Well I’m laughing at this one.
I’m picturing a hundred school kids buffing the floor chanting in unison, “Wax on…”
Yes, because torturing 399 people vs 780,000 people is exactly the same on the scale of evil acts. :rolleyes: Talk about magical thinking…
I agree that there has been a lot of heroism in the Japanese response to the disaster. But in regard to looting, I thought I’d mention this. On MSNBC last night, Ed Schultz had a response to Glenn Beck’s claim that there was “no looting” in Japan (Beck was using this as an example of how America, by contrast, has lost its moral compass). Schultz’ counterargument was:
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Nothing to loot. Many of the areas hit by the tsunami now largely consist of piles of waterlogged rubbish.
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Nobody to do the looting. In the area surrounding that nuclear plant, people have either evacuated or are closed up in their houses.
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Actually, there has been looting; Beck was simply wrong. Probably the amount of looting has been small, but see (1) & (2).
I consider the histories of all countries in my picture of them. I have actually argued that Belgian colonial brutality is too little remembered.
Of course I consider positive aspects of those histories as well as negative.
The present is made of the past.
I don’t understand why you group them together as a people. They aren’t all of one mind.
This is horrible. Horrible. I can’t believe you really think like this. It can’t be.
I teach in America(public schools). 7th Grade.
My kids erase the board, change the date on it, and do tons of other stuff, too.
They like to help. 
The head teacher’s wife smoked. Apparently no one in the town knew it because she would only smoke in her own home, in the bathroom, leaning over the toilet bowl. Apparently she and her husband both felt it was highly inappropriate for her to smoke. (People tell you all kinds of things when you are moving out of the country.)
Now why, exactly, did I read that? 
Plus, the whole Chinpokemon thing.
Because they are still revanchist over their former imperial territories. You don’t see Germany calling for East Prussia back despite it having been German for centuries as compared to Dokdo which Japan annexed only in the last century.
Incidentally a German Nazi at Nanjing protected several hundred Chinese lives and spoke out for them-it worked both ways apparently.
Are you seriously saying the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes? Japan wasn’t going to surrender so our only three options were 1) drop the nukes, 2) blockade and bombard Japan, or 3) launch an amphibious invasion of Japan and the latter two options would have dragged out the war longer and cost millions of more lives on both sides.
Are we responsible for the actions of every US citizen? US soldiers did not rape or engage in wanton slaughter by the policy of the US government in the last century and did those who did were often punished. In Japan it was the exact opposite.
No I don’t obviously. I’m speaking of a large portion of the Japanese population.
So, let me get this straight, 66-ish years ago, after the bomb was dropped, you would have said “Good, those bastards had it coming! I hope they stay bombed into the stone age!”
But now, after faced with similar devastation (only caused by God/Mother Nature/forces of nature/whatever instead of man/the US government) you feel pity and want to help?
No judgment calls, just checking.
Personally, I never judge a whole nation of people based on the actions of its government. I don’t blame the Germans during WWII (screw Godwin!) for the Holocaust, but I have a major beef with the people in the government who decided on the “Final Solution”. I don’t blame the everyday Japanese of WWII for the Rape of Nanking, but their government’s decision was barbaric. I also don’t harbor any resentment towards the average 19th century American, but the travesty of the “Trail of Tears” (to name one) rests on a few politicians’ shoulders.
Flying Dutchman - can you share your approximate age and nationality? Were you or any of your relatives involved in the WW2 Pacfic Theater. It helps give a context for your post. (hell your post could be my father, WW2 Pacific Theater and Korean War combat vet).
Curtis, you do realize that it is a tiny proportion of the right wing nutbags that hold this view? Most of ‘em drive a big ol’ honkin’ bus too!
The Japan That Can Say No epitomizes these freaks. They are worst and more fringe than the birther born agains.
Sixty, Canadian and born Dutch. Had relatives in Indonesia during the war. My past attitudes reflect influence by Hollywood as well as older relatives, articles and television documentaries.
I don’t believe my attitude at the time was all that unusual. I’m not going to be sorry about it.
In fact it coincided with an attitude that Japanese internment on the west coast was a bad thing, so I hope that will allay any fears that I’m a racist on the issue.
Its too bad so many want to focus on the negative side of my OP. Outrage must be so compelling.
Dutchman, it’s because you come off like those who say “well, those Jews are so smart and well-educated!” Or, “blacks are always such good dancers!”
Or, “they’re a credit to their race!”
:rolleyes:
Nor in Korean schools. Those women, especially teachers, who are smokers never smoke at shool or in the neighoring areas.
Get with the times! The new mantra is “Jacket off, jacket on.” & I do not want to know what it will be if they remake that Karate Kid 4.
How about enjoying our downed aviator’s livers with some fava beans and a nice chianti?
Thanks for that. I get your post and where you’re coming from, but suspect the younger board members do not. When you grew up, Japan had been the enemy and was the defeated enemy that had committed an awful lot of atrocities. Also by virtue of being Dutch with relatives in Indonesia, where the Dutch were to say the least poorly treated during the war, you had influence people with personal baggage. It is also likely that you did not have interaction with the Japanese community in Canada.
The unparalled crisis in Japan showed you a very different side of the Japanese, and has changed your view to a much more positive light. Fair statement me thinks.
Even the “positive” side of your OP is offensive. You used to think the Japanese people were disgusting for events that happened many years ago, and a single event has changed your mind - now they’re “heros” (sic). Are you not aware that the world and nations are more complex than that? Your distilling the attributes of millions of people to simplistic concepts is gross.
Sometimes I read a thread like this and think “OMG.”
And hit the back button. This time it was so bad I typed this first…
What about the citizens who helped the Nazis by doing things such as reporting their neighbors who were Jews?
I’m certainly not saying that all Germans were participants in the atrocities. There are many stories of people trying to help the persecuted or resist the Nazis at great personal risk. But it’s not like all the wrongdoing was done by government officials in that particular case. Ordinary people are very capable of doing terrible things unfortunately.