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December 1, 2011

[SSJ: 7004] Re: 6998] Re: 6990] Re: 6980] Re: 6975] Re: 6937] Re: From RonaldDore

From: Ellis Krauss
Date: 2011/12/01

Dear Ron:

Hmmm....I'm not sure I see the relevance of your experience at Columbia to the question of whether China may be a danger in the future or that US-Japan ties are quite strong in many respects. As you note, the people at this event all have close and deep attachments and personal ties to Japan. The fact that they referred to the "Japanese" seems to me to be nothing more than a common use of a collective noun when talking about other countries. As you note, I'm sure they are quite as familiar with individual Japanese and particular Japanese groups as they are with Americans. It is common in my experience that people (not just
Americans) use these types of collective nouns in discussing foreign countries. When such usage reflects stereotypes based on ignorance I share your disdain.
Thus "all Japanese are conformists;" "all Italians eat Spaghetti Bolognese" --I am writing to you from Bologna, Italy where I've spent the last month as a Visiting Professor at the U. of Bologna. I know that even in Bologna there is no such thing as 'Spaghetti Bolognese' but rather "tortellini a la ragu" and you don't usually eat the meat sauce with spaghetti, but most Americans don't--are ignorant statements, although hardly dangerous ones. But since nothing like this applies to those at the Columbia celebration, as you admit, this has to be merely a verbal shorthand.

If the statements are not racist, critical, or used to justify jingoistic behavior then they can hardly be considered dangerous.

Best regards,
Ellis

Approved by ssjmod at 03:21 PM