I have a friend who is extremely observant of people and their actions, and is quick to point out when moments of discrimination have been made, whether directed towards herself or others around her. Any type of discrimination always has the possibility of being rooted in a dislike for the other person's ethnicity, which I assume she would definitely agree with. She points out "racist" moments so often that we've come to use it for silly things as well - if at breakfast, the chef randomly gives her one of the smaller pieces of french toast while he gives me the larger one, she would say that it was due to racism, that his act was against her "just because she's (insert ethnicity here)". Of course, she wouldn't say that to his face and she didn't seriously mean it - it was simply a lighthearted joke in that situation. But reading the section on the European perspective of race at during the 19th century reminded me of how serious the issue of racism is.
To the Europeans, society was divided into two main kinds of people: "heathens" or non-believers, or Christians or believers. These were rooted in their strong value for religion; rightfully so since religion governed their lives, ran their societies, organized their priorities and laws of conduct. The Industrial age, however, drastically changed their views on the human population with their new-found knowledge and utilization of machinery, nature, and science. Through the dissection of human bodies, they discovered that the brains and skulls of white people were bigger than all others. Obviously, to them, this meant that they were the physically and intellectually superior race. While it may seem logical to think this way and it may be true that a certain level of intelligence/physical attributes are heredity for certain races, to act so strongly on such a belief is ridiculous. Especially their belief that "contact with 'inferior' peoples threatened the health and even the biological future of more advanced or 'superior' peoples" (pg. 563). The European evolution chart on page 564 also astonished me - monkey ->africans->aboriginals/natives->asians->whites. To say that that's offensive would be an understatement, but I'm glad that I live in a time period where such affirmations have drastically changed and people are, for the most part, no longer looked at as being part of a "evolutionary hierarchy" as decided by their race.
It's important to point out the fact that while Europeans have aggressively taken over neighboring countries and transformed their religions, boundaries, governments, and people, the victims were not entirely passive. They also willingly adopted some, if not all, aspects of European society and rule. Where would Japan be if not for their adoption of Western industrialization? We would be living in a world without PlayStation. Gasp. Of course, Japan's modernization is also credited to the centuries of peace ruled by shoguns, where the ancient samurais and fighters traded in their swords for the benefits of commerce.
On a final note, the intro spoke about Japan altering their textbooks in an attempt to remove the blemishes on the perfect face of their Japanese history. History should portray not only the oppressor, but also the oppressed. While the truth may be ugly, its much better for them (students, society) to hear it from you than for them to find out on their own. Learning life lessons through a history book. :)
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