East vs West
If you were socio-politically aware during Ronald Regan’s America, you may recall “Japan-bashing.” One more swing of the Yellow Peril pendulum. That was largely based on opposition to Japan’s economic policies, seen as unfair in a global-capital sense. Some people would say that was based on racism. I reserve final judgement.
Maybe I’m reading too much into things, but I feel like we’re swinging that way again, only the focus now seems to be on China. A fun path to liver failure would be this drinking game: listen to talk radio, and take a shot every time another story mentions how China’s growing economy threatens the world, and, oh yeah, America too.
And I listen to NPR for fuck’s sake, not Rush Limbaugh. Right now, the emphasis is on environment, how China’s increased use of dirty coal is going to feed into pollution and global warming. Now, okay, that’s fair, but America has absolutely lost the moral authority to demand that some other country start adhering to tough environmental standards.
I fear that, even subconsciously, we’re gearing up for some sort of fight (probably not in the military sense) with China. Maybe there’s nothing to really worry about– nothing all that terrible came out of the 80’s antagonism with Japan. But the argument back then wasn’t that the Japanese were a real threat, just that they weren’t playing fair. But the groundwork being laid now, in these increasingly xenophobic times, feels shrill. It’s boring. We should figure out a new way to deal with people.