The Japanese

Kilroy M. writes:

A thought that occurs to me while watching the Japanese earthquake and tsunami tragedy, a shocking disaster of near Biblical proportions: I have not yet once heard a report about any anarchy in the streets, or crime and looting occurring between the people. Instead, I get the impression that the Japanese have solidly come to terms with the situation (which is getting worse in light of the developing nuclear emergency), and are simply dealing with it to the best of their capacity, with dignity and resolve. I have never been to Japan, and any knowledge I have of their culture is anecdotal and stereotypical, but watching the news from here in Sydney, I can’t help but feel a great deal of respect for these people and their stoic efforts at getting through this. That’s the kind of society I want to be part of. It’s a far cry from what we witnessed at Katrina.

LA replies:

That’s not just your impression about no anarchy or looting. Several reports I’ve seen have explicitly stated that there has been no looting, period.

Looking at the pictures, I too have a lot of respect for the Japanese. They are an intelligent, competent, well-put-together people.

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Tim W. writes:

You won’t see a Haiti-type situation in Japan, either. Meaning that one year after this disaster there won’t be masses of people living in disease-filled streets while construction vehicles donated by other countries sit and rust in vacant lots. Nor will any of the aid sent to Japan mysteriously disappear.

Back when I spent (or, more properly, wasted) a lot of time debating on mainstream conservative message boards, I would often use Japan as an example when debating right-liberals who were singing the glories of diversity. I’d point out that Tokyo, despite being one of the world’s most populated metro areas, has low crime, excellent schools, and safe public transit. I’d then ask what would happen if Tokyo were thirty percent black or Muslim. The response usually was that it wouldn’t change a thing. Those people would fit right in, and to suggest otherwise was racist.

N. writes:

One simple question: Have the Japanese gone to the rest of the world, begging for help, or have they started saving their own people, fixing their own roads, taking care of the hurt immediately, by putting into action plans that were already drawn up, using machines and materials already reserved for this disaster?

Is there a need for foreign troops to keep order? Is there a call for foreign food supplies to avert starvation?

No. Nippon was totally self sufficient for over 200 years, prior to the late 19th century, and that cultural tendency still remains today. The contrast between Haiti and Japan in the response to earthquake is as stark as the contrast between flooded New Orleans after Katrina and flooded Midwestern farm states after the Mississippi overflowed.

The mainstream media is studiously ignoring this, as expected.

David H. writes from Oregon:

There is an enormous amount of debris to be removed in the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan. Where are the Japanese going to put it all in their crowded country? In fact, I have no idea how they find sufficient landfill space even in normal times. Do they export all the trash to somewhere?

Doug H. writes:

I was wondering when someone would pick up on the difference between the response in Japan compare to Haiti. Don’t get me wrong. I do feel very sad for the poor people in Haiti, but I cannot give money to that cause any longer. I only seems to deepen their troubles and dependency. Japan, like the people of the Midwest, are capable of hard work and self determination. They can rise above intense challenge and in most cases thrive. I only wish the mainstream, even conservative media, would jump on these contrasts as examples of cultural differences and dependencies. This could be a great learning experience.

They are a largely secular society, but already churches, including mine are taking up collections to help them. This is an opportunity for the Christian faithful to rise up and show support. I do hope us Christians can be a shinning example for them. I do pray for the Japanese people. Having lived through the aftermath of a few hurricanes, I know it will be difficult living through this horrendous loss especially so with the great loss of life.

Mark Jaws writes:

What’s the difference between Japan and Haiti with respect to their ability to deal with the devastating earthquakes? The answer is simple. A difference of about 25 points in national average IQ. An intelligent person is far less likely to loot, far less likely to kill, and far less likely to sit bewildered without any idea of what to do next.

LA replies:

That blacks as a whole lack the intelligence to form well-functioning modern societies and to succeed within modern societies is not their fault. But when blacks blame their failures on whites, that is totally unacceptable and no moral white person would accept it.

We need to turn the liberals’ vile moralistic rhetoric back on themselves. Liberals are fond of declaring that a single act of discrimination against a nonwhite is a terrible wrong that puts our whole society under the shadow of white racial guilt. But the truth is that the systematic attribution to whites of an undeserved racial guilt for the inadequacies of blacks, along with the systematic acceptance of such undeserved racial guilt, is a terrible wrong that puts our society under the shadow of anti-white bigotry.

Richard W. writes:

Among other things this disaster offers a proof that ethnostates can be more harmonious and deal with real emergencies in a way that multicultural nations such ours can only dream of. Everyone is working together, as Japanese, to help the extended Japanese family during this terrible tragedy.

One only needs to compare Japan today with New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to see visible proof that the liberal ideals and claims are mostly lies and nonsense. Completely absent are stories of looting, gang rape, shootings and police misconduct that are the staples of emergencies in the USA.

All peoples and races are not the same. All cultures are not equal, some are much better than others. In a disaster one would much rather be in Japan, the definitive xenophobic ethnostate, than a resident in one of America’s fabulous “mosaic cities” such as Los Angeles or Chicago.

LA replies:

It seems to me you’re combining two different issues here. One is homogeneity versus diversity, the other is level of civilization. A racially homogeneous, all-black society such as Haiti would still have looting.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 13, 2011 09:02 AM | Send