Even though they're performative, I still feel that these gestures are meaningful in some way insofar as they acknowledge historical wrongdoing -- although it doesn't help the dead. King Willem-Alexander (b. 1967) is in no way personally responsible for the depredations of the Dutch Empire (when it existed), yet as the living embodiment of the Dutch state he feels compelled to apologize. It's like the old Welsh sin-eater tradition, in a way. It must be weird and annoying to be a monarch in the modern world.
I will be glad to be contradicted, but I am fairly sure no U.S. president has apologized to any other country for American acts of aggression. The closest we are going to get is probably U.S. Grant:
"For myself," Grant wrote later about the United States war against Mexico, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
Thank you for this. I have read about but never read Grant's Memoirs (more about Twain encouraging him) and now I will. Personal story, my mother's family who lived in what is now New Mexico became citizens because of this war..and I agree it was not just.
Grant is a fascinating character -- vacillating between extreme success and failure multiple times over the course of his life, despite seeming to have had a phlegmatic and stoic temperament. One does not typically associate the latter with the former. He was certainly not a showman in the mode of P.T. Barnum.
I am generally not a fan of U.S. covert ops -- definitely the post-1947 ones -- but this one is my favorite. Grant transferred tons of rifles to Benito Juárez. "They fell off the back of a train."
<<In a show of support, Grant dispatched 50,000 men to the Texas border under General Sheridan, instructing him to covertly “lose” 30,000 rifles where they could be miraculously “found” by the Mexicans.>>
"The persbreidel also enabled the Dutch to prevent publications that might antagonize Japan after Japan's military incursion into China, especially anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese in Indonesia."
And now it's corporate edicts against the wrong sort of writing about China.
"Port cities such as Jakarta (named Batavia 1619–1942) were seen as hotbeds for the spread of nationalism and opposition to Dutch imperialism. The Dutch government attempted to secure power through maritime policing networks, close collaboration with British and French surveillance entities ashore, and by segregation on ships, meant to 'teach' those on board their position within imperial hierarchies. The prohibition on publishing press offences (persdelict) articles were added to the Dutch colony's Penal Code in 1914. These were articles that expressed or instigated feelings of hostility, hatred, or contempt against the Netherlands— writers could be jailed for up to seven years."
...not to mention the recurrent trend of the elites of one country hooking up with the elites of another country (often previously sworn enemies) to control their respective populations.
Even though they're performative, I still feel that these gestures are meaningful in some way insofar as they acknowledge historical wrongdoing -- although it doesn't help the dead. King Willem-Alexander (b. 1967) is in no way personally responsible for the depredations of the Dutch Empire (when it existed), yet as the living embodiment of the Dutch state he feels compelled to apologize. It's like the old Welsh sin-eater tradition, in a way. It must be weird and annoying to be a monarch in the modern world.
I will be glad to be contradicted, but I am fairly sure no U.S. president has apologized to any other country for American acts of aggression. The closest we are going to get is probably U.S. Grant:
"For myself," Grant wrote later about the United States war against Mexico, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
https://www.army.mil/article/216806/grant_in_mexico_one_of_the_most_unjust_wars_ever_waged
Thank you for this. I have read about but never read Grant's Memoirs (more about Twain encouraging him) and now I will. Personal story, my mother's family who lived in what is now New Mexico became citizens because of this war..and I agree it was not just.
You may have read this already! https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2018/winter/feature/what-drove-ulysses-grant-write-about-the-civil-war
Grant is a fascinating character -- vacillating between extreme success and failure multiple times over the course of his life, despite seeming to have had a phlegmatic and stoic temperament. One does not typically associate the latter with the former. He was certainly not a showman in the mode of P.T. Barnum.
While I'm not glad for COVID I am glad for the enforced quietness that lets me follow up on these leads.
I am generally not a fan of U.S. covert ops -- definitely the post-1947 ones -- but this one is my favorite. Grant transferred tons of rifles to Benito Juárez. "They fell off the back of a train."
<<In a show of support, Grant dispatched 50,000 men to the Texas border under General Sheridan, instructing him to covertly “lose” 30,000 rifles where they could be miraculously “found” by the Mexicans.>>
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-mexico-loved-lincoln-180962258/
How can I tie this to libraries? Here is a book that just came out tied to Jakarta ..Jakarta Method...not good..https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XCTTTW5/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
"The persbreidel also enabled the Dutch to prevent publications that might antagonize Japan after Japan's military incursion into China, especially anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese in Indonesia."
And now it's corporate edicts against the wrong sort of writing about China.
"Port cities such as Jakarta (named Batavia 1619–1942) were seen as hotbeds for the spread of nationalism and opposition to Dutch imperialism. The Dutch government attempted to secure power through maritime policing networks, close collaboration with British and French surveillance entities ashore, and by segregation on ships, meant to 'teach' those on board their position within imperial hierarchies. The prohibition on publishing press offences (persdelict) articles were added to the Dutch colony's Penal Code in 1914. These were articles that expressed or instigated feelings of hostility, hatred, or contempt against the Netherlands— writers could be jailed for up to seven years."
...not to mention the recurrent trend of the elites of one country hooking up with the elites of another country (often previously sworn enemies) to control their respective populations.
elm
freedom for who, exactly?