eucleia: (Studious)
eucleia ([personal profile] eucleia) wrote2008-07-25 06:54 pm

Well that's not good...

I just came across a forum, which will remain unnamed, and a topic thread, which will also remain unnamed, where a Chinese person started a thread by posting a few links to videos, told everyone to watch them and then discuss said videos. Thing was, those videos were historical news clips about the Rape of Nanjing. Now if it was for pure discussion purposes, I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but from that first post I already noticed something amiss, mainly because the thread starter had said they were not trying to start up any hate (fair enough), but at the bottom of the post had put up a whole string of angry flaming emoticons, not to mention using the words "uncivilized" and "crazy and barbarous face of ____" within the post. To my mind, this already clearly indicates that while the poster is attempting to be indiscriminate, they are already very biased.

Someone replied to that post in a... shall we say, less than patient manner. Slightly ruder and more offhanded than the way most would reply to a post, but mainly pointing out that one should not be hypocritical about their own country's deeds, and not just the deeds of other countries. They also told them to move their thread from under the section of the country in question that did said deeds, and to post it under the "politics" section instead. Well, to me at least it seemed like a fairly fair request.

The original thread starter... didn't take it well. Perhaps it was an over-reaction, but certainly finger-pointing, switching to large font sizes, typing in red and/or caps, and overzealous use of exclamation marks can't be the most civilized way to go about replying to someone you disagree with in a discussion board. Personally, I think the replier had a point when they pointed out that many other countries had also committed crimes against China and not just the country in question, but screaming (since it was in caps) back to the replier that they "are not welcome here", "Leave here now" and "I do not want to see you here" when they're not even the moderator makes me frankly... disturbed.

Simple fact of the matter is, I'm predominately Chinese by descent as well, so when someone of my ethnicity goes about acting like this and ends up simply reinforcing the "extreme" stereotype, it makes me very unsettled.

[identity profile] nanani.livejournal.com 2008-07-27 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
Nasty history (and most all of it is nasty if you take that POV) has a way of making people incoherent, even though it didn't happen to them and no one that commited the atrocity is ever going to hear their anger.

I have never understood the point of getting worked up abou historical wrongs for that reason. None of the soliders involved in Nanjing are alive anymore, so to freak out at the people with whom they share a country of origin is simply stupid. I hold the same view for all historical wrongs. (Historical but ONGOING wrongs are a different story though...)

One could get just as riled about crimes comitted by China against other ethnicities, such for example "Kill all the foreigners"(admitedly a reoccuring theme in human history). It's pointless, most especially since all sides can find a grievance somewhere.

On the same note, you really shouldn't let yourself get unsettled by a ranter just because you have a common ethnicity. That poster is not you. You're capable of rational discussion, and it doesn't matter what percentage of your genes are shared with whatever number of people who can't.

*featherluv*

[identity profile] midgar-skyline.livejournal.com 2008-08-01 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree with and second everything you said. ^_^

It still irks me though, when I come across stuff like that. *sigh* Oh well.