Posted on 08/19/2002 11:23:47 PM PDT by BlessingInDisguise
The legend was that Judge Melville B. Gerry, on pronouncing sentencing said... "...There was siven Dimmycrats in Hinsdale County! But you, yah voracious, main-eatin son of a bitch, yah et five of them, therefor I sentence ye T' be hanged by the neck until y're dead, dead, dead!". This was not the exact statement made by the judge, but it's gone down in Packer folklore. :)
Yarddog: but I have read enough accounts of Japanese canabalism including killing american pilots in order to eat them, that I have no doubt they did it mainly due to perverted nature.
There are certainly accounts of Japanese eating prisoners when other food was available.
2.5 months?
Gimme us a break. You just landed! ;-)
Enjoy that new Toyota!
Probably made by Americans, in Fremont, CA, in a factory half owned by GM...
What really makes the thread instructive is that FR would never allow a thread to go along this long with nine (count 'em, nine) 'niggers' (sic) and one 'kike' (sic) mentioned (the Moderator would be plenty busy deleting posts or the thread). But on FR, we have the double standard around here where you can say 'little yellow bastards' (sic) [in previous threads left to stand as-is on FR] or 'japs' (sic) or 'nips' (sic) --even referring to modern day Japanese who had nothing to do with those days-but could never get away with 'little black bastards' (sic) or the 'n' word. It's of course selective application of the rules against racist posts here on FR. Japanese (and other Asians) are fair game, while hispanics and black Americans are 'off limits'. Or at least it seems that way.
(Epithets above for effect only).
"Last year wife and I went to Oahu on vacation. In the evening we'd stroll Waikiki Blvd. and encounter a number of japs. The men made no effort to make way on the sidewalk and I finally had enough of my wife being bumped. It was a lot of fun throwing the shoulder into them to clear the way for my wife. They are still arrogant. Had they won WWII, I'm sure our country wouldn't have been rebuilt. Screw them!"
Now how long would FR Moderators allow THIS:
"Last year wife and I went to Los Angeles on vacation. In the evening we'd stroll Hollywood Blvd. and encounter a number of niggers. The men made no effort to make way on the sidewalk and I finally had enough of my wife being bumped. It was a lot of fun throwing the shoulder into them to clear the way for my wife. They are still arrogant. Had they remained slaves, I'm sure our country would have have been rebuilt. Screw them!"
(paraphrased here)
Yes I know, not a terribly long time, but I was not working at the time, just experiencing Japan. My point was that I got to meet a broad sample of Japanese nationals, which I may not have had I been assigned to a ship or one city, etc.
The "Gimme us" thing got me grinning though.
His horrid experiences perhaps entitle him to hate a whole race of 127 million men, women and children--60 years later.
Unless you had similiar experiences, I don't think that entitles you to your (apparant) hatred of an entire race of people.
At any rate, you must know for every disgruntled person who spent time in Japan for whatever reason(s), you could at least find one person (to cancel the proposition out) that absolutely enjoyed it and had great experiences. Soliders, sailors, missionaries, business people, artists, foreign students, backpackers, English teachers, architects, diplomats, translators, musicians.
I often wonder why if Japan is such an evil place and 'the japs' are such devils, why approximately 38,000 Americans in August 2002 who live and work in Japan (not held against their will) do not immediately head to Narita Airport to evacuate this rotten place.
The 38,000 do not even include the nearly 40,000 US military in Japan....
Surely this is an unprecedented allegatation!
One, the term gaijin. It is applied to all non-Japanese people. It is a negative word, as much so as most of the common racist terms we use in America. Although we have a huge amount of terms to represent our various racial prejudices here in America, I can't seem to remember one all-encompassing slur for everyone but us.
Two, the Japanese are the most sexist civilized nation on the planet. This was first noticed by me wandering Tokyo. There were no women walking around. It was astounding. Then, approximately 2-3 weeks into my stay, Tokyo was FLOODED with them. Naturally I asked what was going on to some Europeans I met that had spent many years there. Apparently the married women only go out after paydays, shop like mad, and lock themselves back home for the rest of the month. Ok, not conclusive evidence, but strange. Then I wander into a video store. Have you been into a video store in Japan? Seen what passes for animated adult entertainment? It's mostly comprised of child-like female characters being raped bloody and then murdered by demonic males. Now, this was back in 1992, but I haven't seen a drought of anime coming in to the U.S. recently, so I am guessing it still goes on. After reading up on some history of Japan, I came to the conclusion that Japanese males bear HUGE HUGE HUGE hostility towards their women. Women also play a very minor part in their politics, etc. Thus my sexist claim. Any cursory history lessons regarding Japan will demonstrate their cunning (all Japanese have three hearts?).
I will repeat, I enjoyed my visit to Nippon, enjoyed their hospitality, and do not hate them. I would not label them "nice". Instead, I would say they are extremely "polite".
The word in and of itself is not racist. It depends on the subjectivity of the person who says it and in which way.
You tell me it's racist and a mean word for a foreigner, when a girl in a disco goes goo-goo eyed over the Westerner and tells him that she 'just loves gaijin' ('gaijin ga totemo suki na no desu'). It's been heard before! Don't split hairs. It's no more or less hospitable a place for foreigners than anywhere else.
I use the word gaijin all the time.
Regarding another one here: "Apparently the married women only go out after paydays, shop like mad, and lock themselves back home for the rest of the month. Ok, not conclusive evidence, but strange."
Please tell me what planet you are describing? This does not describe the Japan I know.Women in Japan have immense power, both on the surface and often, very potent manipulation subtly under the surface that defies all Western reasoning.
At any rate, please come back again and this time spend 2-3 years instead of 2-3 months (not that your 8 to 12 weeks don't count). Let your impressions form through that time. Sheesh, it takes a single year of living in Japan to begin to even start refuting in your mind the initial impressions you made about the place when you landed!
At any rate, you must be right that you liked Japan so I call pull back from my interpretation that somehow you did not like Japan or Japanese.
However, gaijin is an insulting term, regardless of whether some Japanese hottie wants to use it to hit on you. The commonality of its use does not make it less of an insult, even if you decide to use it. Let me put it this way: you go to great lengths to point out the use of the terms "Japs" or "Nips" as insulting, but defend the use of gaijin as normal and non-insulting. "Jap" and "Nip" are just shortenings of normal words. "Gaijin" is profoundly more negative, on many levels. I pass the ball to you.
And by your definition, it would be perfectly OK then to use 'nip' or 'jap' to describe investment in the US by Japanese firms?
Check this out:
Definition: "Gaijin" : Non-Japanese investor in Japan. The Japanese refer to foreign competitors, on both the individual and institutional levels, as gaijin. In particular, the large, prestigious American and European brokerage firms that compete with the major Japanese brokerage firms, such as Nomura and Nikko, are called gaijin."
There you have it. What could be intrinsically 'racist' about a word if it is commonly accepted in the language of international business? The word 'gaijin' is even used in transactions by major American and other international investors in Tokyo on the TSE, etc. etc. Your argument does not hold up.
I have already told you that the word is used in a flattering sense as a young lady would, and can also be spat out as an epithet in anger. It all depends on the intent of the user. The word itself cannot be called intrinsically 'racist' and then extrapolate from that, that the widespread use of the word de-facto ascribes racism traits to the entire populace. Grow up.
(Augie Tam is a gaijin in Tokyo and a medium-term investor. He holds positions in Sony and Matsushita Electric.): NOTE: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. GaijinInvestor.Com is provided as an information service only. GaijinInvestor.Com does not make specific trading recommendations or provide investment advice. See Terms of Service.>
Can anyone in their right mind imagine these words instead?" (Augie Tam is a chink (or a nip) in Tokyo and a medium-term investor. He holds positions in Sony and Matsushita Electric.)
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