I must say bluntly that your reasoning and arguments defy conventional
logic. Ordinarily I would be reluctant to refute reasoning such as yours,
but boycott is too important an issue for me not to give you a long
rebuttal. I am concerned more about the groundless assertions you
introduced to confuse others than to persuade you why WE should participate
the boycott as a grass-root movement. The most sensational one of your
"chain of reasoning" is this: Boycott J cars ==> Treat all Japanese as
enemies (by not separating between the good and bad ones) ==> To boycott
them means we are treating them indiscriminately ==> Therefore, We would be
guilty of trying to do the same.

Where did you get the strange idea that, by merely treating all Japanese as a
single entity, which is a natural, time-honored, and universal practice
when important national or international issues are concerned, is amount to
IMITATE their unique and characteristic war crime behaviors? Furthermore,
how can you equate a boycott, which exerts only economical pressure, to
captial crimes? Do you really believe anyone other than youself would buy
such outrageous "reasoning"? Is this the kind of "cold-head and cool"
attitude as preached by you?

Before I list my my objections to your arguments, I have to make an
indispensable comment first on your statement quoted as follows: "This kind
of "group them and hit them" psychology is exactly what the Japanese
military has used on Chinese people during the war.  That's why they kill
all the Chinese, rape all the Chinese and burn all the Chinese". I bet that
any self-respecting Chinese who reads English well would feel offended by
such thoughtless remark. The statement is also patently FALSE, since the
Japanese did not (since they COULD NOT!) carry out those beastly crimes to
ALL the Chinese, though they might have WISHED to do so if they COULD.  Whether you realized it or not, your statement carries a strong but very repulsive implication that there were BAD Chinese who deserved to be killed, raped, or burned, and the Japanese merely did so by bunching indiscriminately the good Chinese with them. Let me remind you that, even if there were bad Chinese around
deserved to be punished, the Japanese HAD ABSOLUTLELY NO RIGHT to do that.
At the very least, your remarks seems to imply that it would be more
ACCEPTABLE if the Japanese committed their crimes DISCRIMINATELY (in fact
they DID just that, in terms who was bad or good). Contrary to what you
have claimed, they DID treat the Chinese very discriminately in that they
rewarded those despicable "han jian(s)" who sold out their souls but kill
ONLY the innocent and patriotic Chinese. The truth is that Japanese
committed those crimes because that was their barbarian way, as a fanatic
COUNTRY, trying to subjugate another COUNTRY. I am not surprised that you
insisted that you could not find any error after reading it over several
times; but still, a sincere apology, not denial (like some infamous
national behavior), is the best policy to undo such a blunder (assuming
inadvertently made).

I believe it is foolish practice to throw around the labels "GOOD Japanese"
and "BAD Japanese" in discussing their war crime reponsibilities, as you
and some others seem to like doing, since it helps nothing but prevent you
from seeing through the issues rationally. But for the sake of clarity in
presenting my following comments, I will have to borrow your labels already
defined.

1. You seem to forget that the invasions of China by Japan in 1931 in
Manchuria and in full scale war later in 1937 were launched by the whole
nation as a fanatic war machine, it is obvious that the unspeakable war
crimes and postwar responsibilities should be born by ALL Japanese people
THEN and NOW, NOT just those BAD Japanese. The GOOD ones contributed
through hard work and paid their taxes no less than others to the atrocious
war machine. Similarly, the GOOD ones are enjoying no less the prosperity
which resulted from decades of exploitation and banditry by Japan from
China. Finally, the GOOD ones have NOT paid any reparation to the war
victims yet, despite they may think it is the right thing to do. Nobody is
saying all Japanese are alike, but it is self-evident that their NATIONAL
DEBTS must be borned by ALL its citizen, including the consequence of
boycott. Your emotional deference to the GOOD Japanese has led you to lose
the vision what WE (the GA community) are really fighting for.

2. To boycott a country (or a company) is a PEACEFUL means to achieve some
goal, not at all as what you exegerated as "equal to declaring economical
war" and "treating everyone in the country as enemies". USA has been
boycotting Cuba for over thirty years, does it treat Cuban people as enemy
or vice versa? I believe most of the freedom-loving Cubans consider the US
as an ally on their side for democracy.

3. If those GOOD Japanese have the moral wisdom and conscience to sincerely
support the war crimes justice, I think you have gravely underestimated
their intelligence and conviction by assuming that they would be angered or
offended by the boycott movement, which is solely aiming at forcing the BAD
Japanese and its government to face up to their war crime responsibilities.
Remember after Tienanmen massacre, most of the activitists in democratic
movement welcome the trade sanctions by the Western powers, because the
goal is parallel to theirs.

4. You stressed more than once that there are MANY GOOD Japanese, but do
you really know what is their percentage in the whole population? Are they
the majority, respectable minority, or just a tiny and powerless fraction?
It doesn't need any poll to support the conclusion based on objective
deduction that they have ALWAYS (so far) been a very small minority (and it
is becoming even smaller with time because the likely repentant older
generation is dying off while the younger generation is thoroughly
brainwashed by systematic disinformation), otherwise the the Japanese
government and society would not have been behaving so ridiculously in the
last 50+ years. I got very sick of the disgustingly dishonest statement
some Chinese often like to say (presumably for reason not to offend the
GOOD Japanese?), that somehow only a small right-wing minority is
responsible to Japan's shameless postwar conducts. In reality, as a
democratic society, Japan's (and its government's) behaviors are simply
dictated by its majority voters, i.e., the BAD Japanese in your definition.
It is this tyranny of majority that kept the good Japanese powerless,
intimidated, and almost silent; therefore, the latter would surely welcome
the help of some external influence to topple this tyranny.

5. The successful boycott depends on good organization, wide-spread public
education and awareness, chain-reaction of friendly persuasion on moral
conscience, and ultimately whether the ethnic Chinese can consolidate
together for a noble goal; but it is NEVER a hotheaded undertaking.
However, to do it on a "personal choice" or "personal level" basis, as you
and a few others seems to advocate, has been a disastrous FAILURE as has
been demonstrated over the LAST 50 years. Unless we try something harder,
better, or more effectively, your lofty slogan "let's not lose our head and
coolness" is not going to lead you anywhere.

HL