Political Correctness Run Amuck

by John Hawkins | November 12, 2002 2:34 pm

Political Correctness Run Amuck: Uh-oh, political correctness is rearing it’s ugly head again. This time we have the city of San Pedro and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn blocking the showing of the film “Tora, Tora, Tora” on Pearl Harbor Day[1] because it “would have been insensitive to the Japanese-American community.” They’re trying to spin this away by now claiming that the theater is booked, etc, etc, but here’s a snippet from the article that I believe highlights their real motivation…

“I wanted to be very sensitive to the Japanese-American community,” Hahn said. “Dec. 7 is a tough day, especially for the second and third generations of Japanese-Americans. Why do we want to do something that makes it more difficult?”…

…(V)olunteers said, city officials told them two weeks ago that the event couldn’t be held because it might be offensive to members of the Japanese-American community.

…Hahn, who was asked to intervene on the museum’s behalf to show the film on Dec. 7, said that after talking with Japanese-American friends, including state Assemblyman George Nakano, D-Torrance, she agreed with the city’s concerns.

…Hahn said she’s taken lots of heat for the decision, but still thinks the program would be inappropriate on the anniversary of the attack.

“People here lost their property, they lost their families, right here in San Pedro,” she said of the local Japanese-American community. “My father was a veteran of the war, and I was raised to be very supportive of veterans. I just wanted to be very sensitive to the Japanese-American community.”

Here we are on the day after Veterans Day reading about a City Councilwoman who is opposed showing a movie that even according to the article “is considered one of the most accurate depictions of events leading up to the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor” because she thinks it might be insensitive to Japanese-Americans.

The first problem with this is that she’s talking about “Japanese-Americans.” “Japanese-Americans” don’t exist. There are Americans and people who are not Americans. The moment you become an American, the country you came from becomes irrelevant. Whether your ancestors came over on the Mayflower or you just became citizens five minutes ago, you are an American, no better and no worse than the rest of us. So whether your ancestors lived in Japan during WW2, in America, or eleswhere, if you’re an American now, YOUR people were bombed at Pearl Harbor.

Furthermore, if someone else seeing a movie like “Tora, Tora, Tora” on Pearl Harbor Day of all days offends you, then you’re just too sensitive. Maybe Hahn and the other people with her PC mentality should be more worried about offending vets who fought for our country and the people that support them than some undoubtedly infinitesimal subset of Americans with Japanese ancestry who might be offended by “Tora, Tora, Tora.”

Endnotes:
  1. blocking the showing of the film “Tora, Tora, Tora” on Pearl Harbor Day: http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/bln/nmtora10.html

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