喧嘩

This is a political rant. Those who are here for anime and candies, please ignore this post.

So… recently China and Japan’s relationship has deteriorated further (and people thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse). As a Chinese-born student of Japanese, I thought I should take some time and type a serious blog entry for once, and provide my naive viewpoint on the topic. Bewarned, for my opinions are pretty anti-establishment and probably differs from yours…

Now, the most apparent causative factors of this great clash of civilization are the events that transpired during WW2. The actions of Japanese during the war do not matter as much as the fact that the Japanese side today refuses to perform certain acts of apology deemed to be necessary by nationalistic Chinese and Koreans, and even does things that seem to go in the exact opposite direction, such as the regular visits to Yasukuni Shrine and the censorship of school textbooks.

Instead of weighing the two sides, drawing out statistic charts, timelines and mindmaps to gauge which side is “right” and playing blame-pushing like many partisan entities, or simply trying to stay neutral like many news articles of professional nature, I shall take a step back and comment on the one thing that has been pissing me, a member of the human race, off instead.

But first thing first, I do not approve of what the Japanese did to China in the 1940s, and I certainly do not deny that they did it. But that is not what the current conflict is about. The people rioting on the streets might claim that it is, and the Japanese politicians might even agree, but it isn’t. The tension between China and Japan has gone way pass WW2, so far that it has nothing to do with it anymore. Nationalists of both countries are simply making use of that distant atrocity as their leverage over the rest of the population.

The Chinese nationalist (not to be confused with Taiwan) wants Japan to apologize, to “face history” and to do many humiliating things in general in order to somehow make up for their past mistakes. The Japanese nationalist uses that as a proof of China’s neverending hunger for revenge, characterizing China as the aggressor and Japan as the victim.

The Chinese government happily goes along with the nationalists, campaigning for Japan to “face history” (while at the same time suppressing any floating memories of the Tiananmen Incident). The Japanese government happily continues visiting Yasukuni Shrine and writing a whole load bullshit in their textbooks, at the same time aware of the fact that they are honouring war criminals and lying to their children… but it all works out for the politicians, because the ones casting the electoral votes are Japanese (many who were lied to when they were young and many who are just crazy nationalists themselves) and not those dangerous Chinese! Woohoo! It’s all right as long as it pleases the voting population!

Both sides refuse to admit any mistakes on their part. China stubbornly refuses to look at the big picture and focuses only on the atrocities that took place 60 years ago. Japan stubbornly refuses to look at the very place where China can’t take its eyes off.

Frankly, the entire underlying cause of the everything is not the war itself. It’s not even Japan’s misguided postwar actions. It’s all those damn nationalists.

I strongly oppose the idea of countries and nations, and certainly I think that anyone who is loyal to his country, or any country for that matter, is an idiot. The very existence of nations is prohibiting the progress of humankind. Loyalty to a nation creates anti-foreign sentiments and stirs up trouble. And who exactly are the foreigners? Why other human beings of course. The Chinese nationalists believe that by forcing Japanese to pay up for its past action, they somehow redeem the lost “honour” of a pile of bone ashes, thereby proving to the world that the nation as a whole is not to be taken lightly. The Japanese nationalists believe that by standing firm in face of unjust demands from China, they can face their people with “honour” and… thereby proving to the world that the nation as a whole is not to be taken lightly… It all boils down to a matter of “honour” for the nation. And don’t give me that bullshit that this whole thing is actually about Japanese’s immoral actions and how they’ve not done enough to “pay” for it. Every race and country in the world has committed crimes against humanity before. Did the Communist government of China apologize for Tiananmen (even though every last one of them knew and still know that it was a mistake)? I agree that Japan did not do enough to make up for their past actions, but neither did anyone else. Most atrocities were just conveniently forgotten with time or lack of political interest, whereas in the case of WW2, it has proven too useful a tool to the Chinese government to let it fade away.

In the end, what exactly are these people fighting for? What do you actually achieve when you gain glory for your country? I’ll tell you what. You are responsible for delaying the progress of the human race. By waving your country’s flag, you praise the segregation of humankind. By furthering your country’s interest at the expense of another, you have merely caused humanity to move an inch in a plane circle and gradually back to the starting point, with zero progress upwards. It is a fool’s aspiration, a struggle with no purpose and a whole bunch of lies.

Why do people refuse to look at the big picture? Why do people continue to feel so much for their nation and so little for the world?

Why, because humans are stupid of course.

Now if you would excuse me, I have to go into hiding for some time.