In the second sentence of Nietzsche’s second treatise in  On the Genealogy of morality he states “Forgetfulness is no mere vis inertiae as the superficial believe; rather it is an active and in the strictest sense positive faculty of suppression.” He then goes on to say later in the paragraph ” a little tabula rasa of consciousness so that there is again space for new things, above all for nobler functions and functionaries, for ruling, foreseeing, predetermining — that is the use of this active forgetfulness, as a doorkeeper as it were to an upholder of a psychic order, of rest, of etiquette: from which one can immediately anticipate the degree to which there could be no happiness, no cheerfulness, no hope, no pride, no present without forgetfulness.”

Here Nietzsche presents a polar circumstance in which there is no forgetfulness, but the overall point in made in these sentences is that forgetfulness must be used strategically. There will be instances where forgetfulness will keep a society from moving forward and will place democratic institutions, tendencies and aspirations into harms way, this is the when it is beneficial. However, in the real material world justice must at times be served and those who committed atrocities must be held accountable.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb my father would mention, “be as hard as the world makes you be, and as soft as the world lets you be.” I feel as if this principle can be applied to the situation of forgetfulness. If there is a way that the new democracy of a nation coming out of non-democratic rule can function and become prosperous and stable while also finding justice for actions committed in the past, than this is probably the best course of action. But if not some level of forgetfulness must be adopted to keep the stable democratic trajectory.