Monday, August 1, 2011

Jingoism

According to the Webster's Dictionary, Jingoism means: extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy.

One of the reasons I believe Japan is better than the USA is because we have far less jingoism here in Japan. If you don't believe me about America and it's belligerent foreign policy, just ask someone who lives in Libya, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua, or any of the other countries where the people have been bombed and attacked in various ways by the US Government, all with a great deal of support from the US citizenry.

Japan has apologized, perhaps not enough, but has apologized to China and South Korea for having attacked them 75 years ago. Russia and North Korea are still waiting for an apology I suppose. In any case, Japan's government no longer engages in murderous behavior against innocent people in other countries. Knowing that I live in a country that has a government that is not led by creepy aggressive murderers makes me feel good about living here.

Clinton, the Bush's, Obama, and most all of the USA President's have created a mountain of corpses, and the blood is on their hands.

The jingoism even carries over onto the playing field. Remember the last time you watched the Olympics? The Olympic spirit is profoundly dead in America. Remember the Olympic oath, that the competitors are there to participate and the goal is not necessarily to win? But what is the reality? USA - USA - USA chanted out the wazoo. It's sickening, the epitome of jingoism.

On the contrary, Japan's women's soccer team just won the World Cup. Barely anyone here cares. Few people watched, perhaps due to the game being played in Germany and the time zone differences, perhaps because it was a woman's game and not a man's event, but my opinion is that people here are just less jingoistic so they don't care quite so much if Japanese people or teams win a sporting event.
Sure, people here would probably enjoy seeing a Japanese person or team winning a sports event. The big difference is that Japanese people are far far less likely to act in a jingoistic manner about winning.

On the contrary, when the USA woman's soccer team won in their semi final game, they saluted the government's war jets as they streaked over the stadium. It looked like some propaganda film from Nazi Germany.

Don't you agree that jingoism is offensive? It's another reason to prefer Japan.


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