With the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami, many countries have come together to help Japan recover from the devastating disaster. Similar to the earthquake aftermath in Haiti last year, people have decided to help by giving money or their time. Even some mobile service providers have allowed American phone users to call Japan for free during a limited time.

The tsunami has also brought about a fair deal of hatred and anger toward Japan. A small portion of people have claimed the tsunami was justified or payback. Others have claimed Japan should not need help from countries like the United States. These feelings and opinions, though, are severely flawed, inconsiderate and ignorant. It should be our responsibility to our fellow human beings to offer help.

As the United States faces hunger among its own citizens and other internal problems, people criticize the government for spending frivolously. This partly explains why NASA’s space shuttle program has been targeted as a money waster. Our country’s social conditions have similarly led some to believe the United States should substantially reduce or temporarily suspend international aid. A 2010 poll was conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland to determine what the public believes to be the percentage of the federal budget spent on international aid. The median response was that 25 percent of federal spending accounts for aid. The median of respondents also claimed an ‘appropriate’ percentage was 10 percent of the budget. The actual percentage of the federal budget spent on aid is less than 1 percent.

Even 1 percent of the budget is substantial, despite Americans’ misconceptions of how much the United States spends. Perhaps we could find other ways to reallocate the money to causes in the United States. Yet as the leading world power, the United States must consider trying to make a positive difference in the world. Rather than devote resources to worthless causes like helping to attack Libya, the United States can use its power to do something positive.

The few voices that think Japan somehow deserved the disaster represent the most revolting and sickening reactions to the tsunami. Some people referenced the tsunami as karma or retribution for bombing Pearl Harbor, seemingly forgetting the nuclear bombs the United States dropped on Japan thereafter. These individuals also forget the important distinction that in World War II, Japan targeted almost exclusively the U.S. military and its bases, not innocent civilians like in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Perhaps the individuals who make these claims need to visit Japan to see the horror most others are capable of seeing and empathizing with. Even a technologically advanced country can be devastated. It is unlikely the individuals making these claims are acquainted with anybody from Japan. If these individuals knew any Japanese people, it seems reasonable to assume it would be much more difficult to make such ridiculous claims and crude attempts at jokes. Those who make light of atrocious disasters or somehow justify natural disasters should be ashamed.

When people blame Japan for deserving a disaster, the same psychological process is at work when people blame rape victims for rape. Because of this pre-existing discrimination against women, these individuals blame the rape victim rather than the rapist to maintain the belief that the world is just. In the case of the tsunami, there is a pre-existing discrimination against Japanese people.

No country ever deserves a natural disaster. Countries and people should never stop caring about their fellow human beings. Nor should they stop offering help, especially superpowers like America. When we stop caring, we lose our humanity.

Published on March 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm