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November 23, 2005
But is Main Stream really mainstream?
Would the United States lose in a war against China? Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara thinks so -- apparently because he's under the impression that the U.S. military can only withstand a maximum of 2,000 casualties: Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has gone public, warning that the United States would lose any war with China.Where might Governor Ishihara be getting that 2,000 figure? Might it be the Iraq War "milestone" so loudly trumpeted by the MSM last month? I don't mind the MSM trumpeting whatever milestone they want, but I wish world leaders wouldn't view media hype as representative of American public opinion. I mean, it's not as if the MSM is running the U.S. military, is it? Doesn't Ishihara read any warblogs? MORE: Speaking of warblogs and milblogs, today's Philadelphia Inquirer has a positive editorial piece focusing on Bill Roggio (who also posts at Threats Watch) with mentions of Michael Yon, The Word Unheard, and Andi's World. MORE: Ishihara is well known for his dislike of Americans. But the good-hearted round-eyes put him on the cover of Time:  He doesn't appear to be terribly fond of Koreans either, but the latter (judging from this Korea Times editorial), take a harder line than Time magazine. (I do hope his thoughts aren't a true reflection of Japanese opinion.) posted by Eric on 11.23.05 at 07:48 AM
Comments
Thanks, Steven. (I posted about Ishihara's speech when it was publicized, BTW.) I think Ishihara is, in a way, similar to Reagan: he tells the Japanese to be proud of themselves even when they feel down and the world is telling them they're past it. He's also an outsider to the bureaucratic machine. I find his anti-Americanism (and the pronouncements it leads him into) kind of ridiculous and over-the-top, but in his general prejudice against non-Japanese, he's certainly no anomaly here. Sean Kinsell · November 24, 2005 12:36 AM Dear Sean: Good to see you here! Very good analysis of Isihara's speech. Clarifies things for me. "I think Ishihara is, in a way, similar to Reagan: he tells the Japanese to be proud of themselves even when they feel down and the world is telling them they're past it." Good! "He's also an outsider to the bureaucratic machine." That's good, too. "I find his anti-Americanism (and the pronouncements it leads him into) kind of ridiculous and over-the-top, but in his general prejudice against non-Japanese, he's certainly no anomaly here." I don't mind anti-Americanism from a foreigner nearly as much as I do from an American. Japanese chauvinism, like French chauvinism, is one of their more endearing traits as far as I'm concerned, as long as they don't try for another Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. We had some trouble with that the last time. Similarly, the Germans were fine as long as they were chauvinistic about Goethe and Beethoven. It was when they started claiming that Shakespeare and Michelangelo and Jeanne d'Arc and Jesus were great Germans, too, that we started having problems with them. "Racism is the nasty habit of looking for one's compatriots in other people's countries." Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · November 24, 2005 01:09 PM |
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"(I do hope his thoughts aren't a true reflection of Japanese opinion.)"
Our good friend Sean Kinsell could tell us more about that than anybody else. I don't want to make any snap or blanket judgements about Japan as a whole until we hear from the one who knows.
But Isihara himself is preaching defeatism and we Americans must not fall for that line. Either defeatism or complacency will destroy us. We must stand ready to fight.