hold relationship for the untaught masses gave an illustration to other instructed African Americans of how to handle the issue of the covering that separated the lives of whites and African Americans. The stories of these show the changed in the education of African American as Du Bois explores; proving to make do with the learning and surviving of this contrast is one of the huge commitments of The Souls of Black Folk and Three Negro Classics. Every chapter is introduced by an illustration from a great poet, at times in the language of the initially, and under every illustration is a bar of music from a thoughtful author Du Bois calle d such music Divine Songs. Du Bois college at Fisk University, was very well known for making the domain mindful of these melodies by having its gospel choir travel to Europe and the United States singing what had been the statement of slaves; the integration of the bar of this music in a composed structure was accordingly a declaration of social awareness. â€Å"When they were past, I came by chance once more to the walls of Fisk University, to the halls of the chapel of melody† said Du Bois. (258) TheShow MoreRelatedThe Souls of Black Folk1595 Words   |  7 Pagesthe text of The Souls of Black Folk embodies Du Bois experience of duality as well as his peoples. 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In additionRead MoreAmerica Is Not America Without The People Of Color1930 Words   |  8 PagesAmerica is not America Without the People of Color In reading through the works of Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington, I traveled back in time and felt the pain and suffering of the black folks from the past. The three authors completed their works to the best of their understanding, experiences, and chosen disposition to the matter. While the tones and messages of their works differed from one another, addressing various issues at specific levels of either favouring itRead MoreAssata Shakur Response Paper664 Words   |  3 Pagescommentary out of all of the activists that we have discussed. One can sense her urgency for the unity of black people and how her past experiences shaped her into the person she is today. In Assata: An Autobiography, some of her most intriguing comments were the comments about self-hatred in the black community. She is adamant about addressing and fixing the self hate among black people. However, though attempts have been made by organizations such as the BPP, activists like Malcolm