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Reply With QuoteI don't know. It seems to me that such ignorance is pretty silly - including, as an example, the ignorance of taking a handful of idiotic comments on a website and trying to stretch them to categorize a nation of 300,000,000 people.....
Matt
Visit the Archives for U.S. Politics Online -- U.S. Politics Online . net
City Council Member
In the last few days, I received several emails and links directing me to sites that displayed samples of hate comments, from several Americans, towards the Japanese population.
Comments that seriously struck me as extremely racial, offensive and unbelievable. (view link for sample: http://i.imgur.com/sfrkK.jpg or this http://i.imgur.com/o9hr8.jpg )
In a country that has 99% literacy, almost a trillion $ budget for education and
some of the best university institutions on the planet, why do Americans have such a high percentage of cultural ignorance?
I am not assuming that the general US population is represented by the people who commented on the two links I posted.
Without disrespecting anyone who disagrees, but several statistical figures analyse the context of education by country comparison, and the US struggles behind several other countries (33rd on the IQ and global Inequality scale, 2006).
We have all seen those infamous videos of general questions asked to a randomised selection of Americans, on subjects as recent as 9-11 or the war in Iraq. It is mind blowing to see the amount of ridiculous assertions by average American citizens, regarding aspects that relate to them and their era directly.
And now we have further proof following Japan's earthquake.
How is it that Americans remember pearl harbour and ignore to remember, or most possibly don't know about, Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
I admit, I never feel comfortable comparing figures when it comes to casualties, but I can't ignore the difference between 2,350 (almost all soldiers, minus 68 civilians) following the Pearl Harbour attack, and over 200,000 including over 10,000 Japanese soldiers (Nagasaki and Hiroshima).
Not to mention the genetic mutations, and ongoing generations affected by a higher incidence of cancer and leukaemia.
Do most Americans not know that?
Who is to blame for this sort of ignorance, that easily turns other countries into preaching anti-Americanism?
Legend of USPO!
I don't know. It seems to me that such ignorance is pretty silly - including, as an example, the ignorance of taking a handful of idiotic comments on a website and trying to stretch them to categorize a nation of 300,000,000 people.....
Matt
“Well, congratulations, President Barack Obama, Conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their fucking heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: skepticism about your opponents.” - Jon Stewart
Secretary of Defense
surely he can do better than that?Originally Posted by MattInFla
to live is to suffer-Fritz lang
City Council Member
No one here is stretching the comments to categorise a nation of around 300ml people.
As I clearly wrote in my post:
Maybe instead of feeling insulted, you could explain to me why such high numbers of Americans almost exactly posted the same comments?
Secretary of Defense
How many exactly?
to live is to suffer-Fritz lang
Joint Chiefs of Staff Member
Hell we love the Japanese and buy tons of their electronic "toys" and cars,
while avoiding when possible the crap that is "Made in China"!
BTW, I am actually Sicilian/ Italian---buon giorno!
Last edited by GeorgeLaw; 03-13-2011 at 09:47 AM.
2011 USPOL Most Valuable Poster (MVP)
ahoy Italian,
matey, i don't think Americans hate the Japanese me friend.
i think...way back in the eighties, folks on our shores may have feared the Japanese, but 'twas a fear mixed with respect, and the fear came from a percieved economic prowess that them swabbys from the land 'o the risin' sun that our country felt it could not matched.
that same mix 'o anxiety and respect be now aimed at China.
i don't get the sense that thar be any bigotry aimed towards the folks who dwell in Japan.
- MeadHallPirate
Secretary of Defense
We Americans just aren't as enlightened that Italians are. Perhaps if we were contributing more to the development of foreign countries then you we would be more enlightened.
Oh look, we already are:
Commitment to Development Index 2010 : Center for Global Development : Initiatives: Active
Legend of USPO!
We hate the Japanese so much, we're sending a fleet of Navy ships and two Urban Search and Rescue Teams along with 75 tons of rescue equipment.
Matt
“Well, congratulations, President Barack Obama, Conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their fucking heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: skepticism about your opponents.” - Jon Stewart
City Council Member
Wow, I must have touched a serious weak spot here..
My post has nothing to do with the US govt sending help to Japan..
My post is asking why there are so many Americans posting retarded comments..
Since the post started, not a single one of you condemned those comments. Comments made by the very same people you try to dissociate yourselves from.
City Council Member
Totally off topic.. and damn yankee, you keep proving my point!
Legend of USPO!
Your post is just more petty anti-American bigotry.
Matt
“Well, congratulations, President Barack Obama, Conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their fucking heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: skepticism about your opponents.” - Jon Stewart
City Council Member
If I was anti-American I wouldn't have joined an American forum..
If I was anti-American I can assure you I would have and could have said much worse things..
You're just too biased to answer wisely on this post.. that's all.
Secretary of Defense
If your point is that we "hate" foreigners, then our support of them at a higher level then you enlightened Italians destroys your point. That is, unless you are also saying that you hate foreigners more than we do.
Concerned Citizen
You are obviously "historically challenged", you make a lot of assumptions based on the words and actions of some Americans.
However, you are absolutely correct when you state that many Americans have no love for the Japanese. It has nothing to do with the intelligence or the innovation or the work ethic of Japanese people.
It has everything to do with the barbaric, sub-human behavior of the Japanese military before and during World War 2.
Ever heard of the rape of Nanking, China?
Ever heard of the Bataan death march?
Ever heard of the Burma railroad?
Ever heard of the complete lack of humanity and the barbarism that Japan exhibited towards both civilian and military prisoners of war during World War 2?
And YOU have the unmitigated gall to criticize the United States and it's allies for bringing an end to the carnage by forcing Japan to surrender after they got a demonstration of our new weapons of mass destruction?
At the very moment Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated, the United States and it's allies were within days of invading the Japanese mainland, and the estimates were that over 500,000 allied casualties were expected.
The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki SAVED millions civilian and military lives at the expense of 200,000 lives.
War is hell. Memories are long. Crack open a history book or watch some documentaries about the endless atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War 2. THEN come back in here and tell all of us what you think.
Time heals many wounds. I have no animosity towards the Japanese people. They paid for their atrocities many years ago. I respect the Japanese people. But I don't blame those who harbor ill feelings towards the Japanese, especially those who were directly affected by their atrocities.
So are you from Italy? That's ironic. The birthplace of FASCISM. The country that has had dozens of governments since World War 2. The country that has it's own long list of war atrocities. And you criticize people who harbor il will towards a country that was also part of the "axis" during World War 2?
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