Relief Efforts For Japan

[Bruce Palmer]

Like it or not, Japan pissed a lot of people off in the 20th century. I saw news reports of large numbers of Chinese people saying something like "Warm welcome to the Japanese tsunami" on the internet, and really if you look what happened between those two countries it doesn't surprise me at all. I'm guessing the number of Filipinos donating is probably pretty slim as well. They pretty well ran over all of Southeast Asia, so I would guess that this feeling is pretty widespread in the region.

As to the dollars spent to help Haiti vs Japan, Haiti is a dirt poor 3rd world shithole, Japan is a technological leader. I think their debt situation may bite them in the arse here, but they are certainly in a better position than Haiti to deal with what comes their way. Also consider the death tolls. Haiti, maybe 300K, Japan, maybe 20K dead.

I watched two segments of the HBO series The Pacific last night and the "sins of the 20th century" that you posted about kept rolling through my mind.

[HS30-H]

Like it or not, Japan pissed a lot of people off in the 20th century. I saw news reports of large numbers of Chinese people saying something like "Warm welcome to the Japanese tsunami" on the internet, and really if you look what happened between those two countries it doesn't surprise me at all.

Friends of yours by any chance? http://i.imgur.com/cnWV2.jpg

I watched two segments of the HBO series The Pacific last night and the "sins of the 20th century" that you posted about kept rolling through my mind.

Theres' a whole bunch of prequels too ( "Sins of the 18th Century" etc ). Got any skeletons in your national closet?

Seriously, if karma payback is watching then we ALL better be looking in the mirror.

[jmortensen]

Friends of yours by any chance?

No, why? Are they friends of yours? I just said I understood the reluctance, not that I was endorsing or agreed with it. It proves my point though. People don't forget how a country has mistreated them just because that country suffers a natural disaster, even if it was 70 years ago.

[HS30-H]

It proves my point though. People don't forget how a country has mistreated them just because that country suffers a natural disaster, even if it was 70 years ago.

I'm struggling to believe that those Facebook cretins are 'remembering' anything at all. I doubt that most of them would even be able to find Japan on a map ( presuming they knew what a map was for..... ).

The elephant in the room with your "people don't forget" warning is that you and me ( citizens of the USA and UK respectively ) will be expected to take responsibility for an ever-growing list of transgressions.

I'd say that Japan has been pretty well behaved for the last 70-odd years, and yet you still say that "people don't forget". So how many generations does it take for redemption? I think you and I will have a long wait......

[jmortensen]

I'm struggling to believe that those Facebook cretins are 'remembering' anything at all. I doubt that most of them would even be able to find Japan on a map ( presuming they knew what a map was for..... ).

The elephant in the room with your "people don't forget" warning is that you and me ( citizens of the USA and UK respectively ) will be expected to take responsibility for an ever-growing list of transgressions.

I'd say that Japan has been pretty well behaved for the last 70-odd years, and yet you still say that "people don't forget". So how many generations does it take for redemption? I think you and I will have a long wait......

I think you're underestimating those who still harbor a grudge. It seems presumptuous to say that they're all a bunch of cretins. Some think our president harbors some pretty strong anti-colonialist notions (returning the bust of Churchill as one of his first actions after taking office being one indicator), like him or not I don't think there is too much doubt that he could find Britain on a map. Speaking of which, I think I'd have to say that as you are a citizen of a colonial power your wait for "redemption" will probably be longer than mine, although the US seems to like to add to our list of offenses with alarming regularity.