It’s Mind-Boggling Argument Time!
This year, the Major League Baseball season opened in Tokyo, as it has several times now over the last decade. But Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution doesn’t like it. Why? Maybe because — to him — it flies in the face of baseball tradition. Or maybe it’s because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941:
Well, not any longer. Money can change any habit. Eight springs ago the Mets and Cubs opened the season, not in Cincinnati. Guess where? Tokyo. That Tokyo, the guys who gave us Pearl Harbor. Some people don’t like you to bring that up, trade with Japan is so hot. But I’ve got a long memory. I saw what a few bombs can do to our property.
“Sayonara, Baseball Tradition”
Wow. Talk about holding a grudge. I wonder if he refers to Berlin as “the guys who gave us Auschwitz”? Now, to be fair, I was nowhere near alive in 1941, so I don’t have a clue what it was like to live through that day that will live in infamy. But I do know that there is far too much hate in the world, and attitudes like this one go a long way in fostering that very kind of ignorance and hate. There are plenty of good reasons to dislike Major League Baseball opening its season in Japan, but throwing out references like this really undermines your argument. Honestly, you can’t really take the argument seriously anymore because it’s so ridiculous.
And really, what in the hell does Pearl Harbor have to do with a baseball game?
Tagged as baseball, Japan + Categorized as Randomness, Rants
So the actual Japanese officers and soldiers who orchestrated the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor are the same people who now own the baseball stadium in Tokyo and are presiding over the opening game? No? Well then that argument can go in the trash, as far as I’m concerned. What a toolbox.
Going to war over things your enemy’s ancestors did to your ancestors is the reason why so many stupid people are fighting so many stupid battles this very day (read: the Middle East). Fucking idiots all.
I’ve actually read some people defending this tripe, and claiming those who don’t like it are merely a part of the PC police trying to prevent an 89-year old man from speaking his mind, which is ridiculous. Plain and simple, it’s a crappy argument that has no bearing on what he was trying to write about. It’s about as crazy as if I had refused to take German in high school because the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 (not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea).
In some way, it’s a lot like the people who bring up September 11th at every turn (coughRudyGulianicough). Yes, it happened. Yes, it was a horrible thing. But letting something like that dictate your emotions and thoughts…well, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be fueled by such hatred. I just don’t get it. In the case of Mr. Bisher, I really can’t imagine holding such hatred in my heart for over half a century, especially when the people responsible for the atrocities are no longer alive and the world situation is much different now. Should we forget the past? No. But you should be able to move on at some point.