Goodness gracious: America is finally beginning to publicly acknowledge (with a Congressional Resolution) the Armenian genocide of 1915-1917 as a genocide, and President Bush is giving Congress grief, afraid that its action will threaten the relationship between the United States and Turkey. I know, I know, politics is nuanced and requires prudential decisions, and there are gobs and gobs of relevant factors that must be accounted for. But it seems to me that this issue is fundamental--for a national to ignore the truth of its history and refuse to own up to and apologize for its mistakes is intolerable. Memory is an important aspect of the identity and legitimacy of a nation-state, and we shouldn't sit by calmly and allow one of our allies to make up stories about human rights issues. As a communitarian, I want to challenge the thought that we are not responsible for the actions of our ancestors (for instance, although I'm not a big fan of affirmative action, at the same time I don't agree with the argument that we shouldn't have to pay reparations since we never had slaves and the people getting the money were never slaves).
Also, disappointingly, it seems that, somehow, American new sources aren't at all interested in this story, while it is given a place of prominence in international new sources. Also, look at me, interested in politics!
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