Historical Revisionism

 

The Past is Unpredictable
   The author of the book pictured above wrote recently an "Opinion" piece about "The Myth of Mass Sexual Violence" referred to in the subtitle of his book which is due out in mid-June. It is not unusual for an author to write an article to call attention to a forthcoming book. It is somewhat different, however, when the article offers an indictment of the profession of history as now practiced, and the "myth makers" who may review it will not be happy. 
   My prediction, however, is that the author need not be worried since the book will likely not be reviewed. I have noticed recently that books presenting interpretations that run counter to current ones are largely ignored. It would be interesting to see scholarly reactions to the arguments made by Walsh, but there will probably not be many. One is left with the comments of those who read the article in the Washington Post and there are over 300 of them, which simply show how divided we are. 
   Given the lack of scholarly engagement between those on different ideological teams, I will offer some extracts from the piece by Walsh and some information about the book. At least you will learn about his interpretation which will be ignored rather than rebutted.

The Myth
   The title of the article sets the tone: "How an Outrageous Smear of U.S. Troops Wound Up in History Books: Remarkably, the Propaganda Has Come Into Academic Vogue on Both Sides of the Pacific," Brian P. Walsh, Washington Post, May 29, 2024. The tone continues:

  The enlightened self-interest of the United States toward its conquered foe was a source of pride to most Americans. But in a corner of Japanese society, sensationalist left-wing propagandists had already begun to paint a distorted and often invented picture of widespread atrocities by U.S. occupation forces, atrocities that bore a striking resemblance to Japan’s own wartime outrages. Remarkably, much of this propaganda has now been incorporated into mainstream academic literature on both sides of the Pacific. Otherwise dry and theory-sodden history texts, groaning from prestigious university presses, routinely amplify sloppy, biased and downright dishonest scholarship in a race to describe horrors that have no basis in primary sources….
  Thus, academic readers today are told that upon entering Japan, U.S. servicemen “engaged in an orgy of looting, sexual violence, and drunken brawling” and that during the first 10 days of the occupation, there were 1,336 reported cases of rape in Kanagawa Prefecture alone. Not true. They are told that American officers demanded that the Japanese government set up brothels for their troops and that after embarrassed officials in D.C. forced the brothels closed, GIs went on a rampage and that reported rapes of Japanese women skyrocketed from an average of 40 to 330 cases a day. But no one has found or produced those alleged reports.

 If one investigates primary sources instead of rehashed propaganda, quite a different story emerges....

Why, then, does a narrative that essentially inverts reality enjoy such currency? The politicization of academic history has become so severe in U.S. higher education that even relatively unbiased historians cannot avoid being influenced by the prevalent anti-American bias in the field. Worse, many academic historians have come to see this bias as a virtue rather than a flaw. One fashionable bias holds that the United States and especially its military are repressive and reactionary forces and thus incapable of bringing about any positive change in the world.

 

The Book

  The "Rape" of Japan... can be purchased from Amazon where this information is found:

  Brian P. Walsh, a Princeton-educated scholar, thoroughly debunks this false narrative in a brave and compelling book that reflects his in-depth research into both American and Japanese primary sources....
Walsh sets the records straight.... 

 The “Rape” of Japan is a long-overdue refutation and exposure of a relentless propaganda campaign that has persisted for more than seven decades. 

  More details are provided by the publisher, the U.S. Naval Institute Press, a fact that a hostile reviewer would seize upon. A link is provided, so you can assess the publisher at your leisure. Also found are reviewer comments provided by the USNIP and again, an unfriendly critic would note that some of the reviewers have military connections. It would be interesting to see these reviews and the book assessed in scholarly journals, but that probably will not happen.

“This deeply researched and carefully documented study conclusively refutes the myth of mass rape by American soldiers in occupied Japan after World War II.  Walsh shows that projection by Japanese men in a patriarchal society, anti-American propaganda by Japanese communists and socialists, and the image of rape as a metaphor for conquest and submission created a false memory of sexual predation that was in reality far less common among American occupation forces than the legend.”—James M. McPherson, George Henry Davis Professor of History Emeritus, Princeton University

"Seldom has a scholar displayed such courage in refuting an egregious falsehood so deeply implanted in accepted historiography. Brian Walsh systematically dismantles an error-filled absurd myth perpetrated by self-serving propagandists, which was then, as is too often the case, compounded in subsequent sloppy scholarship. Walsh backs up his argument every step of the way with rock-solid, previously ignored primary source documentation. For a historian, such fearless pursuit of the truth is a superpower. The “Rape” of Japan should be required reading for students at every level and anyone who appreciates historical accuracy."—Ann Todd, Ph.D, Historian

"This striking original study of the American occupation of Japan refutes the general depiction of American troops as violent assailants of Japanese women.  Deep research and penetrating analysis, including broad use of Japanese sources, easily destroys the widespread myths of mass rapes spread by Japanese communist propaganda."—Dr. Stanley L. Falk, Former Chief Historian, USAF       

“The legend that American commanders orchestrated the mass rape of Japanese women by U.S. service members during the occupation of Japan inverts the axiom that the victors write the history. With meticulous excavation of original source material and an epic demolition of the construction and spread of this mythology, Brian Walsh exposes not only this mendacious narrative, but also provides a timeless warning of how too many historians suspended their critical facilities.”—Richard B. Frank, military historian and author of Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War: July 1937-May 1942

“Over many years, it has been widely and persistently reported that American servicemen in the armed forces occupying Japan after World War II engaged in an orgy of sexual violence against Japanese girls and women. In The ‘Rape’ of Japan, historian Brian Walsh demolishes this myth. By carefully and thoroughly examining Japanese and American records, he exposes a lie born of shame, revenge, and sloppy scholarship. Walsh writes clearly and convincingly. The ‘Rape’ of Japan is a tour de force of debunking—and a compelling story of how and why lurid myths can take hold.”—Evan Thomas, author of Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II.

This striking original study of the American occupation of Japan refutes the general depiction of American troops as violent assailants of Japanese women. Deep research and penetrating analysis, including broad use of Japanese sources, easily destroys the widespread myths of mass rapes spread by Japanese communist propaganda. —Dr. Stanley L. Falk, Former Chief Historian, U.S. Air Force

   It is the author's indictment that interests me and its strident tone is found also in some of the reviewer comments directly above. One hopes that those indicted will respond in a manner that will help us learn more about current historiographic standards. 

Horrible Things Have Happened

 

   This post is prompted by a recent unfortunate incident in Toronto which is the likely cause of a suicide. The incident occurred at one of those “Complexion Seminars” that one is now generally forced to attend. During the ‘training’ it was stated that the society in which we live is systematically oppressive, our history toxic and our country worse than the one located south of here. One of the attendees apparently questioned some of those allegations. Unfortunately he was of the wrong complexion to do so and he is the one who committed suicide. Complexity apparently has no place in these “Complexion Seminars.” Perhaps such forced indoctrination training events should be referred to as I have, or relabelled as "DEE Training," for Diversity, Extremism and Exclusion.

   You will be aware of the situation in Toronto. My only purpose here, as the title implies, is to suggest that bad things have happened to people of all complexions and that the atrocity experienced by those of your complexion may not be greater than the one visited upon people of a different colour. It is also highly likely that Canada is not the worst place in the world in which to live and that our history may be less toxic than the past of at least a few other places in the world.

(If you are unaware of the events relating to the now deceased Richard Bilkszto, the KOJO Institute and Kike Ojo-Thompson, there are many articles in the Canadian and Toronto press in the summer of 2023. For one, see: "Ontario Launches Review of School Board's Handling of Allegations From Principal Who Later Died by Suicide," Caroline Alphonso, The Globe and Mail, July 25, 2023.)

   First, a warning. The examples below, especially the bolded parts, contain examples of horrible things and if you believe that language is violent you will be injured. Second, the episodes were picked quickly and there are more to be found. I didn’t mention, for example, the bad things that have happened to the Irish, or the episodes related to the Mongol Colonialists who caused the death of millions. The conclusion is that bad things have happened to lots of people all over the world and that it may be wise to reduce the volume of the whining in the songs being sung by those in the chorus of your own complexion.

                                               A Little History

A Japanese Example

   In a recent article there was a discussion of the hostility that existed between the Japanese and the Koreans. Here is a portion: 

   "The enmity has very deep roots. In the late 16th century, Japanese warlord Hideyoshi invaded the Korean peninsula and offered rewards for how many Koreans and Chinese could be killed. As proof, samurai hacked off the noses and ears of at least 330,000 Koreans, pickled them in brine and brought them back to Japan, where they were piled into mounds. (The largest one is in Kyoto and has become a pilgrimage site for Koreans.) In 1895, Japanese assassins butchered the consort, Empress Myeongseong – a.k.a. Queen Min – inside the grounds of the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. During 25 years of colonial rule, Japan banned the Korean alphabet, compelled the adoption of Japanese surnames and enforced worship at Shinto shrines. On the plus side, colonial rule modernized the Korean economy, improved education and produced an efficient bureaucracy."

    There is a link in the article to the pilgrimage site, the Mimizuka Mound. This text was taken from that website:

   "Not far from the Kyoto train station is an unassuming mound of earth located in a quiet residential neighborhood. Not found on most maps, the shrine—called the Mimizuka—is a rare physical reminder of Japan's 1592-98 war against Korea. It was dedicated on Sept 18, 1597, about a year before the war's end, to serve as the final burial site of tens of thousands of ears and noses sent from Korea in barrels filled with brine. These macabre shipments were delivered by Hideyoshi's generals in Korea, who were rewarded according to the number of enemy dead that they could prove their troops had slaughtered. The number of dead were so numerous that instead of sending back severed heads (a common measure of counting the dead), the generals preferred to return ears and noses, which were easier to transport and offered distinctive proof of casualties inflicted. It is not known how many ears and noses were ultimately returned from Korea. Most were likely discarded as soon as they had been counted. Only a fraction of the total (about 38,000) ended up at the Mimizuka—the tomb of noses and ears."

The source: "What Does the Return of Japanese Militarism Mean For Asia -- And the World"?, Peter McGill, Globe and Mail, July 8, 2023.
In the last sentence I quoted above from the article it is suggested that there was a "plus side" to colonial rule. One generally is not allowed to make such a suggestion these days. 

An Italian Example

   In a recent article about the bad things currently happening in Ethiopia, there was information about a bad historical episode which occurred when Ethiopia was part of the Italian Empire. 

   "When people there heard the artillery of the advancing Tigrayan forces, able-bodied men and women rushed to the front, while more vulnerable residents did what their ancestors had done countless times before during periods of war: they fled their villages for the shelter of one of the innumerable caves that pock the faces of the nearby mountains. But there was one cave in particular that they avoided, an expansive and seemingly impregnable cavern with a slit of an opening halfway down a towering cliff. Known as Ametsegna Washa, or the “Cave of the Rebel,” it has long been regarded by locals as a place of evil, haunted by malevolent spirits and by memories of a horrific act of mass violence that occurred here more than eighty years ago.
   In the spring of 1939, Italian military forces under Mussolini used mustard gas to flush out a band of Ethiopian resistance fighters, their families, and civilians from surrounding villages who had taken shelter in the cave. The details of what happened next remain contested to this day, but well over a thousand Ethiopians—including women and children—probably died, either from the effects of the gas or during the summary executions that followed their surrender. Forgotten and deliberately ignored for decades, it is an event that, like the rest of the five-year Italian occupation, has cast a long shadow over a divided and war-torn Ethiopia. It has also sparked fierce debate in Italy at a moment of far-right revival and continuing denialism about the country’s colonial past and its brutality. Today the darkened chambers of Ametsegna Washa are still strewn with the detritus of the siege and the bodily remains of the lives it extinguished—a grim memorial that unequivocally refutes the apologists’ polemics."

The Source: "In the Cave of the Rebel," Frederic Wehrey, New York Review of Books, June 21, 2023. The subtitle: “ One of the worst massacres perpetrated by Mussolini’s forces in Ethiopia has come to light only in the past two decades, bringing a belated reckoning with Italy’s colonial atrocities.”

A Spanish Example

   Since the ones above are rather long, here is a condensed version of the Spanish case which indicates that exhumations are an issue elsewhere, but in this case ideology rather than identity was involved.

   "An estimated 100,000 people were executed by Franco’s supporters during and after the Civil War, and buried in more than 2,000 mass graves scattered across the country."

The Source: "Spanish Vote Threatens Efforts to Recover Franco's Victims: Spain's Left-Wing Government Has Tried to Accelerate Exhumations of Mass Graves Left From the Dictatorship. If It Wins Sunday's Election, The Right May End That," Constant Méheut, New York Times, June 18, 2023. The photo at the top is from this article.

Post Script: 

   Ignored here are the Stolen Babies. Thousands of them were taken during the time of Franco, and even later. If you don't believe me, see:

"Spain's Stolen Babies and the Families Who Lived a Lie," Katya Adler, BBC News, Oct. 18, 2011. "“Spanish society has been shaken by allegations of the theft and trafficking of thousands of babies by nuns, priests and doctors, which started under Franco and continued up to the 1990s."

"Taken Under Fascism, Spain's 'Stolen Babies' Are Learning the Truth; Thousands of Spanish Children Were Taken From Hospitals and Sold to the Wealthy," Nicholas Casey, New York Times, June 15, 2023.

"Franco’s regime was not the only one to use the theft of children as a political weapon. In Argentina, as many as 30,000 people were “disappeared” by a military junta that ruled from 1976 to 1983 and gave their orphaned children to right-wing families, prompting decades of protests and demands that the government investigate."

I could go on.
  (For example, to provide some Canadian content, there are cases where children in Canada, who were not Indigenous, have been mistreated. See: " 'It's Like They Never Existed': Toronto Monument Will Honour Mistreated British Home Children," Mark Gollom, CBC News, Oct. 1, 2017. 

"Lori Oschefski, CEO of the Barrie, Ont.-based British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association, said few Canadians know about the plight of the 115,000 British Home Children who immigrated to Canada from the U.K. between the late 1860s and 1948.

She learned that 75 children are buried in two graves that were unmarked for years in Toronto's Park Lawn Cemetery."

The Bonus:

  To assist you in understanding why things are the way they are in our Hobbesian world, I provide a list I found on the website of the Linguistic Society of America. I have no idea why it is there or who did it and why. I have added to the top of it, a new entry.

                                 Shit Does Happen

Complexionists: Shit Has Happened Only to Us

Taoism: Shit happens.

Confucianism: Confucius say, "Shit happens."

Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn't really shit.

Zen Buddhism: Shit is, and is not.

Zen Buddhism #2: What is the sound of shit happening?

Hinduism: This shit has happened before.

Islam: If shit happens, it is the will of Allah.

Islam #2: If shit happens, kill the person responsible.

Islam #3: If shit happens, blame Israel.

Catholicism: If shit happens, you deserve it.

Protestantism: Let shit happen to someone else.

Presbyterian: This shit was bound to happen.

Episcopalian: It's not so bad if shit happens, as long as you serve the right wine with it.

Methodist: It's not so bad if shit happens, as long as you serve grape juice with it.

Congregationalist: Shit that happens to one person is just as good as shit that happens to another.

Unitarian: Shit that happens to one person is just as bad as shit that happens to another.

Lutheran: If shit happens, don't talk about it.

Fundamentalism: If shit happens, you will go to hell, unless you are born again. (Amen!)

Fundamentalism #2: If shit happens to a televangelist, it's okay.

Fundamentalism #3: Shit must be born again.

Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us?

Calvinism: Shit happens because you don't work.

Source:

As a corrective, perhaps we all should read, The Better Angels of Our Nature; Why Violence Has Declined, Steven Pinker.