Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

A story about former President of the United States, George W. Bush. He was born in wealthy elite family.

He never had any problem doing what he wanted to do because his family's wealth and name.

So he could attend Yale and Harvard. He became a governor of Texas and finally the most powerful man in the world.

The film featured how he and his administration made a mistake in provoking the war in Iraq.

There was no WMD, but they made it up to conquere the oil mines in the Middle East.

Luckily, the media and public supported the war because of the fear caused by 911 attack.

After all, the U.S. system proved to be problematic by letting such spoiled man become a leader of the country.

He was never self-made man. He never could accomplish anything by himself. Always relying on his father's power.

The U.S. has been actually feudal society ruled by dynasties. This article describes the detail and this novel tells it in drama format.

America was drastically changed by this man in a very bad way. The U.S. is now in big economic crisis having huge debt and getting involved in two failed wars.

Recently I and other Japanese have to complain about the U.S. very often.

Well, America is not dream country to me any more.

President Bush was assacinated in Chicago. Who killed him?

Of course, this is the fiction. Janre of mockdocumentary, but it looked very real.

After the assacination, the U.S. government used this fear to justify amendment of Patriot Act, tightening the freedom of citizens. Muslim man was arrested but there was not enough supporting evidence to convict him but he was convicted by the jurors.  

Why? This is the same old fashioned rhetoric. Once awful thing happened, no one can have objective view.

It was well-made documentary although it was a fiction.

But I wasn't very impressed. I am kind of tired of such anti-Bush propaganda films such as Micheal Moore's "Fahrenheit 911."

Yes, Bush was wrong. He did the wrong things. So did other politicians in the world. It is just easy to criticize the politicians but what are behind the actions they make? Think about it.

Even Gore was elected as President of the U.S., he might have dispatched troops to Iraq. Accusing just one politician for all the wrong things in the world doesn't actually change the world better.  

After The Flight to Tokyo, I am presenting an interesting and shocking story to you, Americans.

The story is fiction but based on what is really happening in America now.

The facts came from two books written by 2 Japanese women. One is Ms. Yumi Kobayashi's and the other is Ms. Mika Tsutsumi's. Please read the related posts.

The story took place in Baghdad, Iraq. 4 Americans were captive by Iraqi insurgents somewhere in Baghdad. Each of them represents American society.

One of them was Loretta, 24. She was from the very rich family, Boltons. Going back for 4 generations from Loretta, George Bolton established the family's wealth by finding an oil mine in Texas, late 19th century. Starting with the oil business, they ran resort hotels, military equipment company, and broadcasting corporations. She lived in Beverly Hills with her parents. She became a celebrity woman after she made a debut in her family's TV show. She had been criticized that she was too much spotlighted using her family's name and power. So she wanted to prove herself how she was brave and independent. Then she went to Baghdad to be in a show to entertain the soldiers.

Next was Kevin, 27. He was born in the rich family, too but not as rich as Loretta's. His father was a lawyer and mother was a physician. He, himself made a fortune by computer software business. He studied business in Harvard. He, himself prided himself as self-made millionaire. He manages his own computer software company in Silicon Valley. He came to Baghdad to distribute and inspect his company's brand new software for the military in Baghdad. His company and Loretta's family company were doing business together for the military.  

Third was John, 19. He was born in Michigan from a father who had worked for the auto-maker and a mother who worked as a secretary in a small company. But when Kevin was 17 and in high school. His father was laid-off. His parents cannot provide tuition for the college. So he decided to join the army to go to the college.

Last guy was Fernando, 17. His family were actually illegal immigrants. Fernado and his parents and a sister crossed the border from Mexico to California when he was 11. His father worked in farms at lower wages than minimum wage set by law. But his father later died by the accident. His mother, sister and Fernando had no place to work and live. They became penniless and homeless. They lived in a homeless facility. Fernando decided to join the army in exchange for the U.S. citizenship.

John and Fernando were in the squad to guard Loretta and Kevin heading towards the military base. But the squad was attacked. Some of the military personnels were killed but they were luckily saved and captured by the Iraqi insurgents.

They were taken to the house and sit on the floor face to face.

The insurgents demanded them to speak on the videotape they shoot. Speak to their government to beg them to withdraw the troops from Iraq immediately. If not, they would be killed.

Go on to Chapter 1.

The stoy is copyrighted by this blog's manager, me, Masagata.  

Last Wednesday, President Bush made a speech to the veterans in Kansas, Missouri.

His speech has been criticized by Japanese media because of his lack of knowledge about our history.

He talked about the doubts regarding democratization of Middle East nations.

His remarks about how our country developed to today's democratic society were, in fact not accurate.

Quote:

Some said Japanese culture was inherently incompatible with democracy. Joseph Grew, a former United States ambassador to Japan who served as Harry Truman's Under Secretary of State, told the President flatly that -- and I quote -- "democracy in Japan would never work." He wasn't alone in that belief. A lot of Americans believed that -- and so did the Japanese -- a lot of Japanese believed the same thing: democracy simply wouldn't work. "

 Well, even in pre-war era, we had the democracy movement so called "Taisho Democracy." Taisho is the era between 1911 and 1925. That was the most active era for deomocracy movement. In 1925, the parliament passed universal suffrage law that gives all men of 25 and older rights to vote regardless of their income level. It was done by Japanese democracy activists.

As for Japanese women, Bush said.

It's interesting what General MacArthur wrote in his memoirs. He wrote, "There was much criticism of my support for the enfranchisement of women. Many Americans, as well as many other so-called experts, expressed the view that Japanese women were too steeped in the tradition of subservience to their husbands to act with any degree of political independence." That's what General MacArthur observed. In the end, Japanese women were given the vote; 39 women won parliamentary seats in Japan 's first free election. Today, Japan's minister of defense is a woman, and just last month, a record number of women were elected to Japan 's Upper House. Other critics argued that democracy -- (applause.) "

 In pre-war era, there were women's suffragist activists in our country. They fought against the nation's male chauvinistic tradition. One of them, most famous one of all was Ms. Raicho Hiratsuka. She published women's liberation magazine "Seito (literary meaning is Bluestocking)" In the first issue of the magazine, she claimed "In the beginning women were suns that can shine themselves. Now we are like moons that shine only by others' lights. Let's get back our hidden suns."

In fact they made some achievement in pre-war era, they amended the law that barred women from attending political meetings in 1922. Then in 1930 they had lower parliament to pass the law that gives women's local voting rights but rejected by upper house which was dominated by peer members like House of Lords in England. Next year war in China started. The nation leaned towards militaristic mood.

Women's suffrage was approved after the WW 2, but such movement existed strongly even before. So that is why women's liberation became so successful in postwar era. Not just by the U.S. occupation.

Bush tried to compare Japan's democratization and cases in the Middle East. But two nations were foundamentally different. Our nation was pretty much homogeneous whereas Middle East is muti-national. Our country's democratization was easier because national unity was strong. In the places where the unity was so weak, "free" means disassociation, no base for authoritative entity. No trust in government. The government cannot manage economics and security. Just anarchism preveils. Anarchism is different from liberation or democratization. Just chaos, worse than tyranny.

Mr. Bush and Americans, please study more about history and the politics.