A lot has been made, specifically from the far right, about President Obama acknowledging America's mistakes in the past. Now most people who are concerned about this are so far to the extreme that they will never see reason. But in case there are some that would agree with this unless they were forced to actually think about it, I will explore.
Let's start from the beginning. The first question I ask myself (and the crazy uber-patriotic folks on the right) is whether the US has made any mistakes in foreign policy in the past. Unless you think America, like God, is omnipotent and never makes mistakes, the obvious answer is yes.
The next question is whether countries should apologize or otherwise atone for their sins. If the answer is no, we shouldn't apologize, then no other country should have to apologize for any of their mistakes or crimes. Of course though we call on other countries to acknowledge their mistakes and crimes.
If you answer both of these questions reasonably - that we have made mistakes and that countries that make mistakes should acknowledge them and learn from them - then it makes sense to do what President Obama has done on occasion.
Unfortunately, America has a vocal jingoistic segment that somehow feels apologizing is unpatriotic. Hopefully these people are patriotic enough to refuse to apologize to their friends and family, as that would be afront to their pride. In which case, they will have poor relationships and deservedly so. For America, I would rather we recognize the mistakes we have made and learn from them. And while doing so, maybe the countries that were affected will feel comfortable that we might not make the same mistake again.
No comments:
Post a Comment