{"id":15077,"date":"2018-07-15T10:11:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T20:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15077"},"modified":"2018-07-15T10:11:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T20:11:40","slug":"my-japan-times-just-be-cause-112-what-about-we-stop-it-with-the-whataboutism-july-16-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15077","title":{"rendered":"My Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE 112: “What about we stop it with the \u2018whataboutism\u2019?” (July 16, 2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books, eBooks, and more from Dr. Debito Arudou (click on icon):
\n\"Guidebookcover.jpg\"<\/a>\"japaneseonlyebookcovertext\"<\/a>\"Handbook<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a>\"FodorsJapan2014cover\"<\/a>
\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
\nDEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free
\n“LIKE” US on Facebook at http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/debitoorg<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embeddedrcsmJapan<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JapaneseOnlyTheBook<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BookInAppropriate<\/a>
\nIf you like what you read and discuss on Debito.org, please consider helping us stop hackers and defray maintenance costs with a little donation via my webhoster:
\n\"Donate<\/a>
\nAll donations go towards website costs only. Thanks for your support!<\/i><\/p>\n

JAPAN TIMES JUST BE CAUSE COLUMN 112<\/strong>
\n\"justbecauseicon.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THE JAPAN TIMES JUL 15, 2018<\/strong>
\nISSUES | JUST BE CAUSE<\/strong>
\nWhat about we stop it with the \u2018whataboutism\u2019?<\/strong>
\nBY DEBITO ARUDOU<\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2018\/07\/15\/issues\/what-about-we-stop-it-with-the-whataboutism\/<\/a><\/p>\n

These are troubling times for human rights activists.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For 27 years I\u2019ve been writing about civil, political and human rights for non-Japanese (NJ) and other minorities in Japan. And I\u2019ve never been more confused.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not least because the United States, the putative paragon of human rights, has been flouting them.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember, this is a country so cocksure about its own record that its State Department offers annual \u201cCountry Reports on Human Rights Practices<\/a>\u201d for each United Nations member.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet President Donald Trump has been undermining international norms of law, justice and society \u2014 and with the glee of a super-villain.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In case you haven\u2019t been paying attention, recently we\u2019ve seen U.S. leadership abrogate numerous treaties, erode well-established security and trade regimes (such as NATO and the G7), cozy up to the world\u2019s most authoritarian regimes and mimic their tactics, invoke the language of white nationalism to dehumanize minorities, and foment a culture of fear, loathing and vindictive reprisal towards anyone not in their ideological camp.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking of camps, who would have ever imagined that the U.S. would put foreign children in cages? Create \u201ctender-age\u201d internment centers<\/a> for toddlers separated from their families at the border? Force 3-year-olds to represent themselves<\/a> in American immigration courts?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy for undocumented migration and asylum seekers is so cruel that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced it as \u201cunconscionable<\/a>\u201d and \u201cillegal<\/a>\u201d under international law.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hours later, the U.S. petulantly<\/a> withdrew from the Human Rights Council<\/a>, of which it had been a charter member since 1947.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Just Be Cause\u2019s view, the worst thing about these rapid-fire shocks to the system is not the confusion but the distraction. Presidential historian Jon Meacham, author of \u201cThe Soul of America,\u201d pointed out how Trump \u201cowns our mind space\u201d in what he calls \u201cthe world\u2019s longest hostage siege.\u201d<\/a> We are prisoners of a self-promoting celebrity so adept at managing news cycles that he sucks the oxygen from other issues<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So this is where we arrive at the big question of this column: How can JBC focus on human rights in Japan given the distractions in America?…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the rest of the column at:
\nhttps:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2018\/07\/15\/issues\/what-about-we-stop-it-with-the-whataboutism\/<\/a><\/p>\n

================================
\nDo you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0Please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>. Or even click on an ad below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JBC 112: These are troubling times for human rights activists. For 27 years I\u2019ve been writing about civil, political and human rights for non-Japanese (NJ) and other minorities in Japan. And I\u2019ve never been more confused.<\/p>\n

Not least because the United States, the putative paragon of human rights, has been flouting them. Remember, this is a country so cocksure about its own record that its State Department offers annual \u201cCountry Reports on Human Rights Practices\u201d for each United Nations member. Yet President Donald Trump has been undermining international norms of law, justice and society \u2014 and with the glee of a super-villain.<\/p>\n

In case you haven\u2019t been paying attention, recently we\u2019ve seen U.S. leadership abrogate numerous treaties, erode well-established security and trade regimes (such as NATO and the G7), cozy up to the world\u2019s most authoritarian regimes and mimic their tactics, invoke the language of white nationalism to dehumanize minorities, and foment a culture of fear, loathing and vindictive reprisal towards anyone not in their ideological camp.<\/p>\n

Speaking of camps, who would have ever imagined that the U.S. would put foreign children in cages? Create \u201ctender-age\u201d internment centers for toddlers separated from their families at the border? Force 3-year-olds to represent themselves in American immigration courts? Trump\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy for undocumented migration and asylum seekers is so cruel that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced it as \u201cunconscionable\u201d and \u201cillegal\u201d under international law. Hours later, the U.S. petulantly withdrew from the Human Rights Council, of which it had been a charter member since 1947.<\/p>\n

In Just Be Cause\u2019s view, the worst thing about these rapid-fire shocks to the system is not the confusion but the distraction. Presidential historian Jon Meacham, author of \u201cThe Soul of America,\u201d pointed out how Trump \u201cowns our mind space\u201d in what he calls \u201cthe world\u2019s longest hostage siege.\u201d We are prisoners of a self-promoting celebrity so adept at managing news cycles that he sucks the oxygen from other issues.<\/p>\n

So this is where we arrive at the big question of this column: How can JBC focus on human rights in Japan given the distractions in America?…<\/p>\n

Read the rest of the column at:
\nhttps:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2018\/07\/15\/issues\/what-about-we-stop-it-with-the-whataboutism\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,28,18,36,44,52,20,5,12,14,16,13,46,55,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-discussions","category-hate-speech","category-history","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-politics","category-labor-issues","category-media","category-practical-advice","category-tourism","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15078,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15077\/revisions\/15078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}