"Nationalism"

Natasha Yefimov of the New York Times selected some comments on Nicholas Kristof's blog entry «Grace Wang and Chinese Nationalism», my comments included. (无忌 thinks there’s an intentional distortion of truth in the Western media coverage.)

Nationalism has been used to describe Chinese a lot lately. So it was interesting to read «The Color of Loyalty» in the latest issue of the Time. In this viewpoint article by Michael Eric Dyson, a sociology professor at Georgetown University, I read for the first time that Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's former pastor, "surrendered his student deferment in 1961, voluntarily joined the Marines and, after a two-year stint, volunteered to become a Navy corpsman. He excelled and became valedictorian, later a cardiopulmonary technician and eventually a member of the President's medical team. Wright cared for Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery, earning three White House letters of commendation."

In the case of Grace Wang, I have not gone reading much on Chinese websites to see what have been posted. I believe there are probably death threats to her and her family -- there are shameless people in China just like anywhere else in the world. But I seriously doubt that any of those posters, many likely anonymous, has the guts to act on the threat. I have, just for the heck of it, gone on YouTube to read a couple of pages of the comments on some Jeremiah Wright videos posted there. I don't want to repeat any of the trash I have read. It suffice to say there are threats there as well.

In the same issue of Time, there is also an article by Simon Elegant from Beijing. The author also writes on Time's China Blog. In the article, Mr. Elegant painted the nationalism of China so imminently dangerous, I couldn't help but wonder, why has he not pulled his family out of there yet? His resentment of Chinese shows clearly in his writings. It is hard to fathom why he lives there. After all, the salary he is paid does not possibly make it worthwhile living among "goons and thugs" (Mr. Jack Cafferty of CNN) and risking his life.

A comment on the Grace Wang incident from Yoshi, who sees a victim complex may have some truth to it, even though it may have come from a Japanese. It is probably much easier to see a victim complex from a victimizer's stand point than the other way around. But I have a hard time accepting the argument that the Chinese should just "put their past behind them" when much of Japan to this day does not even acknowledge what had happened in Nanjing 72 years ago. I for one, would not likely to forget the "Eight-Nation Alliance", as I am reminded of it every time I go to the Palace Museum in Beijing.