Any Need For An Apology ?

[Bazile]

The opinion is often expoused on here by some, that the British should not need to make any apology for some events in history - e.g. the slave trade

Should Mitsubishi need to apologise here ?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33584704.

[Bazile]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33584704

[wolf63]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33590430

[Canary42]

I guess such apologies re-affirm current abandonment and abhorrence of such practices.

Certainly as pure apologies they are meaningless IMHO.

[baza]

YES and pay compo to any surviving ex pow's.

[youngmafbog]

IMHO such apologies should only be given if the 'offence' is still within living memory of those affected.

Otherwise none is required.

[Ellipsis]

Yes.

Though there are some similarities between countries and companies, a crucial difference is that you can choose companies who you work for or invest in, but you can't choose where you're born.

Those people who work for or own Mitsubishi clearly felt a need to dissociate themselves from Mitsubishi's past, since not doing so would potentially be seen as making a statement about themselves and the current Mitsubishi company, i.e. that through working for or investing in Mitsubishi they (and by extension Mitsubishi itself) agreed with Mitsubishi's past actions.

Whereas to be British does not mean that you agree with Britain's past actions and/or should be held responsible for them ...

[Old_Geezer]

I was surprised they thought there was value in making the apology.

It is an interesting question/comparison. I think the living memory point has some merit. And that in this case a company's owners profited from folk who did not, nor did their descendants, eventually benefit from what was done to them. And it was completely under control of one country and its culture. But it is pretty much pointless.

[mikey4444]

Yes ! And "living memory" has nothing to do with this at all. A complete red herring.

But I wonder what took them 70 years to get around to apologising ?

[ukbod2015]

Or the Queen apologise for something 82 years ago

[Old_Geezer]

Living memory has to be an issue, otherwise you are apologising to no one.

[mikey4444]

ukbod2015...what Betty is supposed to have done 80 years and what companies like Mitsubishi did during WW2 have nothing in common with each other, at all.

[retrocop]

Did AEG Farben,Volkswagen,Krupps, Siemens make similar apologies. I don't personally recall them? Bit late now.

[-Talbot-]

ukbod2015...what Betty is supposed to have done


Supossed?

Are you having trouble with your eyesight, mikey?

[mikey4444]

R-cop...I have found this on the 'net about IG Farben ::::

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/economics/igfarben.html

Makes very interesting reading !

And this for Krupps :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupp#World_War_II

[naomi24]

It's a nice gesture, but not a necessary one. History should be consigned to the past.

[Bazile]

^^^

and forgotten about ?

[naomi24]

No, never forgotten.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...I am unsure exactly what you mean. In what time frame should "history be confined to the past" ?

Most of the companies that made the post-war miracle that was Japan, and Germany come to that, were very active during WW2.

So, at what point since 1945 did these companies not need to apologise for their appalling activities during the war ? Was it sometime in the 60's or perhaps the 70's, or much later perhaps ?

[naomi24]

Mikey, what good does an apology do? What purpose does it serve? Nothing changes the past, but we can and should learn from it.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...there must be 10,000's of allied survivors of the Japanese war, as well as 100,000's or more of the relatives of those that perished at the hands of the Japanese. It may mean a lot to them, as its not just an apology, but an admission of guilt. You do those people no favours whatsoever by your comments.