Thursday - February 19, 2004

Category Image Hirohito and Islam


Many people object to my characterization of Islamic clerics, and say that their recent Fatwa that I criticized in my last rant is evidence that progress is being made. Their objection is that if they came out and announced full support of the United States in combating terrorism that they would cause unrest and risk getting killed by Muslim extremists.

This is the same immoral rationale used to excuse Hirohito from his complicity in waging war on China and trying to create the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. Sadly, MacArthur saw fit to exonerate him despite evidence to the contrary.

I think a rant about Hirohito would be very interesting, but I don't have time for the research right now (happy hour with the Porsche Club is soon!), so I'll restrict myself to a simple comparison of his actions to these Islamic clerics.

The basic outline of the defense of Hirohito (or should I call him by his post mortem name of Showa?) is that he really isn't very smart and being a simpleton he didn't really know what was being done in his name. Hard to believe. The other, contradictory excuse given is that if he had spoken up against the barbarous executions and rapine behavior in the nations he conquered, then the real power in the Imperial Japanese government would have executed him. So, at one time he is an imbecile, but also clever enough to know to not speak out against clear evil.

The evidence that Hirohito knew what was going on, directing what was going on, and relishing what was going on is fairly clear, but I'll go over that later. For now, I'll just submit that any imbecile should know that invading other countries to take over their raw materials and governments is wrong. All 6 year olds can understand this. So, imbecility is no excuse.

The second argument is just as bad as the imbecile argument. Hirohito, or Showa to be polite, was a living and mortal deity, the latest member in a purportedly 3000 year old dynasty. The legitimacy of that claim is debatable, but it was believed by his followers. The argument goes that he was a puppet used by the army to give them the authority they needed to rule the nation. They needed him to control the population and give them the authority to create a fascist state where each individual subordinated himself to the will of the Emperor. Yet suddenly when it came to a need to speak out against evil, Showa suddenly became powerless and unable to speak against those relying on his authority (despite that he dissolved several parliaments).

The reality is that as the leader of Japan, puppet or not, his name was used in the commission of unspeakable acts with his knowledge. That he didn't speak against these acts, even at the risk of his own life makes him equally guilty. Note that when he wanted to end the war he broke precedent and jumped on the radio to tell everyone to stop fighting. How lovely for him to only get this newfound courage at so late a date. Morality required him to speak out long beforehand, before they invaded Manchuria and began the Asian component of WWII.

So likewise we are now faced with a worldwide religion led by a loose body of scholars who define the religion. Just like Hirohito, they have an absolute obligation to speak loudly and forcefully against using their religion to kill Americans, Jews, or anyone else, and to condemn clearly and unambiguously anyone taking part in terrorist activity. They are obliged to fight against this evil even at the cost of their own lives. When their names are used to justify murder, then they must speak against it or they are just as guilty of murder.

And just like with Showa, if such actions in favor of morality result in their own death, then that is the price of leadership. If they wish to remain leaders, they must take the consequences of leading evil people.

And equally as with Showa, the reality is that if they speak up, the evil is likely to stop much sooner. The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. When good men do nothing in the face of evil, they cease to be good men any longer.

Let history remember Showa as the man named Hirohito who was responsible for the murder and enslavement of people in numerous nations and the eventual destruction of his own nation. And unless something changes soon, history will remember Islamic clerics as responsible for the rise of international terrorism the past thirty years or so, and the eventual destruction of their religion and culture.

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