Erasing History

History is not a science. History is created and history can be changed. Consider the following example, from The Independent.

"Satoru Mizushima's new movie, "The Truth About Nanjing", premieres in January. It is an attempt by Japanese nationalists to counter a series of foreign films, made to coincide with the anniversary, which tell of the carnage which followed the fall of the Chinese Nationalist capital to Japanese forces in 1937."

This is a most ironic occurrence considering that the victim is China, a country that is often quite rightly criticised as one that attempts rewriting of history. One needs only consider the difference in results of a Google search made at www.g.cn with those made from Google.com or Google.com.au etc. particularly for sensitive topics such as the Tianamen massacre. There has even been an instance in China (and forgive me for not providing a proper reference in this case, it is off the cuff after all) where an advertisement commemorating the deaths of the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 was able to be placed in a newspaper because the woman who was responsible for the classified ads was unaware of the political significance of the commemoration. She was unaware because the Chinese government does not allow the inclusion of the event in school curricula, nor does it receive coverage in the mainstream media. Thus censorship is self-negating. Such lack of transparency is worrying, particularly if humankind hopes to learn from the mistakes of the past- a reason given by all history teachers for the continued study of their favourite discipline (as if interest alone wasn't enough!) Having a nation such as China carrying out this mutilation of history is bad enough, but for it to spread to other supposedly democratic nations is much more worrying.

Although some might argue that Japan is not a true example of democracy, it certainly tries to appear as one. One of the cornerstones of democracy, apart from direct participation in the determination of government, is transparency:

"There is one indisputable fact: there was no massacre at Nanjing," Mizushima told an audience of mostly elderly men after they had stood to sing the national anthem. "We don't want our children to grow up thinking Japan is a barbarian country."

To bowdlerise history so that a few proud old men don't lose face in the eyes of their grandchildren is a travesty and a disgrace. Truth in the cliché "truth will out" can be altered by repeating a lie often enough.

Imagine for a moment, that a similar project had taken place in Europe or North America that denied the holocaust and claimed that the arrival of Nazi armies in Poland (or anywhere else) had brought order and control. Perhaps this argument is valid in terms of the railway timetable, but not in any other sense. Indeed, the production of literature in these countries is decried and considered abominable. But why is it that we don't take a similar attitude to the same problems in Japan.

As much as it pains me to say this, it is because they are not white. Japan and China are our Other and because we lack ability to identify with a resident of Nanjing in the same way that we identify with a Jewish resident of Kracow. Therefore their squabbling is removed us, preventing it from affecting us in the same way. A similar pattern is seen when you compare the reception of the Holocaust with that of Stalin's pogroms or the Cultural Revolution. We don't care because they are removed from us.

But we should. We should battle to ensure that all events of such importance, whether positive or negative, are preserved for posterity and prosperity. Only in this way can we continue to develop as people as a single group and not as a fractured map of competing interests.

An easy target

Something unusual happened to me last weekend.

I went to something called "The Meat Show" last Saturday, it was... bizarre. Basically it entrailled (HA!) two women dancing out a meat themed choreography. It was kind of funny, but oh so very strange. But that wasn't the most strange thing to have happened. After the show, on Lt. Bourke St., some homeless bloke shouted at me at the top of his lungs "DON'T TOUCH PEOPLE IN PUBLIC YOU DIRTY ANIMAL!!!!!!" It was quite the head-turner. Then it happened again on the corner of Burnley and Swan Sts. Some bloke leaned out of a van and called me a fucking something or other. When we tried to ignore him he got REALLY ANGRY. He belted the side of his van and yelled even louder before screeching off when the lights changed.

Finally on Sunday, we were on Brunswick St. about to cross Johnston St. when the following exchange happened:
"Hey mate, I live on the street and was wondering if you would give me a couple of dollars for food and to help me live," said a bloke in a cream tracksuit and Collingwood Football Club cap.
"Sorry bro, I've got no money on me."
"You've walked past all the ATMs, they're down there," he tells me, pointing down Brunswick St.
"Well, we came from down there," said I, pointing down Johnston St. "and there is an ATM up there too," pointing the other way up Brunswick St.
"Mate, you should at least try being honest," he dismisses me as the lights change.
"Piss off you dickhead- would you like to inspect my wallet?"

Fuck me. What did he want? A sly fifty bucks, or a loan of my credit card? From now on I'm going to buy every volume of The Big Issue, and give money to homeless people who are civil.

I think I must look like a pushover, hence the attention from drunks, goggle-eyed speedfreaks and meth-heads, and junkies.

A good night's sleep?

Occasionally, in the middle of the night, I wake up. I can't sleep and my thoughts begin to wander. Before long I begin to think that I'm making terrible mistakes, that my life has stalled, or is going in the wrong direction. Then I can't sleep.


I lie there in the dark, paralysed by anxiety. I am unable to think past the fact that perhaps if I had made different decisions years ago, I wouldn't be in what I perceive to be 'this mess.' The following day I am tired and can't concentrate on anything. I will waste my day which leads to a feeling of uselessness.

I don't know why this happens.

Getting my digital toe wet

This blog is new, so I don't expect anyone to read it. To be honest I never expect anyone to read it, ever. It is more an attempt to set done my own thoughts on whatever happens to pop in my head, on whatever subject, so that I no longer annoy my immediate family and friends with rants on the abomination that is the Victorian government's plan to introduce a desalinisation plant to produce water rather than recycle it, the poor state of public transport in Melbourne, etc.

I was originally inspired to open the blog because of something I read in Web.Studies by David Guantlett and Ross Horsley (see www.theory.org.uk for some interesting theory on popular culture etc). Somewhere in his opening chapter, Guantlett mentions that any student of the Web should participate in the creation of global Web culture by having a homepage, blog, or something. I figured that seeing I am studying Chinese web culture, and don't have much particular aptitude for these sorts of things, that opening a blog would be a good way to experience how web culture is constructed first hand, albeit in English. However, seeing as I do everything in English about one million times quicker and more eloquently than I do them in Chinese and this is just a small side project, English will do.

To be honest, I should really be writing other things at this point in time, but I hope to continue to update regularly with bits and pieces and links that I find interesting. Over the next few months I see this blog growing, but then I expect that the millions of other bloggers who first open blogs but never update them simply because they have nothing worthwhile to say probably foresee and expect the exact same thing.

I guess we'll have to see how it goes as I crawl along the blogging learning curve.