Japan and Tsunamis, Nuclear Reactors and Heroes, Facebook and Racism

by Heather · 30 comments

Facebook's "Karma is a bitch" racists in Japan's Tsunami Aftermath

Facebook's "Karma is a bitch" racists in Japan's Tsunami Aftermath

Hey AMWW readers, it’s huggable Heather again, ready to pour my heart out again in light of recent events. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’re more than aware of the earthquake in Japan and everything that’s been happening.

In case you missed it, however, I’ll breifly bring you up to date:

On March 11th at about 2:45PM local time, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 struck Japan. It resulted in a major tsunami that devastated its northeastern cities. With more than 10,000 people presumed dead in the Miyagi prefecture and countless citizens missing, the country continues to receive dangerous aftershocks that could possibly cause more tsunamis.

Japanese tsunami casualty estimates are now in tens of thousands of souls lost.

The gigantic tsunami is, although the major player, only part of the aftermath of the earthquake; reactors in a power plant are unable to cool, with radiation leakage escalating by the hour. Some reports assure us it’s nothing to worry about, but mainstream media makes typical readers believe otherwise.

Regardless, this is a crippling blow, not only to the Japanese society but to the economy and the world. Hawaii was badly flooded but managed to escape major damage and at least five people were swept off the beaches of Northern California – one man remains missing.

This horrendous natural disaster has brought out the best in many people: take the tear-jerking story of how one family survived – a man saw a family of three struggling to get to higher ground. He got the mother and children to where he was by getting down and pushing them onto his deck. As the mother tried pulling him up out of the now oncoming water, a car came and swept him away, drowning him. This unknown hero gave his life to save strangers.

Or the 180 brave nuclear technicians who are currently staying behind as the nuclear reactor literally explodes and melts around them. Racing against the clock and very likely being asked to make the greatest sacrifice any man or woman can make, this is a real life heroic drama being played RIGHT NOW and with greater consequences than any made-for-TV movie. What these courageous Japanese men and women- these real life heroes- are doing thousands of miles across the Pacific, could potentially not only save the lives of their fellow countrymen, but save the rest of us (whether in Asia or Canada and the United States) from the devastating effects of radiation fallout like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.

Let me quote from one of my favorite TV shows…

“The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They’re our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.” – President Bartlett (West Wing)

I’m getting teary-eyed as I write this.

A more light-hearted story comes from a group of students in UCLA who, after the Alexandra Wallace (UCLA Girl’s rant on Asians in the Library) event, decided to make tee-shirts in response to her youtube rant and donate all the proceeds to the tsunami relief fund (can be purchased here).

While it’s brought out the best in people, it’s also brought out the very worst. Upon hearing the tsunami warning, how many of you thought to update your Facebook status to pray for Japan? How many of you tweeted about donating money for relief effort?

And how many of you remembered Pearl Harbor and didn’t bat an eyelash about how soul-less you sounded when you reminded others about it?

I was appalled when I saw this; every time I see it, I look at the faces of the people writing their status updates and think “they look like me, they speak like me…but they aren’t like me.”

Comparing these two UNRELATED events simply isn’t human.

To think that they can claim God is on their side, punishing Japan (or Japanese atheists as this woman claims) for war-related events that happened decades ago for which we CLEARLY “got them back” with the atomic bombs, is incredulous.

Karma is a bitch” are these “patriot’s” excuse for cheering the destruction and horrific loss of life in Japan.

About that…if you think God is punishing Japan for Pearl Harbor, I’m terrified as to what he has in store for us for those A-bombs. Way to go with your shitty logic, racist a-holes.

To me, this doesn’t just signify how ignorant some Americans really can be, but how racist they may possibly be in real life.

If they feel this way about Japan, who’s to say it stops there? It begs the question as to how they feel about Japanese-Americans.

  • Do they look upon those different than them with sneers of contempt and hatred?
  • What are they teaching their children?
  • Does the racism stop with Japanese-Americans?
  • Does it continue on to encompass all Asians, even all minorities?

It’s only speculation, but I wouldn’t put it past these empty shells of a human being who are void of compassion and tolerance towards others and teeming with prejudice and racism.

If you are in agreement with the racist people pictured above, I implore you to leave your reasoning in the comment section because I cannot wrap my head around that thought process.

I want to understand how you can look at people in need – people who are suffering, people who have lost their homes, their family members, and even their lives – and have the audacity to undermine their anguish.

It doesn’t matter where, when, and why something like this happens; we are ALL people.

We are ALL human. We ALL deserve help in our darkest hour, including the people of Japan.

{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }

Anonymous March 17, 2011 at 12:56 am

http://media.photobucket.com/image/americans%20assholes%20of%20the%20world/Kraiden/1300160676871.jpg

Link to the picture posted, in case you wanted to read some of the facebook statuses.

Reply

Melanie Mumea March 22, 2011 at 3:55 am

Wow. Reading those statuses made me sick to my stomach. I bet every one of those a-holes (or their kids) play video games, drive Hondas, Use Japanese made cell phones etc. They probably get their kids off the Playstation and drive them to church in their Toyota and say god rattled the Atheists. They love technology but when the people that make life a dream for them need emergency help, that’s how they act. Forget everything Japan does for us, think of something they did eons ago and forget that they were struck so much harder. It’s like 3rd grade logic. If anyone on my facebook posted that, instant deletion. I’m sick.

Reply

graphyte March 17, 2011 at 1:37 am

karma is a bitch?? ummm so dropping a couple of A-bombs after pearl harbor isn’t enough?? really?

Reply

Anonymous March 17, 2011 at 2:16 am

Exactly…their logic makes no sense.

Reply

mikeguest March 17, 2011 at 7:52 am

Good point Graphyte!
Also why did they have to update their facebook statuses without looking at facts?

facts:-

Pearl Harbor:
2402 military casualties

A-bombs:
90,000–166,000 (innocents, women and children) killed in Hiroshima
60,000–80,000 (innocents, women and children) killed in Nagasaki

Source: Wikipedia

Reply

Awesomealvin March 20, 2011 at 4:30 am

I’m a Chinese Canadian (Chinese decent born in Canada). To be completely honest, its very hard for me to feel much sympathy for the Japanese. It terms of karma towards Japan, the first thing I usually think of is the rape of Nanking and other massacre’s during the Japanese invasion. (Which the Japanese still won’t admit).

Yes I know it has been a long time, but back in 1920’s when Japan has its second worst earth quake China provided tons and tons of rice to aid them. Couple years latter they raped, humiliated, and murdered 200000 innocent Chinese women and children. And when I say rape, humiliated, and murdered what I mean is that if you are a man you get lined up and they have a head chopping competition. And if your a pregnant women, you get raped followed up by cutting out your unborn child, watch your unborn child die, followed by getting your head cut-off. And if you are not pregnant you get raped and get knives stabbed up your va****, and some women survived to tell the story. Yes atomic bomb sucks, but at least that is an instant death, and a necessary deaths that eventually leads to the end of WWII. But the rapping and humiliation? What’s wrong with a shot in the head? On second thought “rape” and “humiliation” is not even strong enough of a word for me to describe the incident.

I am the third generation Chinese since the Japanese invasion, but what the Japanese has done in the past was just so so wrong. In terms of karma, does the current generation of Japanese people deserve this? Probably so, since they still haven’t admit to the coldblooded actions they did in the past. And during the Chinese earthquake in 2008, Japanese blogs are full of comments like “Sick men of Asian deserve to die!”. If China wasn’t so strong today, I am willing to bet that they would invade it again, and they are going to do it the exact same way and would yet again refuse to admit it. In the minds of Japanese in the past and present, old and young the Chinese would always remain as the “Sick men of Asian”. That alone I think karma has done its job.

You can call me cold blooded, heartless, or purely mean but if you looked into the eyes of my elders who has been through the Japanese invasion. I swear, you would too.

Reply

Anonymous March 20, 2011 at 8:00 am

I am aware of the atrocities the Japanese committed in WWII. If you go about saying “karma is a bitch” though, by your own faulty logic, you will get yours.

Reply

Awesomealvin March 20, 2011 at 9:08 pm

I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just not feeling any sympathy for the Japanese. How would I get mine?

I’m sure your a great a sweet person Heather, and I know my previous comment was a little strong. However I just wanted to point out the other side of the “karma argument”.

AA

Reply

Anonymous March 21, 2011 at 12:27 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zIZxTejQwk

THIS is what I mean. If people go around saying “karma’s a bitch” then we will all get our comeuppance sooner or later.

Reply

Awesomealvin March 22, 2011 at 1:31 am

Well lucky for me I’m Chinese Canadian.

AA

Melanie Mumea March 22, 2011 at 3:42 am

Karma doesn’t work like that. besides, you’re feeling butt-hurt over things that happened a long time ago. Probably before you.

You have the right to your own opinion, but by feeling no pity and doing nothing, you’re raking up some heavy karmatic debt.

Reply

Awesomealvin March 23, 2011 at 3:58 pm

Just cause its a long time ago doesn’t mean it won’t happen again. The Japanese have no respect for the Chinese in the past and the future.

Mayzeszalay March 29, 2011 at 11:43 pm

To a point I understand what you’re coming from. I’m Eastern European, and hate the Russians for what they came in and did to my Direct family. It’s similar to any man-made disaster. Are the Cambodians to hate themselves for the Khmer Rouge?
I’m still angry at the Russians, I see the pain still in my father. I have friends from the Balkans and the Bosnian crisis (in which rape was a major tactic) etc. I tend to not talk to individuals of Russian decent. HOWever, I can’t write them off completely and bear them ill-wishes. This generation doesn’t deserve massive destruction…just like the Germans today can’t be blamed for the Holocaust. Every nationality has blood on its hands…white people probably the worst of all.

But wishing death on people isn’t right (..seeing that they did die). Pay respect to the memory of even your enemy, because the one who finishes the fight is the one who gets punished, rather than the one who starts it.

Reply

someguy April 2, 2011 at 2:41 am

I feel you, i mean, being a korean and having family members who suffered the WWII atrocities especially my great grandfather who had his entire property confiscated and put to prison for some crime he didnt commit . ( all due to fairness, unlike China, our whole country was occupied, ), at first I wanted to call it karma and had conflicting feelings, but then again, quoting Mayzeszalay, every country DOES have blood on their hands, its human nature, noone is cleaner then the other just different opportunities and power at the time, and what matters is to make things right, now, rather then being bitter about the past.

I mean I know Korea has blood on their hands and is no different, as they helped America attacking against Vietnam and they had practiced alot of tyranny and invasion as they were also part of Mongolia at one point so we attacked China too and of course China attacked us too. The very fact that China is the biggest country in the world with world’s 3rd greatest GDP today kinda proves they had to get their hands dirty at one point, you don’t get a country that size with clean hands, do you agree not?

My main point is that this kind of mindset is poison towards you’re own people, in the end its all selfish points of views. if you think its fair the japanese citizens should suffer for what their country and ancestors did in the past, would it be fair that you’re parents, brother, or sister should suffer by some catastrophe for what you’re country and ur ancestors did in the past? of course not right? so lets act mature about this, You should learn to get rid of that mindset of yours, though im not saying this cause you’re chinese and make this a race thing, I mean i know there are plenty Koreans probably laughing at Japan right now as much as there are Chinese donating for Japan as well , so thats that. its when things happen to you, you realize what reality is about what is truly right.

being honest though, at the moment im not laughing/mocking at japanese earthquake but not feeling sorrow or donating for them either. Im just neutrally just reading the news, but I hope things get better for Japan though.

Reply

AnotherAsian March 21, 2011 at 6:57 pm

Awesomealvin,

you haven’t done anything wrong, but think about what the Chinese have done to the countries around China. Then I guess “Karma is a bitch” can be applied to you as well.

Reply

Melanie Mumea March 21, 2011 at 7:57 pm

How can anyone not have sympathy for innocent people? If people were more intelligent, they would know that “karma” doesn’t work like this. It was the Earth’s plates shifting. Plate tectonics. I don’t believe in God so I don’t say prayers, or ask for them for that matter, but I do feel sympathy.

Awesomealvin, you say you’re 3rd generation since the Japanese invasion? That was a long time ago. That’s like saying Katrina happened from the karma of the American Civil War. Children died in Japan. How can you not think of an innocent toddler dieing in that horror and not feel anything?

You should watch your own karma because thinking like that isn’t going to bring you much in the next life.

Reply

Emill Kim March 24, 2011 at 6:32 am

Thanks for the article,

Karma isn’t a cosmic punitive system.

Karma is about our relationships with each other. It is about our evolving souls that return in multiple incarnations to learn and grow in experience and understanding. It’s said that we come back each time in different guises. Sometimes we’re male, other times female, once poor and others rich, a king then a beggar, etc.

This long journey gives us a wide swath of experiences and perspectives until we see ourselves reflected in the eyes of others. Ultimately we gain wisdom and, more importantly, compassion. Karmic debt (which most people are incorrectly invoking) occurs when we willfully hurt each other. When we act (or speak) out of ignorance instead of love.

The people in Japan are victims and human beings like those who suffered the 9/11 tragedy and the Katrina hurricane. To place blame in the plight of the those who innocently suffer is cruel and a transgression of Karmic balance. (Ironic too)

The human condition is hard enough.
Love, don’t hate people.

I heart you for writing this article Heather.

emillkim.tumblr.com

Reply

Mayzeszalay April 1, 2011 at 2:48 am

I’m curious…
If there is a person say in this life, and they go out of their way to cause others suffering and themselves pain, particularly those closest to them…somewhat socially sadistic… Does that carry on to the next life, stay on until the last? And was this prompted by the last life?
It’s ok if you don’t know…(does anyone truly know?). I’m interested.

Reply

Yan Law March 27, 2011 at 8:06 am

The Atheist Video Girl makes parody or Troll videos for months as explained in one of her videos. Her original Vengeful God Video that she removed had 70000 dislikes and 10 likes as someone says and parodies the vengeful god remarks on social networks. Reportedly she hasn’t apologized for the offending video.

Reply

Yan Law March 27, 2011 at 8:14 am

Also, I believe a large chunk of the Japanese believe in Christianity as evident in the many western marriages taking place there using western priests to marry their population
(in Chapels).

Reply

Marina Waltz April 2, 2011 at 1:40 am

I was thinking the same thing when I saw those comments, also. And for those who truly believe past actions deserve a current response, how about responding in kind to this?:

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said that it would provide $200,000 in cash to the American Red Cross to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. Japan also identified needs in affected regions via the U.S. government and provided up to $800,000 in emergency supplies such as tents, blankets and power generators if they receive requests from the U.S. for such assistance. Private and corporate donations totaled over $13 million.[33] One Japanese individual, Takashi Endo, donated USD $1 million from his personal funds to Katrina relief efforts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina

Reply

Marina Waltz April 2, 2011 at 1:46 am

My comment above was supposed to be a reply to mikeguest below. My first sentence doesn’t mean much out of context.

Reply

James Ridge April 28, 2011 at 1:59 pm

I totally agree with you. People, specifically Americans shouldn’t think like that. It was already the past and that wasn’t the fault of all the people of in Japan. They should think before they say anything…

Reply

sebastian April 28, 2011 at 8:15 pm

hey heather, how come we’ve never met?? I’ve been in utah for 8 years!!! lol
well, we should grab some italian soda at coffee garden 🙂
goyongj@hotmail.com

Reply

Aldryn October 3, 2011 at 9:22 am

Pearl Harbor. Why would japan bomb america? For fun? Because FDR messed up their economy and FDR wanted to start a war and forced the japanese to attack. When really america attacked first—attacked their economy.

I’m putting that photo in my facebook.

Thanks

Aldryn

Reply

Anonymous March 23, 2011 at 10:45 am

Are you saying China does not have blood on its hands?

The nations we come from all deserve karmic retribution by this logic. None of us escape it.

Reply

Awesomealvin March 23, 2011 at 4:04 pm

Yes China probably does but not as extreme as the Japanese.

But regardless of all this, these arguments are both an insult and defeats the purpose of this site. For that reason this would be my last comment on this topic regardless of additional reply/haters/constructive criticism on my posts.

Reply

Melanie Mumea March 23, 2011 at 9:04 pm

It’s sad when people can’t just get over things and come together.

Reply

r3val4ti0n December 14, 2011 at 6:38 pm

Not extreme? Are you kidding me? 1000 years of raping Vietnam’s (it wasn’t called vietnam then but it’s the same country) economy, population, and government?

Reply

Cancel reply

Leave a Comment

{ 1 trackback }