How NOT to Protest

Why-oh-why do South Koreans insist on entertaining the delusion that any Japanese minds are going to be changed for the better by protests like this?

This sort of insanity only makes it easier for Japanese ultra-nationalists to dismiss Korean protests as the bleatings of a nation of hysterical idiots. To drive oneself into such a frenzy because some soon-to-be ex-prime minister decides to spend 10 minutes bowing outside a shrine is a mark of excessive free time at best and maybe even serious mental illness.

[Via Japundit.]

Comments

[Chuckles]

I dont think they really believe any minds are going to be changed. I dont believe they actually *want* Japanese minds to be changed. What they want is a war in which Korea executes reprisals on Japanese folks. They cant have this if Japanese minds are changed. I daresay the same is the case in China - humiliating Japan is far preferable to peace and amity.

BTW - That guy sure looks funny. Biting that flag and all. Ah well. I do understand his frustration though. "Oh Lord, why arent the wicked punished"...that kind of thing. You would think 2 nuclear bombs was compensation enough. But apparently not. Perpetual Japanese obeisance seems to be the objective.

[Abiola Lapite]

I think you're right: this is more about living out ultranationalistic fantasies of revenge than it is about getting some Japanese politician to see the error of his ways. That's the funny thing about Korean and Chinese protests over this Yasukuni business - the protests themselves are far more scary indicators of nationalistic fervor than the deeds they're supposed to be protesting. Japanese people themselves have been filing court injunctions against Koizumi visiting the shrine, with one court in Osaka even agreeing with the plaintiffs, and Japanese business leaders have also been imploring that he cease to go, while it would almost be begging for a death sentence for a Korean to go on the air and say to his countrymen that their protests were uncalled for and it was time to let the past lie, and yet we're supposed to believe that *Japan* is the nation with an ultranationalist problem? The fact is that Japanese mendacity over the past is nothing exceptional, as I've said here before and as the following Seoul Times article (by a foreigner, naturally) also makes clear:

http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=2300

I'd say even the fringe Japanese textbook "revisionist" types are more candid about their country's past than Lynne Cheney, so to claim as the Koreans and Chinese do that their marginal activities and Koizumi's Yasukuni visits provide justification for all this uproar is sheer nonsense: they *enjoy* getting all red in the face as they chew and burn flags on TV.

[Ross]

On the subject of hyper-nationalistic anti-Japanese sentiments I don't know if you've seen this- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/13/content_459713.htm

[Julian Elson]

It may not be an effective way of expressing your views to people who don't already agree with you, but it does look kinda fun.

[Jim]

"This sort of insanity only makes it easier for Japanese ultra-nationalists to dismiss Korean protests as the bleatings of a nation of hysterical idiots."

And everyone else as well. When some US soldiers ran down a teenage girl a while ago there were the usual anti-American protests, and no on paid attention - same old hysterical crap. Too bad; the protestors had something sensible to say this time. Too bad they had been crying wolf for so long.