Ugly Americans: The next generation

THE UGLY AMERICAN was the title of a book written by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick in the late 50s that referred to the arrogant and self-centered behavior of Americans living and working abroad. The book contains this passage from a fictional Burmese character: “For some reason, the people I meet in my country are not the same as the ones I knew in the United States. A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They’re loud and ostentatious. Perhaps…(they) make mistakes out of ignorance.”

The term “ugly American” resonated even among Americans of the time, and the idea crystallized in the public awareness. The book spurred Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy to initiate changes in the way Americans in government conducted themselves overseas, and might have been the inspiration in part for JFK’s creation of the Peace Corps.

We seldom hear the term now, but the underlying concept is still alive and thrashing. Today’s ugly Americans are not the ones serving in posts overseas, however. Rather, they are the yahoos at home who indulge in self-important posturing over issues in foreign countries about which they know little and have even less desire to learn.

A case in point is the upcoming passage of the House of Representatives’ comfort woman resolution suggesting that Japan “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility for…its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery…have this official apology given as a public statement presented by the Prime Minister of Japan in his official capacity…clearly and publicly refute any claims that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the `comfort women’ for the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces never occurred…educate current and future generations about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community.”

Not only is this preening bit of impertinence ugly, it is ultimately gutless. That’s because it’s a “non-binding resolution”, meaning that its real objective is to give congressmen the opportunity to strike a pose in the public eye without having to assume real responsibility for it. Congress passes hundreds of these resolutions a year; usually they are concerned with such trivialities as the commemoration of National Petunia Growers’ Day.

If it were really serious about this issue, the House would not have placed this bill in the same hopper as legislation of the type honoring Norbert Peewell for his 40 years of devoted service to the nation by handing out towels in the lobby of the Congressional men’s room. Rather, it would have literally made a Federal case out of it.

If it is worth meddling in American foreign policy by condemning Japan for being unapologetic about events that occurred nearly 70 years ago, then by all means take off the “non-binding” qualifier. Hiding behind this ruse shows the Congressmen lack the courage of their convictions, if they have any convictions apart from those involving reelection campaigns.

Because it so imperious and so useless at the same time, this resolution has the potential to damage relations with Japan, a country that has been such a staunch ally it sometimes does verge on being a lapdog. It should not be the business of the United States House of Representatives in 2007 to become involved with the micropolitical management of issues that were formally resolved long ago.

Expecting congressmen to exercise any discretion in this matter would be futile, however. That would interfere with their primary business, which is to seize every opportunity to burnish their public image. And this opportunity is too good to pass up–they get to take free shots at foreigners at no risk to themselves, which offers the potential to score cheap points with some elements of their constituencies.

The Japan Times interviewed the instigator of the legislation, Rep. Michael Honda of California, on Friday, and ran an article about it on Sunday. The quotes it contained are revealing.

For example, Mr. Honda says it is “not a matter of Japan-bashing. It’s a matter of human rights and reconciliation.” Of course it’s not an either-or proposition; it’s more likely a matter of trolling for votes. Human rights violations are the cause du jour, but Imperial Japan was guilty of much more than than that—it killed people, a crime for which it has paid in full. And as we’ve seen before, the result will not be reconciliation in East Asia but increased demands by people looking for openings to get the upper hand over Japan rather than for closure.

Just because American culture has become so drenched in bathos that it thinks tearful apologies on daytime television are an exemplary model for conducting foreign policy in the 21st century is no reason to expect the same behavior from people on the other side of the planet who weren’t even alive at the time of the crime.

Mr. Honda also asked: “Why did Japan have so much trouble lining up support for its bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council?” If the congressman is so interested in questions about qualifications, here’s another one he can ask: Why wasn’t China’s status on the Security Council in jeopardy after Tiananmen Square?

What the Japanese don’t realize is that the facts of the matter are the last thing the House is interested in. The same article quotes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying, “Out of 200,000 women that were exploited as comfort women by the Japanese Imperial Army, only a few hundred are still alive.”

The figure of 200,000 is the upper half of the complete estimate of Japanese historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi, but Ms. Pelosi fails to mention that the lower half of Yoshimi’s estimate was 50,000, creating a range so broad it is a tacit admission that he himself doesn’t have a clue about the actual numbers. Historian Ikuhito Hata estimates 40,000, of which 40% were Japanese. In other words, Yoshimi’s lower range was not that far from Hata’s estimate.

By choosing the highest possible number, Ms. Pelosi confirmed that her objective is not Japan-directed, but rather self-congratulatory posturing for a domestic audience.

Then there’s the resolution itself:

“(The) Imperial Armed Force’s (sic) coercion of young women into sexual slavery…”

The House subcommittee could settle the matter once and for all by presenting unequivocal proof of this assertion, thereby discrediting those in Japan who deny this happened.

But they have not demonstrated this coercion to have been a policy of the Imperial Japanese government. In fact, only one of the three comfort women to testify at the House subcommittee hearing was coerced by the Japanese. And, when the local Japanese commander found out about her situation, he had the women released and the comfort station shut down.

One of the others has told six different stories in public, ranging from “Japanese soldiers came into my house with guns and took me away”, to the one she told the House subcommittee: She snuck out of her bedroom window at night to join a friend to meet a recruiter.

Representative Tom Lantos is involved too:

The facts are plain: there can be no denying that the Japanese Imperial military coerced thousands upon thousands of women, primarily Chinese and Koreans, into sexual slavery during the war.

Again, the Japanese should realize it is futile to even try to discuss the issue with someone capable of a statement such as this, and their efforts make things worse. The Japanese ambassador has met with Mr. Lantos regarding the legislation; we can see how much good that did. And as this article states (my emphasis):

Congress members said an ad run in The Washington Post…by conservative Japanese lawmakers denying that Japan’s army drove women into sexual slavery during the war has increased momentum for the U.S. resolution.

The ugliest aspect of the resolution is the call for the Japanese government to smack down anyone with the insolence to object to their morality play and to educate future generations about the issue using House rules. In other words, the House subcommittee has created its own story, denies the people of another country the right of free speech to disagree with that story, demands that the government of that country act as the committee’s subordinate and stifle any discussion of their story, and then seeks to have school textbooks rewritten so they can indoctrinate the school children of that country with the story.

The next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to write Japan’s Constitution.

The Japan Times article suggests the resolution will be passed at the end of July. It would be best if the Japanese understood that exercises of this sort are simply to give ugly people something to do with their time and to ease their discomfort at having to look in the mirror. In his book, Prime Minister Abe mentioned that his countrymen in the postwar era are accustomed to patiently waiting for the winds of hysteria to blow over; that is the best course of action here, and that is the course of action Japan will likely take.

Do the ugly Americans in the House realize that its resolution will not coerce Japan to behave in the manner it desires? Do they even care what happens in Japan after the vote? (What happens in their districts is another matter.) Perhaps they should, because passage of the resoution might become a watershed event that informs Japanese perceptions of the United States in the future.

The Chinese classic of philosophy, The Book of Changes, contains the advice, “Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.”

The same applies to arrogant eagles.