Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami reveal American Stupidity, Insensitivity
Posted: March 12, 2011 Filed under: Environment, Media, Science, War | Tags: Anglo-Maori wars, Atheism, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Australia, Facebook, Hawaii, Hiroshima, Japan, Karma, nationalism, New Zealand, No Child Left Behind, Nuclear weapon, Pacific Ocean, Pearl Harbor, solar flare, State of American Education, Tsunami, Twentieth Century, United States, what caused the 2011 sendai earthquake?, World War II 11 Comments »
Image by The U.S. National Archives via Flickr
EDIT: The internet is telling me all these anti-Japanese sentiments began with a Family Guy staff writer’s joke tweet. He deleted the tweet and apologized, though other Americans might actually mean it as evident by their Facebook vitriol?
The last 48 hours for Japan have been rough: two earthquakes, a tsunami, and fears of nuclear meltdown.
A logical, possible explanation? A solar flare.
Some cesspoolian Americans, however, viewed these natural phenomena as the work of a spiritual deity. These Americans believe the universe was angry at Japan for Pearl Harbor, and decided to wait more than 50 years to dish out karmic justice. Except these Americans didn’t say it like that. More like: ”Fuck Japan! Remember Pearl Harbor? Karma’s a bitch!” Yeah.
When I think of all the Americans that never learned of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, my forehead wrinkles with worry. No Child Left Behind is doing a worse job than we imagined!
If I had to pick a country, between the United States and Japan, that would get karmic retribution for actions in World War II, I’d pick the United States (body count, occupation). If I were to follow the Facebooking-karmic-justice-Americans logic, where nature takes it upon herself to punish man for the things he does to his fellow man, I’d have to assume that Katrina, the tornadoes tearing up the midwest, the BP Oil Spill (why not?) and every other natural catastrophe to hit the states EVER, is retribution for things America did in prior wars. Or am I being silly here, because America don’t have to worry about karmic retribution? I don’t know the rules to this karma-blame-game… maybe America is exempt.
But what about New Zealand? Following the logic stated above, one could argue the Christchurch earthquake happened because of the Anglo-Maori wars centuries ago. And the flooding in Australia? Oh, the universe is always punishing that country – they’re a country of criminals, you see?
But really, why Pearl Harbor?
My hypothesis: the film ”Pearl Harbor” played recently (ahem, on repeat for a week) on some cable channel, making the battle of Pearl Harbor fresh in commonplace American minds. These Americans heard the world “Japan” on the news, and were like, “I just watched a movie with Ben Affleck, and that tsunami country bombed us in the movie! Serves them right, durrr, derr.”
(I don’t know if “Pearl Harbor” aired recently, but this makes me think my idea has merit…)
CLOSING EDIT: That joke flew over my head and now I feel silly. Perhaps all those Facebook people were really imitating Alec Sulkin. Reddit does not know this yet, nor does Viceland.com, linked above. (3:30pm CST)
Anime: Why two nukes on Japan wasn't enough
Posted: March 28, 2010 Filed under: Entertainment, Film, Politics, Uncategorized | Tags: Anime, Archer, Astro Boy, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Barack Obama, Business and Economy, Cowboy Bebop, ghost in a shell remake, Government, Hayden Panettiere, Japan, Kurosawa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, New Hampshire, New Hampshire House of Representatives, Nick Levasseur, Nuclear weapon, Ozu Yasujiro, Paprika, Pearl Harbor, Politics, steven spielberg, United States, United States armed forces 5 Comments »
Image via Wikipedia
Two days ago, New Hampshire state representative Nick Levasseur wrote this as his facebook status: “Anime is a prime example that two nukes just wasn’t enough” . (Click here to watch a video compilation of the local media’s take)
The medias coverage has focused on him either being a racist (another right wing media link), or on how this is an insult to anime.
Nick appears to be around 26 years old. Nick looks like he watches anime. I think Nick was telling a joke. A really bad one, but nonetheless, a joke. Would you ever hear a Japanese politician joke that they should bomb Pearl Harbor again because they just can’t stand our summer blockbusters? Absolutely not.
This isn’t the first time Nicky has made really bad jokes though. Back in 2007, on his Myspace page he listed under his interests: “the hunting of neo-conservative Reaganites” and in 2008, also on his Myspace page, he described himself as “the magic mushroom. Shove me in a dark place, feed me a fist full of shit, and watch me grow!” This latest attempt at a joke, by insulting the Japanese tragedy, reveals his under developed sense of humor.
No other country in the world has been attacked with nuclear weapons, and if you know ANYTHING about Japanese history, or culture, you know to this day they still struggle with that happened to them (hello, Godzilla films?). Consider the new book, ” The Last Train from Hiroshima” or even this recent gem about Hayden Panettiere’s efforts to save dolphins in Japan:
As the group arrived, a truck of right-wing nationalists blasted slogans, saying Japan should not be singled out for whaling and dolphin hunts because Westerners “are killing cows.” They also demanded President Barack Obama apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
-‘Heroes’ Actress visits Japan dolphin hunt town via Associated Press
Japanese society has long used the arts to deal with their nuclear past, and if you are going to include anime in this artistic realm, you have to mention the famous manga-turned-anime-turned-American-film Astro Boy. Astro Boy was born in 1951…. just years after the bombs were dropped. Astro Boy’s name in Japan is “Mighty Atom” and is a direct reference to the nuclear attacks. Astro Boy was made to appeal to little boys, perhaps to help the children cope with new post-war reality?
Sadly, this joke also reveals that Nick has never seen any good anime. Action movies tend to be really bad too, but I don’t go around advocating the bombing of Hollywood…. and every once in a while, an action film does comes along that I can appreciate (Fifth Element, for example…). The same applies to anime.
If you’d like to watch some good anime films, I’d recommend anything by Oscar winner Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the films Paprika, Ghost in the Shell (which Spielberg is remaking), and Perfect Blue. For anime series, I’d recommend Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Lain (though the last two do get creepy later on).
A conspiracy theory for the discriminating conspiracy theorist
Posted: September 21, 2009 Filed under: Strange | Tags: 9 22 warning, Chicago, conspiracy theory, Edward Teller, Fallout 3, Martin Luther King, Mount Zion Georgia, Nuclear weapon, Osama bin Laden, Rosh Hashanah, Solar eclipse, US 2 Comments »Image via Wikipedia
I am not trying to cause a panic- but there’s a conspiracy theory making the rounds on the internet about Chicago and tomorrow. The website responsible is here, and it’s most certainly a hoax. What reason does Obama have to bomb his city? Oh, right, a poster on AboveTopSecret claims there is evidence in Chicago that proves Obama is not a natural-born citizen so he needs to destroy the whole city to erase this evidence. I love this conspiracy theory because it’s a chimera of others; part 9-11 truthers, part birthers, with a dash of 2012.
As for the website, digging reveals it was created on the 13th of September, and uses a proxy server out of Arizona. There is a hidden ticket counter on the website. There is no other information out there to reveal the creator or his/her intent. My guess is to scare, or the teenage internet rulers are doing another social experiment. Maybe people just can’t wait until 2012 (if you haven’t heard yet, that’s when the world is going to end).
I have also seen versions of this rumor that say the bomber will be Osama bin Laden, because it’s the end of Ramadan, Rosh Hashana and there is a new moon. Either way, the government and terrorists are both huge fans of numerology and are so disorganized that vital information like this can be leaked to the public. I’ve also seen this rumor on the infamous 4-chan boards and a few have made youtube videos about the conspiracy.
I know there’s going to be a huge let down tomorrow when it doesn’t happen, so I’m going to start my own conspiracy theory: On January 15th, of 2010, there will be an annular solar eclipse. This date is important because Edward Teller, the “father of the hydrogen bomb” was born on this date, as was Martin Luther King, Jr. Naturally, this means Obama is going to drop a bomb on Mount Zion, Georgia on January 15th, 2010. Why Mount Zion? 1 x 15 x 2010 equals Mount Zion’s zip code! Zion is also a Hebrew word, and we all know that Obama is a secret Muslim so he must hate the Jews. The South has also been a thorn in Obama’s side, so if he could just obliterate that part of the US he could easily pass his liberal agenda.
….and on the off-chance that this actually does happen tomorrow, I’ve been preparing by playing Fallout 3 again.
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