If an interested observer may be so bold as to toss in another tuppence?
 
>          deeply held point of view is wrong. What I hope museums can
>          do is to place those deeply held views in the context of a
>          range of views, so that an informed debate can happen
>          individually and across groups.
 ...
>          Eric Siegel
 
Just out of curiosity, has the script for this exhibition been published so
that those of us who are debating the question out here on museum-l can do
so on an informed level?  I, for one, just have the "he said / she said"
information -- other people's word on what the exhibition script says.  And
I have no reason to believe EITHER party is COMPLETELY unbiased, certainly
not at this point when things have obviously grown polarized.
 
>        Having lived through WWII, I empathize with those who
>felt it was appropriate in context.  Having since grown
>spiritually, I empathize with those who find it
>unconscionable.  While it does fall to the "new" generation to
 ...
>        John Bunch
 
War is all hell, as Sherman said.  I deeply grieve for the innocents who
suffered when those damned bombs fell.  On the other hand -- as John Bunch
implies (I think), no one who was directly involved in that war (or
directly in an indirect fashion, as in my case) can view this matter with
complete dispassion.  And those who have never gone through a war, directly
or indirectly, or through an occupation, cannot possibly completely
understand why people who *have* react as they do.
 
Don't ever forget that wars can become so rooted in the very souls of those
who lived through them, experienced them, that in a very real and deep
sense a war might not be over until the very last survivor dies.  If then.
 
Nonetheless, it is important that we all at least TRY to understand what
was going on, or, if that's impossible, what the various parties *thought*
was going on at the time.  Truth can get very slippery in circumstances
like these, and can end up being rather different from reality.
 
I certainly wish the Smithsonian luck on this one.
 
Mario Rups
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