Symbolisn't

So the Japanese Prime Minister is attending at a monument that celebrates the day of surrender and honours their war dead. For reasons that should be obvious to everyone else, this has infuriated the South Koreans who have long held the memory of an Imperial Japan.

Maybe their response should be to erect a monument that lauds the achievements of the pilots of the Enola Gay.

Or maybe we should all just relax a little bit.

Every symbolic act has a downside. If it is "Victory in Europe" we are reminded of the boost it gave to the Soviets and subsequent attrocities. If it is a "9/11 memorial" it reminds us of the total failure of the CIA (or their plan to wage war in Iraq, as the case may be). If it is peeing on a national monument, it reminds us how great it was to be young.

Ultimately, I don't really care that much about symbolism. I think it is nice to have events that make people feel better about themselves, but at the end of the day, wouldn't you rather have the important people who are involved ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING that helps out the aggreived? You know that the Japanese PM knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew it would annoy the South Koreans, yet he did it anyway because he wanted to make some really old constituents smile one last time.

I suppose the two could be combined - announce a pension for the Grandchildren of the Veterans of World War II at the national war memorial and then have an event at the strategically located D'arcy McGees right next door. I would gladly attend brandishing the first installment of that pension.

I think everyone who lamented Harper's absence from the Worlds Aids conference (how WAC is that, heh) in Toronto would have been even more upset if he showed up and THEN announced he was not extending the exception under the Contolled Substances Act therby closing the only safe injection site in the world because he disagreed with it when it was opened. At least this way they can say "he wasn't listening." Sadly, he knows exactly what he is doing. Location of the site- Vancouver-Kingsway, home of David Emerson (C - Et tu, Brute?)

Don't get me wrong, I think that symbolic actions can be cathartic to some people- but why do people have to complain about how somebody else's symbolic action makes them feel? Instead of being annoyed, be positive about your own ideas and history. In the words of Bissondath- the world's culture fair is about integration, not confrontation. Celebrate your own history rather than lament the impact of someone elses.