First, some damn good news. Here’s the ‘lead editorial’ in today L.A. Times (registration required, ‘laexaminer’/’laexaminer’):
There wasn’t much mystery last week about who would be elected to the state Legislature or California’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. Party leaders in the Legislature stacked the deck last year when they drew new district lines to reflect population shifts on the basis of the 2000 census.
Those 153 districts were carved into enclaves of heavy Democratic and Republican voter registration to provide “safe” seats. Maps in hand before a single vote was cast, you could have picked the winner in virtually every district — 80 in the Assembly, 20 in the state Senate and 53 in the House. Only five of the 153 were true contests. All but one of the 49 California incumbents in Congress won by a landslide, with at least 60% of the vote. The other, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), won with 59%. Democrats remain strongly in control of all three houses.
This cynical deal may serve the pols well, but it’s bad for California. It becomes virtually impossible to hold lawmakers accountable at the next election. The Legislature is increasingly polarized between Republican conservatives and liberal Democrats. In spite of their majorities, Democrats need some GOP votes to pass the budget and any other fiscal bill. That’s why this year’s budget was deadlocked for two months beyond the deadline.
It’s in the public interest to have clear lines of opinion and vigorous debate. But the Legislature is so fractured now, it’s virtually impossible to reach a compromise on any major issue, particularly on spending and taxes. The result of Tuesday’s election will be even more gridlock.
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Sign me up!!
And in today’s Daily Breeze (the local paper), something that has me scratching my head…
Mixed feelings over SP film event
NO SHOW: Insensitivity to Japanese-Americans is cited. Vets are stunned.
It was going to be a night to remember.
Ushers dressed in World War II military uniforms, vintage cars pulling up to the curb, Pearl Harbor survivors and a recently restored 1940s military searchlight would be on hand Dec. 7 to greet the crowds at a special anniversary showing of Tora! Tora! Tora! at San Pedros historic Warner Grand Theatre.
The 1970 film a joint American and Japanese production is considered one of the most accurate depictions of events leading up to the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Expected to attract hundreds, the showing on the 61st anniversary of the attack was to serve as a fund-raiser for the Fort MacArthur Military Museum in San Pedro.
But now the show is off.
Why? Veterans and museum members say its simply a case of political correctness run amok.
While there was a previous theater booking for Dec. 7, according to theater manager Lee Sweet of the citys Department of Cultural Affairs, which manages the facility, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn concluded that the event would have been insensitive to the Japanese-American community.
I wanted to be very sensitive to the Japanese-American community, Hahn said. Dec. 7 is a tough day, especially for the second and third generations of Japanese-Americans. Why do we want to do something that makes it more difficult? The showing was planned this year to take the place of the Fort MacArthur Military Museums annual Pearl Harbor Day observance.
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My knee-jerk reaction tends to be againt faux displays of sensitivity (‘faux’ being defined as those that have no real impact on people’s lives…as opposed to things like access to jobs, schooling, etc.). And Pearl Harbor is, like it or not, a part of our and Japan’s history. So I’m tilted toward the ‘this is stupid’ camp. Tenacious G, my SO, is Japanese-American, and on showing her this, she pretty much agrees…her comment was “I feel vaguely bad every Dec. 7, but it’s a part of all our history. This is just a way for people to pretend to be sensitive.”
But this one still has me thinking in circles…I’m interested in what other folks think.
Nope, you’re right – it’s stupid. Or, if not stupid, a false and dishonest display of insensitivity.
No surprise here, I’m with you. What kind of person won’t even honor their own fallen with something as simple as a film show?
I’m not sure why this would be any more difficult for 3rd generation Japanese Americans than 3rd generation children of WW2 vets.
I’d be curious to see if Hahn will speak out against future showings of Saving Private Ryan to save the feelings of Nazi-Americans. Probably not, they’re not little brown people that need her “protection”.
Disgusting!!!
Ergh … should have been ‘sensitivity’. “False display of sensitivity” equalling, of course, insensitivity. Whatever. Jumping beans for brains, here.
I with you on this one A.L. This is a part of our shared history and can’t simply ignore it. It would be like ignoring a Sept. 11 remembrance film for fear of offending our MidEastern friends.
If the movie was a celebration of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, concerns of sensitivity would be more understandable. This rings hollow to me. Hopefully, Hahn will wake up.
Why is not-offending our own veterans such a low priority.
Any “Japanese-American” of any generation who would be offended should just drop the “American” and quit pretending. The same goes for every other ethnic group, including all of mine (at least five that I know of).
I’m with you. My wife is Korean-American. Her parents came over in the 1970’s. When she talks about WWII internment camps, she says “that was a terrible thing WE did.” Emphasis mine.
In other words, she, as an American, feels responsible for the actions of white racists 30 years before her parents ever saw the U.S.
And she, as a “Korean” American, doesn’t let some ethnic pride thing prevent her from feeling empathy for innocent Japanese shopkeepers (remember that Japan treated Korea like shit in the first half of the 20th century, and lots of ethnic suspicion remains).
To me, that’s exactly the right attitude. Pearl Harbor was an attack on Japanese-Americans just as much as it was an attack on white and black Americans. The Nisei of the 442nd fought and died for their country–what the HELL is wrong with their grandchildren, that they get all offended by truthful history?
I do not think second or later generation citizens are so easily offended, and those who are can speak for themselves without condescending “protectors”. This is the kind of thinking that leads to the abayah or chador and seclusion of women “for their own protection and respect”, or to the ghetto.
Gee, why am I not shocked at a California govt. official being more concerned with Sensitivity than History or the 1st Amendment? 🙂
I’m disgusted by her statements.
I’m encouraging people to e-mail her on my site.
http://www.blogsofwar.com
Janice Hahn has shown her utter stupidity and lack of historical sense.
The Japanese were the aggressors on Dec. 7, 1941, not the USA.
Does Janice Hahn not think there were Asian Americans who served for the USA who might not sympathize with Japan, and feel loyal to the USA. For Janice to assume that all those with Japanese heritage living in the USA are not patriotic toward the USA and favor Japan, shows her elitees mentality. She seems to think she knows how other Americans feel and that they need protecting. Thank you very much Janice, but we dont need your flawed imput.
Should “Shindler’s List” or other holocaust films be banned because we might upset some Americans from German decent??? Obviously no.
And since when are we so apologetic that we fear the showing of a movie which reflects a historical event??
Janice Hahn would feel extremely welcome in a former Soviet Union Commissars office or an office with Nazi Germany’s Goebbles deciding what parts of history to exclude from public viewing.
Her geo-political sense, in terms of representing our veterans who risked their lives to protect this country, is horrendous. She might have thought she had political abilities when she was in student council or organized bake sales in her high school but she lacks any sort of historical reference or perspective regarding our military past. She should not be allowed to decide such matters since she lacks the judgement necessary to fullfill her postion.
I agree with the complaint that Janice Hahn did a stupid thing.However, I notice something interesting. All the comments still posted take the same view, ie conservative, nationalistic. Not one comment quoted from any person taking a differing position.
Late last year, I posted a blog saying that I had mixed feelings about the whole matter. I said that I agreed that what Japan did was wrong. However, inasmuch as the western world in those days frequently committed horrendous atrocities toward anyone not of European race, Americans who are not white should take the attitude:” To hell with the name and the topic of Pearl Harbor! Expecting us to care about that is sort of like expecting Jewish people to get upset about violence against Germans back in Hitler’s time.”
I noticed that my blog has been very interestingly removed. In responsible journalism there exists something called “the fairness doctrine” whereby both attitudes on a given issue must be given exposure in the media.
What happened to those who expressed unpopular views? Or did someone delete the First Amendment from the Bill of Rights? I never used abusive or foul language. I never called whites names like “honky” or “blue-eyed demon.”
Had I done that, censorship would certainly have been valid. We can’t have people misusing these internet bulletins to spew filthy slurs or profanities.
But when an intelligent, articulated contrary viewpoint is conveniently deleted, it looks like the bulletin is a farce, seeking not dialogue but merely yes-men to chorus the majority.
WHO’S POLITICALLY CORRECT NOW, HUH? HAA-HAA-HAA!
I agree with the complaint that Janice Hahn did a stupid thing.However, I notice something interesting. All the comments still posted take the same view, ie conservative, nationalistic. Not one comment quoted from any person taking a differing position.
Late last year, I posted a blog saying that I had mixed feelings about the whole matter. I said that I agreed that what Japan did was wrong. However, inasmuch as the western world in those days frequently committed horrendous atrocities toward anyone not of European race, Americans who are not white should take the attitude:” To hell with the name and the topic of Pearl Harbor! Expecting us to care about that is sort of like expecting Jewish people to get upset about violence against Germans back in Hitler’s time.”
I noticed that my blog has been very interestingly removed. In responsible journalism there exists something called “the fairness doctrine” whereby both attitudes on a given issue must be given exposure in the media.
What happened to those who expressed unpopular views? Or did someone delete the First Amendment from the Bill of Rights? I never used abusive or foul language. I never called whites names like “honky” or “blue-eyed demon.”
Had I done that, censorship would certainly have been valid. We can’t have people misusing these internet bulletins to spew filthy slurs or profanities.
But when an intelligent, articulated contrary viewpoint is conveniently deleted, it looks like the bulletin is a farce, seeking not dialogue but merely yes-men to chorus the majority.
WHO’S POLITICALLY CORRECT NOW, HUH? HAA-HAA-HAA!