Arrest of Black Scholar Gates

A Harvard Scholar, Henry Gates Jr., who is black, was arrested in Cambridge after breaking into his own home. The police say he was belligerent and uncooperative, while others say it was a case of racial discrimination. It is big news in the States now.

One of my students said how surprised she was. Surprised is usually a way of unconsciously saying "I think that's f**ked up. That sort of f**ked up sh*t would never happen in Japan." more politely. If I ever beg to differ with people's take on events or recollection of facts, they tend to reiterate "But I was surprised!"

Eg:
"And then they put the cat in a bottle. I surprised!"
"The cat wasn't actually in a bottle. They changed the photo with computer software. It's a bad joke."
"But cruel! I surprised!"
"No, it's not a real photo. A cat couldn't survive that long in a bottle."
"In Japan, no. I surprised!"

So what happens is the surprise tends to trump reality.

Anyway, that's not really what I'm posting about. Kinda digging myself into a hole here. I'm not sure what happened in the Gates case, I can see both sides. And yes, it is kind of messed up. But three things I noticed here are 1) the Japanese news media's tendency to highlight how racist the US is 2) Japanese people's self righteous reaction to these injustices 3) my friends' and student's remarkable skill at imagining ways in which such a thing could not be possible in the fairytale Japan of their collective psyche.

So my student wasn't actually dwelling so much on the man's race, more like on the every-man-for-himself attitude that they envision the US to be. Kind of like the way the societies of evil alien races or marauding mongol hordes are portrayed in movies. ("What, you disagree with me? You think we should use the death ray on the hospital instead of the capitol building? How dare you defy me!" Then the alien general kills the assistant and goes ahead with his subversive assistant's superior plan anyway.) So what shocked her was the fact that: a neighbor called the police on another neighbor! She insisted that in Japan, neighbors all know each other and get along and would be able to recognize each other and would never call the police on one another.

So if two guys were seen screwing around with a door in an apartment building, or a car on the street, there is no way some old lady in the neighborhood would call the cops. Japan is harmonious and "heartful." (a term that comes up when people are drunk.)

I didn't mention that I've had the police called on me for jogging, and for apparently taking drugs and making a huge racket while cooking a pork chop one night. (I was in my house cooking dinner but somehow one of my neighbors discerned that I was on drugs.) Nor the numerous spots on morning "news" shows about crazy neighbors feuding, old men breaking into homes to steal panties or money to pay off gambling debts, women poisoning curry at local block parties. It happens everywhere. Not that big a deal, just wish people would acknowledge that it happens here sometimes too. These go into a separate bin for domestic consumption, and the circuits connecting that stored data are switched off when international news is being processed.

Anyway, this isn't so much about the case of Mr. Gates, she's probably already forgotten those details. I think what she took away from the news report was that the US is indeed a violent, aggressive society where nobody cares about anyone else, unlike harmonious Japan where neighbors look out for one another.

Who knows, maybe there is some truth to what she says. I've seen people collapsed in the street here before and no one has bothered to call 911.