Rethinking McDonnell

I've spent much of the day thinking about McDonnell's proclamation, and on second thought I have to walk back a little from my post below. I continue to think that McDonnell's motive here was to tip-toe away from controversy. But on these fundamental issues of nationhood, tip-toeing just is not possible.

I've spent much of the day thinking about McDonnell's proclamation, and on second thought I have to walk back a little from my post below. I continue to think that McDonnell's motive here was to tip-toe away from controversy. But on these fundamental issues of nationhood, tip-toeing just is not possible. If you are to remember at all, you have to remember in full. In this, the best advice comes from a great 1985 speech by then West German president Richard von Weizsacker:

We need and we have the strength to look truth straight in the eye–without embellishment and without distortion. ... The greater honesty we show in commemorating this day, the freer we are to face the consequences with due responsibility. … There is no such thing as the guilt or innocence of an entire nation. Guilt is, like innocence, not collective, but personal. … The vast majority of today's population were either children then or had not been born. They cannot profess a guilt of their own for crimes that they did not commit. No discerning person can expect them to wear a penitential robe simply because they are Germans. But their forefathers have left them a grave legacy. All of us, whether guilty or not, whether old or young, must accept the past. We are all affected by its consequences and liable for it.