Argument with mother about WW2
17M, visited Pearl Harbor with my mom, who is Japanese, and dad, who is chinese-American.
During the entire time she was making (supposedly lighthearted) comments about how Japan's surrender was shameful and that the US was trying to make Japan look evil in WW2, etc.
I was annoyed and I usually tolerate basically most things, but when it comes to things like these, I can't take them at all. So I corrected her through giving her historical sources (though Western, but the newer ones whose perspectives accommodate more parts of the Japanese perspective)
We then walked into this WW2 timeline place thingy with many posters, media on the war, photos, and historical timeline accompanied by facts. She made more comments about a poster from Japan in the 30s that "made Japan look like North Korea and thus bad" and so I asked her why, and then she ignored me. I gave her my facts (Japan did militarized as a doctrine after 1868 to supposedly defend themselves which was kinds true, but after 1920 it started to be blown out of proportion), went back and forth about things similar to this (why they show japanese bombing of Chinese cities but not America nuking japan), she also made these comments earlier on the USS Missouri on the famous surrender photo aboard it ("at least they surrendered with dignity in the photo"). It escalated to me questioning her about why she thinks so, she said that I only know Western sources not Japanese blah blah. I got mad to the point where I told her that no "glorious past" should be romanticized when millions had died, and no superficial glory was worth the truth that millions had died. That me and my mon would've been another corpse, which far overshadows anything romantic. I... said this in the building, so everyone else viewing the exhibition heard it and looked a but angry. My mom continued to deflect and ignore while I tried to get her to say her reasoning. My Dad told me to calm down and tolerate her opinions.
I feel like I may have disrespected the other visitors, some of whom were likely children of WW2 survivors.
Both of my parents' parents were civilians and bombed during WW2. They saw death and destruction, which is why my mom's revisionist views really puzzle me. This has been going on for the past year or so, when she started reading and watching Japanese revisionist historians and influencers. I've been kind of getting nervous since I feel like this may start to affect the familial relationship, and hee marriage with a chinese (1st gen American immigrant) man. Both have masters degrees, if education is relevant. Both in their 50s.
I had been raised in an atmosphere of tolerance, and both parents have respected my views.
Please ask me if you need more details. Did I fuck up? Please be blunt, I need the cold hard truth. If this looks like a biased account, please feel free to probe me for more info.