Japanese Whaling: The Good, The Bad and the Just Plain Stupid!!!
March 20th 2008 00:20
Konichiua dear readers!
It's been a long time since I decided to sit down and share my thoughts with the world, but I am back! Two years have passed. I am older, wiser and less firey, but none less ready to speak out against more cracks in the plaster board wall we call society. Today's topic is one which has been in the news a lot recently: the issue of Japanese whaling in the south pacific, and the increased levels of racial hatred this has caused in the differing stratas of society. But first I would like to narrow the scale to a much more personal perspective.
I grew up with a deep love of Japanese culture (videogames, Manga/anime, Samurai films, J-horror, the shinto religion and of course their wonderfully poetic language). Today, this love of the uniqueness which one always associates with 'the land of the rising sun' has never been stronger and I seriously wish to go there in the near future. However, when tensions between Australian environmentalists and Japanese whaling vessels in the south pacific reach new levels earlier this year, I found myself faced with a grave moral dilemma.
At first I was a little hesitent to voice an opinion against this issue, since I am strictly opposed to cultural imperialism, and thought it would be hypocritical to villify Japanese Whaling and not say a damn thing about Spanish bullfights or the consumption of dog meat in Korea and the Phillipines. Plus, I thought about how I would feel if a Jew gave me a hard time about eating pork or a hindu about eating beef.
On the other hand I am an environmentalist and an active member of my university's chapter of the Green Party. Every one knows that whales are endangered and I was being put under increased pressure to speak out. It got to the point that even my parents were scrutinizing my hesitance to act. My mother signed a partition to stop whaling at the local mall and got very angry when I refrained from joining her.
Thankfully, I recently converted to the shintoism myself and now oppose whaling as a sacrelige because it breaks one of shinto's fundamental principles: to cherish all life be it plant or animal because every natural thing on the Earth has a spirit which is some way connected to you.
On a far greater scale, what sparked this issue off was that whilst tralling through the endless number of groups on Facebook, I came across one which was anti-whaling (I will refrain from using the title since it is offensive and confrontational). The administrators for the group made a clear point in their outline for the group stating that they did not want the forum to become "a racial battleground". Famous last words. Despite this, the majority of comments left on the site were not from informed environmentalists or even from people who loved animals, but rather from angry, hate filled racial bigots who wanted to promote white-supremist values. One trouble maker even went so far as to mention World War II, in a display that is guaranteed to cause trouble regardless of issue.
These online messages of hate merely fan the fire for those who would . Despite Japan's rapid modernisation and recent synergy with western capitalism, there are still a large proportion of Japanese nationals who hate us filthy GAIJINS (that's Japanese for foreigners) and are still raw about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For these nationalists, until the west formally apologises to Japan for those nuclear attacks, which killed mostly innocent women and children, they will not respond to negociations. Therefore, considering that the Japanese government is full of these bitter nationalists, it is no surprise that Greenpeace protestors are being threatened by gunboats. Countries have gone to war in the past for issues far more trivial than this and, considering the violitile nature of world politics and the critical lack of man power, I just don't believe Australia should be trying to pick fights (particularly not with countries with reputations as ruthless as Japan).
Please bare in mind, however, that this is not a majority view. Most Japanese people love westerners and welcome any one who wishes to share and contrast cultural views with them. I myself know many Japanese students and they are truly wonderful people. Thus it appalls me that so many people can be so black and white about everything. One can still enjoy certain cultural aspects about another country whilst opposing others. It took me a while to realise that but I am glad that I did because it proves that one's intensions are just and impartial. Abusing an online lobby group as "a racial battleground" defeats the point of creating it in the first place and can only lead to further hatred. Instead we should be trying to promote peace, so that we can learn to solve socio-political problems like whaling in a non-violent dignified way.
I look forward to hearing from you...
It's been a long time since I decided to sit down and share my thoughts with the world, but I am back! Two years have passed. I am older, wiser and less firey, but none less ready to speak out against more cracks in the plaster board wall we call society. Today's topic is one which has been in the news a lot recently: the issue of Japanese whaling in the south pacific, and the increased levels of racial hatred this has caused in the differing stratas of society. But first I would like to narrow the scale to a much more personal perspective.
I grew up with a deep love of Japanese culture (videogames, Manga/anime, Samurai films, J-horror, the shinto religion and of course their wonderfully poetic language). Today, this love of the uniqueness which one always associates with 'the land of the rising sun' has never been stronger and I seriously wish to go there in the near future. However, when tensions between Australian environmentalists and Japanese whaling vessels in the south pacific reach new levels earlier this year, I found myself faced with a grave moral dilemma.
At first I was a little hesitent to voice an opinion against this issue, since I am strictly opposed to cultural imperialism, and thought it would be hypocritical to villify Japanese Whaling and not say a damn thing about Spanish bullfights or the consumption of dog meat in Korea and the Phillipines. Plus, I thought about how I would feel if a Jew gave me a hard time about eating pork or a hindu about eating beef.
On the other hand I am an environmentalist and an active member of my university's chapter of the Green Party. Every one knows that whales are endangered and I was being put under increased pressure to speak out. It got to the point that even my parents were scrutinizing my hesitance to act. My mother signed a partition to stop whaling at the local mall and got very angry when I refrained from joining her.
Thankfully, I recently converted to the shintoism myself and now oppose whaling as a sacrelige because it breaks one of shinto's fundamental principles: to cherish all life be it plant or animal because every natural thing on the Earth has a spirit which is some way connected to you.
On a far greater scale, what sparked this issue off was that whilst tralling through the endless number of groups on Facebook, I came across one which was anti-whaling (I will refrain from using the title since it is offensive and confrontational). The administrators for the group made a clear point in their outline for the group stating that they did not want the forum to become "a racial battleground". Famous last words. Despite this, the majority of comments left on the site were not from informed environmentalists or even from people who loved animals, but rather from angry, hate filled racial bigots who wanted to promote white-supremist values. One trouble maker even went so far as to mention World War II, in a display that is guaranteed to cause trouble regardless of issue.
These online messages of hate merely fan the fire for those who would . Despite Japan's rapid modernisation and recent synergy with western capitalism, there are still a large proportion of Japanese nationals who hate us filthy GAIJINS (that's Japanese for foreigners) and are still raw about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For these nationalists, until the west formally apologises to Japan for those nuclear attacks, which killed mostly innocent women and children, they will not respond to negociations. Therefore, considering that the Japanese government is full of these bitter nationalists, it is no surprise that Greenpeace protestors are being threatened by gunboats. Countries have gone to war in the past for issues far more trivial than this and, considering the violitile nature of world politics and the critical lack of man power, I just don't believe Australia should be trying to pick fights (particularly not with countries with reputations as ruthless as Japan).
Please bare in mind, however, that this is not a majority view. Most Japanese people love westerners and welcome any one who wishes to share and contrast cultural views with them. I myself know many Japanese students and they are truly wonderful people. Thus it appalls me that so many people can be so black and white about everything. One can still enjoy certain cultural aspects about another country whilst opposing others. It took me a while to realise that but I am glad that I did because it proves that one's intensions are just and impartial. Abusing an online lobby group as "a racial battleground" defeats the point of creating it in the first place and can only lead to further hatred. Instead we should be trying to promote peace, so that we can learn to solve socio-political problems like whaling in a non-violent dignified way.
I look forward to hearing from you...
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