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A Sadness Set In (Commentary on Iris Chang, CSU Hayward)
The Pioneer (CSU Hayward) ^ | Nov. 18, 2004 | John Harris, Jr.

Posted on 12/02/2004 10:46:16 AM PST by SteveH

A Sadness Set In

Commentary

John Harris Jr.

The article began “Best-selling Chinese-American author Iris Chang was found dead in her car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was 36 and had recently been treated for depression.”

Iris Chang spoke at my college graduation, here at Cal State Hayward. It was just last June. I remember sitting, thoroughly disenchanted by the regalia-clad mob swelling around me. Given it was a time of excitement and celebration, to the ceremony clung the uneasy sense of a population madding. It was in the way people fought in the stands for seats no better than many others yet unoccupied; graduates stood on chairs, cellphones in-hand, signaling to their air-horn-toting relatives in defiance of ceremony ... of decorum. The day smacked unfriendly and the ceremony, bleached both by rote and the summertime noon above.

Ms. Chang took the podium after two impressively lengthy (though awfully similar, having been cribbed from the program almost verbatim) introductions by the president, Norma Rees, and trustee William Hauck. When she spoke, it was clear and lasting; her presence made the rest of commencement seem subdued by comparison.

She spoke of hope and of future with an apparent conviction uncommon and unwelcome to the postmodern misanthropy of the stands. A marked departure from the safe, indecorously formal addresses preceding, Chang’s theme pitted personal responsibility and self-determinism, against the indomitable heft of mortality.

She challenged everyone there to simply write down their goals where they could be seen daily. In return, she promised direction. She challenged those in attendance to preserve the histories of their elders. In return, she promised vantage. It seems so telling now.

She took no more than 20 minutes, perhaps 15. But, the crowd was awash in wrest, thronging against her ardency and her sometimes-plaintive imperative for personal dialectic. The once-passable minority waxed both in rudeness and number with each of Ms. Chang’s five points. In keeping with this regrettable progression, the discomforted lot ceased interjecting audible boos when she announced her final point; instead, they erupted with castigating applause, a mocking and raucous air-horn fanfare.

I promised myself that I would write to her. I planned to express my gratitude for her words that day. Her unflagging candor and commonsense, though widely attributed, counsel struck me plainly, despite the interference.

When I learned of her suicide I was, like the many I told afterward, incredulous.

Though news stories reported that her depression stemmed from her work as an author/historian, I find myself unable to dissect causality as simply. I still feel somehow party to the sadness to which Ms. Chang eventually succumbed.

Though perhaps threadbare from overuse, a proverb is such for its indelible efficacy: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is engaged in a great battle.” (Philo of Alexandria)

John Harris Jr.,

CSUH Graduate,

Class of 2004


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; US: California
KEYWORDS: depression; irischang; nanking; suicide
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To: ken5050
I guess with the passing of time we will eventually learn a little bit more about Iris. I am not really questioning the initial reports about suicide, I am just wondering what drove her to it.

This is just speculation on my part but I am starting to wonder if some of her enemies -- maybe some of the radical, nationalist in Japan had not gotten to her somehow. I am just speculating and I have nothing concrete to go on.

However, when I think about how immensely proud she was of her heritage and her fierce determination to bring the Japanese country to account for its war time past and pay reparations she may have embolden her enemies to start investigating her actions more closely.

I do know she was working on a documentary of Japan's ill-treatment of American prisoners of war during the WWII. Her enemies may have started to feel that this book might rally wide-spread outrage amongst a broad based number of American citizens and led to greater demands for reparations against Japan for war crimes.

I am not suggesting that right-wing Japanese nationalist killed her but maybe they started doing some investigative work on her. Maybe they started a file on her. Maybe they found incriminating personal information about her past. Maybe they recorded her conversations with Chinese government officials which could prove to be very politically embarrassing. Remember, her first book dealt with the Chinese-American rocket scientist who was deported (allegedly for espionage activities) and who later developed the "silkworm" missile for the Chinese government.

If she really did have "powerful" enemies maybe they could get their hands on some very incriminating information and threaten to expose her in a way that questioned her loyalty to the United States. Hey, I am just speculating. Sometimes I have an imagination that goes wild. Take care and all the best.
21 posted on 12/03/2004 12:24:40 PM PST by daviscupper
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To: daviscupper
All valid points..Forensically, in a small contained area like a car interior..it'd be far to conceal any signs of foul play. If it wasn't suicide, you would think she'd have struggled..there'd be signs. if she was drugged, subdued..it would show. They did an autopsy..it's required by law..

I mentioned in an earlier thread that very often mothers with young children who are depresed kill the kids before themselves..and sometimes, after they kill the kids, they're undable to "complete" the task. They'll also do a complete track of her movements, activites, the last 3-4 dys..If it is indeed a suicide, there would be signs of planning..or irregular activity..

I love police procedurals..guess it shows....one question..I don't recall..was there a note?..You'd think a write would leave on..

22 posted on 12/03/2004 12:32:13 PM PST by ken5050
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To: OldFriend
It is my understanding the her book would be published and another book published (a rebuttal) by the same publisher. Hey, why should she care if another book questions her accuracy. The rebuttal was not going to be in the same book.
I believe the publishing company did this to protect itself from charges of Japanese bashing. I would have liked to have seen both books published. A free exchange of ideas is always in everyone's best interest.

Also, remember, there have been over a hundred books published in Japan about the Nanking incident. By the way, I recommend everyone read her books and do a little research on her and what has already been written about Nanking in Japan. All the best.
23 posted on 12/03/2004 12:37:44 PM PST by daviscupper
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To: ken5050

Yes, she left a long, detailed note to her husband but he only shared a part of it. The part we know about says something like "She hopes to be remembered for the lively, energetic person she was before she got sick." We will learn more. All the best. Keep up the good work "flat foot."


24 posted on 12/03/2004 12:41:01 PM PST by daviscupper
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To: daviscupper

That kind of dot the "i", I think..unless it was written in WORD..


25 posted on 12/03/2004 1:01:32 PM PST by ken5050
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To: SteveH

One more deserving bttt.


26 posted on 12/04/2004 7:52:47 PM PST by truthkeeper (Yeah, I have a 1998 signup date. So?)
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