I saw the movie "Letter from Iwo Jima" yesterday. The movie was made by Clint Eastwood directly after directing preceding movie "Flags of our Fathers". It was about showing the people on the contra side of the war, who seems to be evil when we watch the movies from the regular side (well, the allied force's side). But the fact is, we have, in the end, human beings fighting against each other. Each have their own story. Then how come they can turn into beings who find their conviction reflected in the conviction of the evil ruler?
The movie was about second world war, so now we just go back 10-20 years before the war. US, UK, Germany, Japan, Russia, they all had diplomatic ties. Everything looked pretty much well-going. Why suddenly they found themselves in the dirt of war is the question for the historians, but in this blog my concern is how the well-built countries like Germany and Japan found the solace in evil acts, which were awarded wide public generosity in these nations. And the answer seems to be rather awkward. It wasn't the evil in the men, instead it was the evil of the controlled authoritarian regimes these countries were enjoying.
It is the power of the mass media, a creation of unfounded deliberate cause, the plight of the present working generation, which ignites the falsified patriotism among the population. Look in the history, whenever there was a authoritarian system, there were wars and conflicts. Freedom of speech gives the power in the hands of the people. It may create some kind of communal conflicts, but finally well-accepted affirmative solution is put forward. In the controlled system, the power lies in the hand of few, who, if fanatic, can cause disturbing relationship with its neighbours or even with their bad-time allies. Cultural exchanges can take place, like it took place between German and American universities or to some extent between Japanese and American army, but it doesn't act like a vaccine, when the controlled system is later to be infected with the evil-mind virus. Hence, from friends become enemies. The controlled system may look enigmatic and the best, e.g. creation of German industry from the ruins of the first world war and great infrastructural development thereafter. It made German life prosperous, but it never protected Germany from the infection of fascism.
In my opinion, each country should be wary of the controlled system. And the control of a nation can be given to the people only through freedom of speech, not just by thinking collectives of few intellectuals doing it so. Any system is a controlled system, as long as there is no room for the opposite opinion. And any preceding friendship gesture towards the people of the controlled system can be futile in a wake of the evil-mind virus in the controller of such system.
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