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Hey Cookie, et al, I, for one, would definitely like to see the North Korean Air Force's version of the war! It is amazing to see rather bizarre interpretations of history used as vital underpinnings of various regimes. Every country or nation has its mythologies, but North Korea must distort its own history in order to justify its current policies. Milosevic did a similar thing in the late '80s when he rewrote the history of the Battle of Kosovo Polje and thus Serbia itself in order to justify rabid Serb nationalism and revive a "Greater Serbia" myth. However, there must be large elements of any society willing to buy into these interpretations in order for them to stand as national myths. Mao and Stalin also basked in the reflected glory of military accomplishments (more concrete in both cases) in order gain popular support and justify massive militarization and repression. In the US there are often serious debates on the nature of our own history (Native American genocide vs. Manifest Destiny, racism vs. democracy, the A-bomb exhibit at the Smithsonian and the Vietnam War are just a few of the touchier ones!), but our politicians cannot force a single interpretation as a national rallying point since there are so many pain-in-the-neck historians around to contradict them! It is interesting that the regimes that rely on tightly controlled historical interpretations to justify their positions tend to be economic failures, often on a grand scale. So much for this Sunday's sermon. Regards, Mark O. ---------- From: <AMPSOne@aol.com> To: KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: North Korean Version of the War Date: Sat, Mar 17, 2001, 6:58 PM Mike, |