From: justin@mik.uky.edu (justin sullivan)
Subject: Re: The Russo-Japanese War (part 2)
    <1992Aug21.180605.6076@island.COM> <11891@optilink.UUCP> 
    <1992Aug28.154144.1977@island.COM>
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 07:57:57 GMT

In <1992Aug28.154144.1977@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:

>In article <11891@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:

>Well, yes and no. There is good evidence that the Imperial family was 
>originally Korean. And there is no doubt that the Korean penninsula has been
>a tremendous conduit for art and technology from the continent into Japan.
>Then, Hideyoshi attacked Korea (with the intention of conquoring China) and
>no doubt the Koreans were looked down upon. The war ended, Tokugawa ended up
>in power, and the country was mostly closed off, but apparantly, there was
>rather free commerce between Korea and Japan during that time. Then came 
>Meiji Japan changed (in response to external factors) rather quickly.
>I also undersatnd that for quite a while, there was some intermarriage
>between the Korean and Japanese upper class (correct me if I'm wrong).

>I think it's a matter of deciding first that they needed "buffers" against the
>encroaching European powers, then deciding, "Well, what the heck. They're only
>Koreans". In any event, I think most of this racial superiority is rather
>after-the fact, and not a driving force. After all, they (the Japanese) freely
>entered into treaties with white foreign powers against Asian powers when 
>they felt it in their interest to do so. When they determined their best
>interests lay elsewhere, suddenly they felt a moral obligation to lift the yoke
>of white oppression from their Asian brothers.

Bravo! Very clear post.. Sorry to delete the rest, but none of us likes to 
read articles over and over just because of quoting, do we? :)

   I was wondering if any extensive geneologies existed of the Imperial family.
To make a claim (not point a finger or anything, but since it was 
mentioned..) that Imperial Japan was ruled by tainted blood would probably
cause quite a stir (should it resurface to the public eye). Just a thought..
Then there's still something to say about this racism thing. It was mentioned
that we've covered Asian, American, European, etc.. Human concepts of racism
and discrimination. True, but are we finished? <ugh> I don't mean to beat on
a dead horse, but where does this put the issue?
   Here in the US, the average American (which is now assayed as a 33 year-old
white middle class working female who watches 7.5 hours of television a day..
Kind of sick, really) believes the United States has a 'God-given Right' to
interfere with the wishes of other sovereign nations. Most Americans feel it
is our duty to impose our will on the rest of the world (civilized or 
otherwise). Therein of course, you can blame it all on those damned
contemptable yankees, which are the ones that always make us look bad.
   It manifests itself in many ways (Desert Storm being a good instance..
150,000 innocent civilians slaughtered, and all because some people didn't
think it was right what Hussein was doing, never mind that it's none of their
damned business), one of which is the mistreatment of Native Americans.
Ditto Japan. The Japanese felt (feel?) that Asia BELONGED to them, probably
by the same token the US feels the world is our playground.. The United
States is the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world, right? Well,
that's probably debatable. It's quite clearly a very FALSE image of wealth,
if anything..
   But if you were the superior military power, you would have good reason
to feel superior. If it weren't for US military muscle, no one would pay
any attention to us whiny, lazy Americans with brains of tapioca (if the
average American watched 7.5 hours of PBS, that would be different then 7.5
hours of network shit like Beverly Hills 90210). Japan was a very strong
military power (obviously), and if no one is giving, why not just take it?
(like what we did with the American Indians) 
   Kind of funny though, that this attitude is common throughout the human
race, despite the vast differences between the Far East and Western 
culture.. 'Course, I doubt the Orient would tremble under Commie paranoia
and built rickety little shelters and teach their CHILDREN what to do when
they saw a nuclear blast (duck and cover! :). Pretty sick, I think.. Funny
too, but I guess these people were too scared to stop and think that the
shock wave from a thermonuclear explosion would turn their precious 
shelters into jagged steel tombs.... 
   Well, that's my US-Japan corrolary for the day. :)