Thursday, 30 August 2007

Museum Or Memorial

I understand that by having the word 'Canada' in the title, I should understand that The Canadian War Museum will have a slight bias. On Tuesday this week it was decided that they would adjust the wording of a display panel since it upset Canadian veterans. Since its unveiling, the "Strategic Bombing: An Enduring Controversy" panel has been surrounded with its own controversy. The panel which questions the value and morality of Allied raids that killed 600,000 Germans and left another five million homeless. Upset at the portrayal of World War II bombings, veterans protested against the panel. The panel and its wording are not lies.

History can be so varied and told in many different ways. It is important that many perspectives are seen and discussed. If we cannot debate and study the many sides of war in a War Museum, where should we? Horrible things happen in war, the stories need to be told. Canada has done terrible things to people all over the world and even within our own nation. I feel it is below us to deny, hide, or rewrite history. All veterans are brave and noble people who fought for our country and our values. However, we need to still question choices and actions made in war.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh man..You know how I feel about this stuff.
Those men and women fought SO hard to keep the world from being taken over by a complete psycho. Canada also lost many, many people. My great uncle being one of them. Its really sad what happened, but it needed to be done. Those men (including my grandfathers) are heroes, and I feel that the War Museums decision is change the exhibit is totally justified. While I don't agree with hiding anything from our past, but we also have to respect the decisions that were made at the time, as well as the soldiers who fought for our freedom. If if wasn't for them, none of us would be here right now.

Kristin

Anonymous said...

And I suppose the War Museum is their museum so perhaps a different location for such a perspective?

Teri