/rant mode - Person examines you.

#52 Sep 16 2004 at 10:24 AM Rating: Default

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3,139 posts

I must thank everyone posting here. It is amazing how some people can debate a subject, and it is nothing more then a debate, and has an actual purpose. Those flame wars and slam fests have no enjoyment.

Ketosuki,

#1 I ratther enjoy the numbered paragraphs as it makes it very organized, and resposes to each # are easily defined. I cant possibly organize my thoughts well enough to # them, so ill stop now.

Although you dont like this topic being on this thread, the topic came about by the underlying reason behind some peoples dislike for "checking", and so i think it is definatly a warrented topic.

Ceraphine

You say, pretty much what i was saying, but you have a different view point on it. Japan CHOOSE to take up western "technology" so as not to be at a disadvantage. Although it may have been the right thing to do, they made the choice. If they had not, worse things may have happened, but i want to reiterate that the choice was made and not forced. Also as far as WW2 and pearl harbor goes, they also made the CHOICE to elevate the dispute to war. As you say america imposed an oil embargo on them, which was intended to be a non lethal way of halting hostilities on Japan's part. Japan decided it was going to end in war no matter what, and so took the first blow. I cant say that it was a right decision, or a wrong one, but i can say that it was their CHOICE. Once the war began, we pleaded for their surrender (which we would not have wanted had they not decided to take the aggressive route), to no avail. And so we were forced to do what we did to end the war.

Japan may have been very well capable of recovering on their own, but my point in stating that we helped, is to show that the US was not out to destroy Japan and their lifestyle, but meerly out to cease hostilities on their part (similar to Germany or Iraq).

I say this for the mear fact that most of what the US did to Japan was a reaction to something Japan did to us or other countries. This is the reason it is difficult for me to grasp your view of "Japanese have every right to be racist". On the other side of that coin (yes there are 2 sides to every story), EVERYONE has the right to be racist, hate, love, feel, ect. And although i am 100% against racism from anyone for any reason, i cant deny someone their right to have that emotion. I also dont have to agree with them, and have to right to say so.

I dont totally agree with our government, nor any other government. I dont think Iraq needed us to interfere, but we did. But when i look at Iraq, it brings me back to hitler. Had we done nothing, what would have been the final outcome? We didnt do it alone, but we did help. I read the history of hitler, and it makes me sick. I just cant imagine not helping those poor people. Maybe Iraq was a mistake, or maybe getting into other peoples business in the case of Japan was a mistake. But look at the relationship the US has with Japan now. We have trade agreements, economic support systems, and in general a wonderful relationship. While there may be some racist Japanese, for the most part Americans get along with them just fine. There are still racist americans towards Japanese as well, but again 2 wrongs dont make a right.

Moral of my story is, people who hold in hate towards others whom they have never met, or had any issues with, are looking for someone to hate. They dont hate because of WW2 (although that may be their excuse), they dont hate because western technology was passing them by. They dont hate because some american went to africa and took their great great geat great great grandfather and made him a slave. They hate because the world has instilled it in them. They hate because someone told them to hate. They hate because they need an excuse to be mad, and choose to be mad at a culture, instead of dealing with whats really bothering them. Look at the KKK. For crying out loud, how ignorant can you be. I say this about those americans, because it is no different then the Japanese saying they hate us for what we did to them. It is no different then the African Americans being mad at all white people. It is no difference then the french hating americans. It all stems from what has been taught, and not what has been felt.

Ok ill stop now, I need to go eat some sushi, all this talk about Japan makes me crave raw fish.

Edited, Thu Sep 16 11:25:37 2004 by acepod

/rant mode - Person examines you.Follow