Rude, Stupid, and Clueless: Those Who Get It and Those Who Don't

On the eve of another US Presidential election, I sit in Japan (not eve here) and wonder what's going to happen over the next several days.  Often struck by how angry my friends are at those who disagree with them, violently at times, absolutely sure they are right in their opinions and thoughts and beliefs, the election and whatever the outcome will be......it all feels like a lose-lose situation.  How much more divided can the US be?  The polls are split at 49% for each candidate.  Will we know for sure in 48 hours, or will there be another recount, postponing the inevitable for another several weeks?  I dread this.  It's depressing.

At which point I tell myself "at least I get to vote."  I may be voting for the "one I dislike less" but I still get to vote.  Those in Japan do not.  That's just the beginning of the list of countries where ordinary citizens do not get to cast a ballot for their leader.  I would not handle that well, especially considering there have been rumors, promises, and challenges surrounding the current Japanese Prime Minister and his Cabinet.  As in, they're out by the end of the year.  I would want a say in picking someone, in the hopes they'd stay longer than eighteen months.  I'll stop there, as anything else I write will be cruel.

The gap between people with such strong opposing viewpoints--this seems to be a real trend.  Or, perhaps I'm just seeing more of it, having been thrust into the middle as of late.  With both sides convinced, truly convinced they're right, often I find there's no point in continuing the discussion.  If I don't agree with them, I'm simply wrong.  The opposite is true as well.  That's the part we don't often admit.  We judge others who disagree with us just as harshly as they do us, except when they don't agree with us we tend to think they're small-minded and stupid (which we mostly don't say out loud), and when we don't agree with them we're just wrong.

Apply this to what's going on in Tohoku, and very possibly in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  (Or, any natural disaster for that matter.)  There's a word tossed around Japan that outlines the gap between those affected and those far removed.  The literal translation is "temperature difference."  The distance between those who get it (from the Tohoku locals' perspective) and those who don't is, simply put, a major problem.  Everyday I hear a new story about someone who says or does something unbelievable.  Locals shake their heads saying, "If you're not here, you simply don't get it" meaning they're not fond of, nor do they appreciate those in Kasumigaseki (Japan politics central located in Tokyo) who create policy and have yet to come to Tohoku, all while formulating plans and solutions in their heads with no practical knowledge.  I point out there are plenty "here" who don't get it either.  Here are examples of both.

Federal funds allocated to Tohoku relief are used for impish projects.  The latest is money sent to fix a highway in Okinawa.  That, for those unfamiliar with Japanese geography, is as far as you can get from Tohoku.  The press had a field day with the "injustice."  As they should.

Then there are the locals who move forward, getting things done, getting publicity for doing so who are criticized in ways that hit below the belt.  Just recently, the wife of a prominent and active Ofunato man received criticism for accepting a donation of vitamins from a friend for her brother recently diagnosed with a grave illness.  "If multivitamins work then you don't need hospitals.  What's the point of him getting treatment?  And, how are you special enough to get a donation of vitamins?"  This is helpful how?  That it was said on Twitter (can't say it to your face?) makes it all the worse.

In the end, we're all mean to each other.  This temperature difference, those who say things that really shouldn't be said and those who just think things that shouldn't be said, those who truly believe they're right and look upon others who don't agree with them with a "how stupid are you?" look and attitude...this scares me.

There are plenty of times in history where we did some pretty horrific things to each other because we were so convinced we were right.  Careful, people.  Be nice.  Whoever becomes the next US President, and whoever says cruel things to you, careful how you respond.  Someone has to take the high road, and the more of us who can and do the better.