[The Lizard of Oz]

(04-15-2015 12:14 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

In Nazi Germany, the population was treated like cattle and swathes of minorities were slaughtered. The culture was 'our race must take over the world'. In post-WW2 Germany, the allies conducted a 'denazification' purge, effectively eradicating the Nazi culture and 'starting again'. A new constitution guaranteeing individual rights and protecting minorities was enacted. That's basically doing a full U-turn.
In Japan, they went so far as to strip the Emperor of his power, dismantle the zaibatsus, and make possession of a military unconstitutional. Again, this is a complete U-turn, and starting again with an entirely new form of society.
These are just as extreme 'Year Zeros' as the Cultural Revolution, but in the opposite direction.

Nope, both of these are terrible examples.

The Nazis were in power in Germany for **12 years**. Undoing the effects of their monstrous rule is hardly an example of "scrapping all history and starting from scratch" -- on the contrary, it was an example of returning a society to being the kind of liberal democracy that Germany was on the path to becoming before the Nazis took over (with some additional safeguards, etc.).

Japan, as you should know, is a very unique place and culture, and they are capable of both radical change and the most intricate preservation of their old habits and mores at the same time. They have done such U-turns at a number of points in their history, and yet maintained a degree of continuity in deep parts of their day-to-day culture that is beyond anything seen in the rest of the world. Nothing that applies to Japan can really be extrapolated to the rest of the world.

(04-15-2015 12:14 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

Basically you can apply the phrase 'Year Zero' to any 'revolution' whatsoever. No one has a revolution to 'accept that the way things were before is just as good, and we won't change that much'.

Not every revolution or change in political order is necessarily of the Year Zero type. The essence of Year Zero ideologies is that they strive to completely remake from scratch the most basic parts of everyday life, including innate behaviors that are part of human nature and have survived all varieties of political order -- such as the relation between the sexes, what constitutes "consent", how men and women should treat each other in private, etc.

(04-15-2015 12:14 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

You want to make out that the phrase 'Year Zero' is this amazing new discovery, but it isn't, and it doesn't even specifically fit the concept you want it to.

I make no claim that it's any sort of new discovery, certainly not mine, and I have no interest in taking any credit for it. But it is an extremely useful term, and I strongly believe that it can do a lot of damage and that it "fits the concept" very well indeed. If you disagree, you are certainly under no obligation to use it.