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Saturday, June 5, 2004
Remembering D-Day.
Today I've been watching a lot of news reports about various D-Day commemoration events occurring around the world. Soon there will be one large event held at Normandy, with something like 14 world leaders, including Prime Minister Howard (our PM, if you didn't know ~_^).
Watching these reports has been interesting. When President Bush visited Rome, there were mass demonstrations against him. And in France, around 2/3 of the population have a general dislike of the United States itself.
Obviously, there are some who get far too defensive about this; the French are not saying that they dislike American people themselves. They're obviously talking about America in terms of its Government.
Still, I found it interesting that in Normandy, the vast majority of citizens are still enjoying a kind of love affair with America. It's as though the general ill-feeling in Europe hasn't touched that part of France. Why? Well, Normandy obviously has a very personal experience with both war and the United States. And sixty years on, they haven't forgotten.
In my country, opinion about the war in Iraq is about 50/50. Despite this, I would say that the people here are definitely a lot more forgiving of America than the French.
However, one thing strikes me about people of my generation in Australia. So many of them have apparently forgotten the lessons of the past. A lot of tertiary students are critical of the Bush administration and America in general, but they seem to lack perspective.
For example, a lot of young people seem to have forgotten what happened in World War II.
During that time, Australia had sent an enormous number of forces to Europe. Obviously we did this primarily because of our allegiance with Britain, as well the fact that in WWII, defeat on the part of the allies was simply not an option.
But just as we did this, Japan decided to enter the war.
We hear a lot about Pearl Harbour and how it was such a serious attack. And I don't want to be flippant about that; it was a historic moment, in terms of being a "direct" attack on the United States.
However, a lot of people (apparently including various Australian citizens) seem to have forgotten that Japan attacked two large Australian cities; Darwin and Sydney.
As a matter of fact, large bombs and underwater mines still occasionally wash up on Sydney beaches, as a result of WWII.
The reason I point this out is simple. During that time in our history, we were very vulnerable; we'd sent the vast majority of our military forces to Europe. So the forces we had left to defend our own territory were relatively small by comparison. And many of those men died defending Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in particular.
Obviously, if America had not become involved in the war, Australia would now be part of the Japanese Empire. There's simply no question about that. Nobody in the region was able to withstand Japan's power - even America had a very difficult time overcoming the Japanese.
Of course, America got involved as a result of Pearl Harbour. And of course, if Pearl Harbour hadn't been attacked, one might wonder if America had become involved to the degree that they did.
But that aside, one fact is clear; the United States was primarily responsible for ensuring Australia's freedom, just as Australia played a role in defeating the Nazis alongside other allies.
The overall point I'm making, I guess, is that it's so easy to lose perspective. America is such a visible target and it's easy to blame America for all of the world's problems.
But when I look at the state of the world today, I tend to actually be very thankful not only that America exists...but that it is the world's sole superpower.
Can you even imagine what the world would be like if China were the only superpower? Or Russia? Things would be very different. Territories like Taiwan probably wouldn't have democracy like they do now, if China were able to simply do what it wanted. It is mostly due to American involvement in Asia that China hasn't already attacked Taiwan.
Of course, it's not entirely one-sided. If you are an American, you simply won't understand what it's like to see American pop-culture squeeze the world tightly in its fist...oftentimes to the detriment of local cultures, which are sometimes threatened with complete extinction as a result.
But I don't believe that this has anything to do with some kind of conspiracy or subversive plot -- it's what naturally happens when one country has such reach around the world. It's the way things are. It may not be perfect...but it could be a lot worse.
So it's something to think about, for those of you who are reading this and who are not Americans yourselves.
But for those of you who are American (the vast majority of you), I think it's important that you understand that the world isn't entirely anti-American. It's just that a lot of people tend to forget history. But those of us who remember history (and those of us who have a deep connection with American people, via our friendships and relationships) are very thankful that America exists.
As long and rambly as that is, I thought it was something I had to say on a day like this.
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