Comments

Posts

New Hampshire state representative: “two nukes just wasn’t enough”

NH State Rep Nick Levasseur is in trouble after posting the message shown above to his facebook account. Here’s a YouTube video of a news report about how his remarks could be offensive to “the Japanese heritage”:

“Anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough.”

Levasseur has apparently apologized. It is unclear just how much damage this might do to his political career.

More Reading: The Red Hampshire has been keeping track of the reactions from anime fans on Twitter.

—

Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

74 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 27, 2010 at 2:02 pm

Categories: Anti-Japan, Otaku & Anime Tags:

Michael

Well, to be fair, anime has really gone downhill since Ranma 1/2.

kevin halse

considering all of the moé anime coming out, sometimes I think the best thing to come out of Japan is a B-29 with an empty bomb bay.

Luke

What about “200 years of slavery just wasn’t enough”?
Same ballpark? No?
I think there’d be a much bigger reaction than just some negative news coverage.

Tbrot

Meh, considering how ignorant many Americans are about foreign lands and foreign culture they wouldn’t even know what anime is. I mean when the US invaded Iraq, some members of Congress didn’t even know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis.

Stupid is as stupid does…

Carlos

Believe me, that comment can be applied not only to Americans, but on the flip-side, there are also many ignorant Europeans that like to bomb throw or make comments or accusations and lump all Americans into a single collective unit.

You are right, stupid is as stupid does.

pixel_bomber

Yes Anime and slavery are exactly the same thing.

Michael

When it’s done right.

pixel_bomber

I see what you did there.

pixel_bomber

Ok I’m not sure how to work slavery into the the anime joke but you could say “watching anime makes me wanna crash a passenger jet into a high rise”. I think that’s closer to the level of tastelessness.
If you are going to try to do the slavery joke you need to add a reason behind it. Why is 200 years of slavery not enough? Maybe try to work in something related to cotton since many slaves were used as labor on cotton plantations. I’d like to see what you can come up with to improve the joke.

toro

This is regrettable
Tornadoes28

Bitch
John

That comment is just beyond outrageous.

How on earth can that be remotely acceptable out of a politician? I think he should be fired.

toro

確かに最低時代です！

Hamachiman

Imagine if someone cracked that 9/11 just wasn’t enough, or ‘better’ yet, imagine if some Japanese politico type made some crack about how Pearl Harbor wasn’t enough.

In that case, the same ones thinking this is harmless and an example of PC gone amok, would then be crying bloody murder and an example of Japanese ignorance, racism, blah blah blah.

Yet another another supreme example of double standards and hypocrisy when it comes to Japan.

Dave

I don’t think 9/11 or Pearl Harbor are even analogous. This was the mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians using the world’s most destructive weapon (thankfully only ever used in these two attacks). It was a crime against humanity, both in terms of the death and destruction and the use of weapons of mass destruction. It was the the culmination of a systematic war effort meant to kill as many people as possible.

Any U.S. politician should be contrite about his country’s actions in the war.

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” ~Albert Einstein

Michael

And the Japanese were innocent little flowers in all of this?

Dave

Many of those killed were undoubtably innocents. That’s the problem with indiscriminate killing – it’s indiscriminate.
Bran

No country in any war is entirely innocent, all of them will end up with participants having committed heinous acts on both sides. The civilian populace of countries involved enjoy special rights and protections though. They are legally and (at least in some cases) morally “innocent little flowers”. The fact that you can attribute any guilt for the political or military actions of the Japanese leadership or frontline soliders to the thousands of mothers, children and infants intentionally targeted and slaughtered in the bombings cannot be justified by any rational, moral or legal argument, leaving only the defense of idiocy or racism.
tokyojesusfist

I don’t think 9/11 or Pearl Harbor are even analogous. This was the mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians using the world’s most destructive weapon (thankfully only ever used in these two attacks).

And… uh… 9/11 was not a mass slaughter of innocent civilians? Whereas the atomic bombings were done to reach a military objective during a conventional war (that the US didn’t even start), 9/11 was simply an act of terrorism.

I’ve noticed that when people criticize the atomic bombings as mass murder, they never mention what Japan was up to in China (might be hard to spin that one).

It was the the culmination of a systematic war effort meant to kill as many people as possible.

Most wars tend to be fought in a systematic way? And no, the objective of the war was not to kill “as many people as possible,” it was to win the war. Otherwise, why stop at two atomic bombings? Why have a benevolent occupation and become BFFs with Japan?

Many of those killed were undoubtably innocents. That’s the problem with indiscriminate killing – it’s indiscriminate.

Carpet and fire bombings were just as indiscriminate, and to my knowledge killed more people than the atomic bombs ever did. There were no guided munitions during World War II (aside from some primitive ones that were used only a few times), and you can’t judge WWII on the basis of modern technology.

Bran:

The fact that you can attribute any guilt for the political or military actions of the Japanese leadership or frontline soliders to the thousands of mothers, children and infants intentionally targeted and slaughtered in the bombings…

Yes, I’m absolutely sure that the express purpose of the bombings was to kill as many mothers, children and infants as possible. (insert “roll eyes” emoticon here)

And where did Michael attribute guilt to the civilians? It’s an indisputable fact that Japan’s leadership was responsible for the war, ergo responsible for the inevitable US attack on their soil.
Hamachiman

While there may not have been a direct statement that the purpose of the atomic bombings was to kill as many civilians as possible (which includes children, women, and infants), there is no doubt that the mindset during those days was far, far different than it is these days.

Back then world wars were all about ‘scorched earth’ policies. There were no touchy feely ‘minimal civilian casualty’ or ‘hearts and minds’ campaigns in world war 2.

The goal was the absolute destruction of both Germany and Japan, and most importantly, the will for both countries to fight further down to the last civilian.

Back then I would think it wasn’t particularly a big deal from a moral standpoint to use weapons that killed hundreds of thousands of people in an instant. These days, there’s no way in hell the United States would publicly use a massive weapon of destruction to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians at once (unless it was some unbelievably dire and extremely rare instance).
tokyojesusfist

Back then world wars were all about ’scorched earth’ policies. There were no touchy feely ‘minimal civilian casualty’ or ‘hearts and minds’ campaigns in world war 2.

Bombing an enemy city is not a scorched earth tactic.

During the early days of WWII, the US urged all sides to restrict their attacks to military targets. Both Britain and Germany strove to avoid killing civilians. But things eventually escalated.

The goal was the absolute destruction of both Germany and Japan.

Yeah, that explains why every major Japanese city was hit with an atomic bomb and why the survivors were massacred afterwards. Same deal with Germany.

Oh… wait.

Back then I would think it wasn’t particularly a big deal from a moral standpoint to use weapons that killed hundreds of thousands of people in an instant.

It was.

Darien Shields

While I agree that nuclear bombing and terrorist attacks/the attack on Pearl Harbour are worlds apart, I think you might be underestimating how people think. Hanachiman complained of people being hypocritical, who would call the nuke comment “Political Correctness gone Mad” but still become outraged if similar comments about Pearl Harbour or the World Trade Centre attacks were made.

Imagining someone with that sort of mindset, I can actually easily picture how they would considering Pearl Harbour/WTC attacks worse. Such people would ignore the actual scope of the attacks and the number of deaths caused. Instead they’d focus on the reasons. For someone of such a disposition they would probably consider the nuclear attacks a necessary evil to end the conflict, or possibly even justified revenge. Either way they were acts of war made in a war after warning Japan they were going to do it. Pearl Harbour, on the other hand, they would consider an unprovoked unannounced sneak attack that is fundamentally evil despite the substantially smaller death toll involved. Same with the Twin Towers, it would be seen as unprovoked and fundamentally worse.

I don’t condone this view myself, but I could definitely see why someone would come around to thinking that way.

Hamachiman

Along those lines, the intent of my statement was not to compare the scope, politics, or ‘destructive elements’ between Pearl Harbor/9-11 and Hiroshima/Nagasaki.

My main point was that many people who would find this politician’s statement about anime harmless and funny, would also find it horrible and disgusting if someone cracked a joke about 9-11 or Pearl Harbor. I made the specific analogy because the politician was American, and 9-11 and Pearl Harbor were uniquely American events. It’s always fun and games when it comes to other nations, especially Japan, but not so funny anymore when your sacred tragedies are mocked. See where I’m coming from?

Let me make another analogy. Would it be funny or humorous if some politician made a crack that more civilians should have been fire bombed in Dresden? Or is it always “acceptable” for political or high profile figures to make jokes as long as those being mocked were that country’s ‘enemies’ in past wars and the like?

And don’t get me started on how if this individual was a republican, there would be hell to pay by now.

deanS

Perhaps a word from someone who was there:

Lesson #5: Proportionality should be a guideline in war.

EM: The choice of incendiary bombs, where did that come from?

McNamara: I think the issue is not so much incendiary bombs. I think the issue is: in order to win a war should you kill 100,000 people in one night, by firebombing or any other way? LeMay’s answer would be clearly “Yes.”

“McNamara, do you mean to say that instead of killing 100,000, burning to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in that one night, we should have burned to death a lesser number or none? And then had our soldiers cross the beaches in Tokyo and been slaughtered in the tens of thousands? Is that what you’re proposing? Is that moral? Is that wise?”

Why was it necessary to drop the nuclear bomb if LeMay was burning up Japan? And he went on from Tokyo to firebomb other cities. 58% of Yokohama. Yokohama is roughly the size of Cleveland. 58% of Cleveland destroyed. Tokyo is roughly the size of New York. 51% percent of New York destroyed. 99% of the equivalent of Chattanooga, which was Toyama. 40% of the equivalent of Los Angeles, which was Nagoya. This was all done before the dropping of the nuclear bomb, which by the way was dropped by LeMay’s command.

Proportionality should be a guideline in war. Killing 50% to 90% of the people of 67 Japanese cities and then bombing them with two nuclear bombs is not proportional, in the minds of some people, to the objectives we were trying to achieve.

I don’t fault Truman for dropping the nuclear bomb. The U.S.—Japanese War was one of the most brutal wars in all of human history ? kamikaze pilots, suicide, unbelievable. What one can criticize is that the human race prior to that time ? and today ? has not really grappled with what are, I’ll call it, “the rules of war.” Was there a rule then that said you shouldn’t bomb, shouldn’t kill, shouldn’t burn to death 100,000 civilians in one night?

LeMay said, “If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.” And I think he’s right. He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals. LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?

From The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
A fascinating documentary.

Liam

I think it’s less a case of double standards and hypocrisy when it comes to Japan, and more double standards and hypocrisy by most of the US when it comes to the rest of the world.

Tbrot

Let’s call it even when Anime kills as many Americans as the 2 atom bombs that were dropped.

Silly Americans…

toro

これは本当にばかだな　なさけないだ
http://drmchsr0.wordpress.com/ drmchsr0

Hoo boy.

Apparently, no one has ever heard of the outrageous comments one can get away with in sunny Singapore. Especially if you’re affiliated with the leading political party.

I’m kinda unsurprised that he would make such a statement.
Anonymous

lol, I’m not surprised its quite typical of what an American would say.
ch

America is controlling japan like he does with most of the other countries.They may bomb again japan or another country. This is their heritage
toro

the hate just has to continue

just be cool
http://otakurevolution.com/ penguintruth

Look, Mr. Levasseur, I know Tytania was bad, but this is a little much!

Seriously though, he should be censured immediately by his fellow Democrats. This wouldn’t be tolerable if a Republican said it, it’s not okay if a Democrat says it. This guy is an asshole.
inuZ

2 planes just werent enough
rogosk

It’s like saying “Rap music is a prime example of 200 years of slavery just wasn’t enough.”

It’s not so much the first part, as the second part.

Marvin

rogosk Your comment ruined my day plus the amount of rating u recieved. Slavery against Africans lasted longer than 200 years, try 400 years actually. Our Cities, factories, and universities we built were burned down also. We did more than just pick cotton all day. Blacks tried to become independent from the government and what happened….cointelpro!!! Nothing has been done to repair the damages either. America helped Japanese rebuild their cities afterwards. I am not posting that the recent behavior of a massive amount of blacks is justifiable for what happened in the past but to state that we tried to improve our communities. As for Rap music, it was actually positive until marketers came along then the east vs west beef was established. Have you ever heard of de la soul, mc hammer, young mc, krs one etc,? All rap happens to be is rhythmic poetry and a way of life, it’s not the genre but the lyrics that make it bad. Japanese have the power to endorse their anime but blacks don’t have the power to endorse rap. Do your research, black people don’t own BET, DEFJAM, nor MTV. If i had such power what u see on those channels would not be going on. I don’t idolize saggy pants and blunt smoking or anything like that. There is even hip-hop in japan, dancing, graffiti, fashion, and music. why is that? They shouldn’t have to bow or kiss up to blacks because of it but imitating a persons culture is flattery in itself. Your example also doesn’t make any sense since because remember we also created the very jazz, blues, rock n roll, & pop music that we are not even credited for to this date.

Kevin not kevin

Marvin, you’re missing the point. rogosk doesn’t have anything against black people. He’s giving an example that might hit home with an American audience. If you are appalled at his comment, you should be equally horrified at what this idiotic NH rep. was suggesting.

afsfasadf

I think more people like this politician should die in similiar inside jobs like 9/11, I hate the USA’s troops too, I hope they die. Budweiser is piss in a can. Slavery was good. Obama is poor president. Civil war was best thing to happened to USA because lot’s of stupid people died there. American “football” is a joke. What else I can bash USA with? But pretty immature from that politician get so worked up with anime, I hope people don’t vote asshats like him.

pixel_bomber

You need to work on your delivery. The problem is you make random statements with no set up. Even low brow tasteless humor needs some kind of setup. Let me give you an example of how you could improve on “Budweiser is piss in a can”.

What’s the difference between Budweiser and horse piss? If you drink enough Budweiser it will get you drunk.

Ok that’s an easy one, but see if you can come up with some better jokes for your other comments.

toro

don’t want to hate America because of this–idiots are everywhere, and ignorance is another of the human races problems. It’s good people that matter!
nagoriyuki

Two nukes just wasn’t enough? I knew.
That’s why they still need to bash Toyota nowadays, right?
I don’t care anyway.
pixel_bomber

I don’t know the politician who made this comment personally so I can’t comment on the intent of his comment. For all I know they are a big dumb racist.

On the other hand if I heard a comment like this from a friend I would immediately realize that the joke has nothing to do with nukes and everything do with trying to say Anime sucks.

I mean yea people are right to be shocked and appalled with this behavior from a public official. But I don’t find that comment alone to be offensive. Then again maybe the internet has desensitized me beyond hope.
G-chan

Wow. Perhaps this is finally indisputable proof that everything that New England politicians say is complete rubbish.

Now time for me to get back to some anime here in Alabama…

P.S. To poster above: What’s wrong with moe~? ~_^

P.P.S. To invoke deadly nuclear bombs over such a harmless subject as anime is the height of disgusting. I can see why people might be offended.

pixel_bomber

“To invoke deadly nuclear bombs over such a harmless subject as anime is the height of disgusting.”

That’s what tasteless humor is all about. I think the worst are jokes about the holocaust though. Anyway, I’m sure I’ve laughed at things way more offensive than this.

Neal Hicks

I can’t believe this guy is in my party. This was Michelle Bachmann level of crazy.

Sebastian

Don’t worry, this won’t make the national news. He’s a Democrat.

japanobserver

While double standards apply to every country and Japan is in no case exempt (cmon now, Ishihara Shintaro), this public official does reflect on how Nuclear weapons are more or less the favorite “joke” of many Americans who think that “nuking” more or less solves all their problems. If Japan hunts whales, Nuke them. If there is violence in the middle east, nuke them, and so forth. The ones who created and experienced the bombs directly are the only people who will come close to understanding the power and destructiveness of the weapon and they have already pretty much died or are dying. All in all, I am pretty disappointed that such a idiotic comment came from a public official, but it is not surprising because he’s American.

A joke to finish it off.

What is a person who can speak 3 languages?

A trilingual

What do you call a person who can speak 2 languages?

A bilingual

How about only 1 language?

American!

LB

How about only 1 language?

American!

Or British… or Aussie… or Kiwi…

Or most Japanese for that matter.

helical

Hey now, need I remind you most Japanese are fluent in both Japanese and Engrish (often on articles of clothing)?

William

Nice coment man, and I lold @ the joke XD
I agree with you, and I hate this about USA “We can have nuke bombs but you don’t”. I remember that some years ago Brazil made new machines to make energy by uranium, USA wanted to see these machines to check if we weren’t building a nuke bomb ¬¬” Brazil hid the machines when they came here and didn’t show it at all…
I’m against weapons but since USA loves to start wars I think all countries should have strong army… noone knows who is the next to be “bad” in american’s mind!

hl

Like America never made any crummy TV shows.

It makes my brain hurt that most of the twitter reactions cared more about the anime bashing than anything else.
William

Let’s try 2 nukes on USA then to see if it’s enough to stop their stupid racism!!! Bunch of stupid egocentric rednecks!! Ohhh dam this makes me so mad :@
tf

This is a man who takes his cartoons very seriously.
toro

よくないな！　ばかたれは困ったな！　大問題です
心配しています
これは本当に難しい！

　この政治家が無視してくれ！　
　
アメリカと日本も確かに明るい将来ほしい！
I love these countries forever, want nothing but the best for them and the world!　I know strongly we can do it!

Please do not　throw away the future because of such　悪いよくない idiocy
Shut the door to this trashpile idiocy

石原さんもばかたれですそれわ本当です！　かれは最低の人だな！
、彼も無視してほしい！　

Ｐｅａｃｅ
http://meiocozido.blogspot.com Felipe

Anyone who thinks of throwing bombs at people only because “they make anime, and I don’t like anime” is no more than a J-E-R-K.
http://edgeworthgirl.deviantart.com Sarah

Gawd this makes me ashamed to live in New Hampshire.

I HATE PEOPLE WHO ARE STUPID.
Level3

And even more irony is the state motto of New Hampshire is “Live Free or Die” (We did start the Revolutionary War. You’re welcome.)

Freedom (including freedom to make crappy anime) is to be more treasured than even being alive. Guess this guy never heard of it, which is strange because the motto is printed on all of our license plates.

This politican deserves to be in the Special Olympics..

oops.
Oh well, this guy will get a pass just like Obama did. One week from now the story will disappear and the US mass media will never mention it again, he won’t have to resign. He’s a Democrat, after all.
LQ

I’d like to take up a collection to send him to the museum in Hiroshima…

Kevin not kevin

Better yet, I’m donating to his opponent come November.

Rob A

“Republicans are a prime example of why two towers just wasn’t enough.”

Mr. USA

Levasseur is a Democrat.
Jerry

FAIL

lars

Probably his puritanical knee-jerk reaction when he out of “curiosity” saw a hentai for the first time with a scene of prepubescent cartoon characters doing bondage and bukkake. lol
turningjapanese

Coca-cola, McDonalds, Disney are prime examples of why America should not have been “discovered.”

William

Agreed!
pixel_bomber

I bet Native Americans have a different opinion on why it should not have been discovered.

turningjapanese

undoubtedly

Stereo

I am not good at grammar, but why is it “two nukes wasn’t”, rather than “two nukes weren’t”?

turningjapanese

“two nukes” isnt really the subject here. the complete implicit subject is something like “Bombing Japan with two nukes.” So the subject of the sentence is a single event of bombing Japan on two different occasion not two physical nuclear bombs.

Unfortunately, the politician completely ignores (or is ignorant about) the equally destructive and horrific firebombing of Tokyo during WWII.

pixel_bomber

Actually I think the way it’s worded is that he is implying they should have used more nukes at the time. Had they used enough nukes then perhaps Japan might have been completely destroyed and unable to come up with the concept of anime. I don’t think he is saying Japan should be nuked again because of anime. Well at least that’s how I understand the wording.

Stereo

Freedom of expression is guaranteed by Japanese constitution. To over ride constitutional right, one needs a good reason.
Real child pornography is prohibited by Japanese laws because such pornography involves victims who are underage actors and actresses. Existence of a victim is a good reason to over-ride freedom of expression.
However, there is no victim in anime child pornography. Animated child pornography as well as any pornography is not allowed to be sold or rented to underage boys and girls. So, what is the point of prohibiting animated child pornography? People here do not see good enough reasons to override constitutional rights.

pixel_bomber

How did this turn into a debate on kiddy porn?

I guess you are right it’s not illegal to sexual release while fantasizing about commuting a horrific crime. But personally I’d prefer to see pedophiles get the medical help they need rather than fuel the sick fantasies in their heads.

I’m not in favor of censorship, but I am sickened that there is a market for that stuff.

DemoScum

He is a scumbag Democrat and they were on the march last week, slandering and smearing people not just you beautiful people… shameful.

He should RESIGN and you should all put pressure on him to do it.

These are all Bill Ayers types who do not respect hard working honest people.
Annalise

I can’t believe this guy is a Democrat! WTF

PLEASE vote him out of office. Even if you think he has the 1st amendment right to say such a thing…he should have been smarter than to post it to the interwebz. ><
b

Asahi:
http://www.asahi.com/international/update/0330/TKY201003300232.html

New Hampshire state representative: “two nukes just wasn’t enough”

Recent Comments

Further Reading

Bikini Atoll: Lessons For Fukushima?

Complaints From Loony Parents Cancel Event: Okinawan Children Not Allowed to Play With “Radioactive” Aomori Snow

Remembering the International Media’s Post-Fukushima Hysteria: Radiation Scare Stories Ignored Real Victims of 3/11

A Look Inside Osaka Prison

Dead Shark Found in Yoyogi Park

Japanese Fart Battle Scroll

Dinosaurs Wear Traditional Japanese Clothing

Canada Rejects Refugee Application From Japanese Who Feared Radiation

Ishinomaki: Then & Now

Radioactive Seafood? Miyagi Fishing Industry Works to Prove Safety of Their Fish

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs