Monday, May 21, 2012
Hate......
Recently I had a conversion on Youtube with a young Japanese man. His video was entitled, I Am an Anti-Korea Japanese. Basically his video was about the influence Korea has on Japanese entertainment and how he feels upset about how Japanese culture is changing because of it. I understood his underlying message of how proud he is of his country and how he wants to keep his culture from being changed. But the way he was going about it was wrong to me and to many others as well. I left a comment saying how I understood his pride of his country and his culture, but that I didn't understand why he had to place blame on others for it. I tried to explain how such an aggressive statement was counter productive.
He was very accepting of my opinion and gracious of how I understood, in fact, he even posted a new video on how he was no longer Anti-Korea.
I understand that it's very much human nature to fear change and to protest and blame other cultures for this, but by doing so you only make yourself appear to be a bigot or a racist. Its hurtful to stereotype and place blame on innocent people. For instance, when I was in intermediate school I was confronted in class by several students who began questioning me about my religion. They were going on and on and being very aggressive with their questioning and wouldn't let me speak, also it was during class and I was trying to get my work done. I stood up and yelled, "Shut the F*** up and leave me alone!" I grew up in a very Christian area and I was the only non-Christian around and felt a lot of hate from the community for it. So their unrelenting questioning felt like an attack, but I misinterpreted their intent.
Looking back, I feel a lot of regret for reacting in that way. I realize now that by reacting in that way I had proven everything negative that the Christians had said about me. Now that I've matured, I wish I could go back and change my reaction. Instead I would be excited at their curiosity and I would be able to teach them about paganism and teach them kindness and acceptance. I learned that you can never counter hate with hate, violence with violence, anger with anger. It solves nothing and makes the world more filled with hate.
So from this experience I wanted to teach this Young man. Japanese have a notoriety for being Bigots, but he had a chance to change that. Instead of saying he was Anti-Korea, he could of said that he didn't want to see his culture be changed. That he was proud of his country and his people and that when Koreans call Japanese bigots, how much it hurt him. But because he used the term Anti-Korea... well when a Korean sees or hears that statement from a Japanese person its incredibly hurtful for them, and then that Korean will have the notion that Japanese are bigots... Its a never ending cycle. I empathize with both sides because I know how they both feel, but how do I change this?!! How can I stop this cycle of suffering?!!!
It also made me think of Feminists. None of us would be here is men didn't exist. Yes men have hurt women, but women have hurt men too. How many times have any of us seen a man get kicked in the balls? How many times have we laughed at this person's pain?! Or a man getting slapped by his girlfriend? Both of these examples are forms of assault and if a man where to do these things he would be sent to jail, and yet society permits and media encourages these acts of hate and violence towards men. But if a man were to defend himself by hitting a woman it becomes a hate crime.
Rape is a horrendous crime, one of violence and power. But why do men feel so powerless? Many times it is their upbringing, but it can also be because women are hateful towards them?
If women are smarter than men, then why can't we see that not all men are the same? Why can't we treat men better so that all people are treated better? Treat everyone with respect and kindness, this is the only way to change the world. So many women say that all men are assholes and aren't worth dating. And there are many men who say the all women are stupid sluts who can't be trusted. Here's what I see... Suffering on BOTH sides. Women feel wronged by men, men feel wronged by women, but neither side can see that the other is hurting. Society tries to tell men that they are robots. They shouldn't feel pain or sorrow, they shouldn't cry... because its weak. This is taking power away from men, the power to feel human.... Its sad that we've made men feel afraid to cry, to show affection, to be sensitive. Shouldn't women know better?! We have suffered in the past, we have been pushed and hated simply for our gender, and here we are doing the exact same thing to men....
Stereotyping hurts people. Even though it's human nature. But sometimes we have to change our nature so that we can grow as people....
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