2007-01-26 - 3:54 p.m.
Think That You're Having a Bad Day?
(You're not, but if you think that are, don't read any further. It's not going to make you feel any better.)
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In Canada, I didn't watch the news. The news is boring and depressing and at least one-third untrue.
Therefore, why bother?
In Japan, however, the bilingual news is generally the only (proper) English that I'll hear in a day, which makes watching it oddly comforting. Also, the bilingual news has a highly entertaining way of presenting to me information, which is obviously hilarious, as shocking and offensive.*
That gives me two reasons to watch it. And I do. And, for the most part, I don't care enough about the news that truly is shocking and offensive to be bothered much by it. However, some news I heard about the Philippines weeks ago has been sincerely bothering me ever since. I'd like to be able to stop thinking about it, but I can't. I document the following in an attempt to be free of it:
A Japanese woman in need of an organ transplant paid a Filippino woman roughly $20 000 US dollars for one of her kidneys.
Both woman have since made a full recovery.
When news of this event somehow became public, the Japanese government began looking at ways to make commodifying human organs like this punishable by law.
The Philippines, however, is considering passing laws that would make this a legitimate source of revenue for its residents.
And here, providing a little more information about the Philippines seems prudent. I've never been to the Philippines, nor do I plan to go there. I have no Filippino relatives.** In short, I don't know why I care so much about the state of affairs in the Philippines, but I suspect that it may have a lot to do with the fact that they remind me about how truly lucky I am to have a Canadian passport, and that it only proves what a spoiled, rotten brat I am that I'm audacious enough to complain about this. Wikipedia paints a pretty happy picture, but the fact is most people living the Philippines are dirt poor (that means living on not much more, or even less than $50/month) and there's no good reason for that. The Philippines have a dense and hard-working population.*** They've got plenty of natural resources.**** And they've never antagonized the US.
(Then again, it could simply be that I'm literary glutton, and I wish that life in the Philippines were better so that I may enjoy the literature that is created as a result of that.)
And everyone knows that, at least on a metaphorical level, this sort of thing is happening everyday. That is, that people whose parents made them in crummy countries are used, in whatever manner is expedient to the time and place, by people whose parents made them in countries that are less crummy.
This is, as far as I know, the first time anyone's actually come right out and said it, yes, the circumstances surrounding your birth were unfortunate, and that means you can (literally) be used as spare parts for people who were luckier.
This sort of honesty is too much for me.
This is fucked.
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* The story of the Kyoto garbage man, in particular, comes to mind. This man worked eight days during a five year period, but collected full pay the whole time. Garbage men in Kyoto have the best union in the whole world.
The bilingual news clearly wanted me to be appalled by this man for taking advantage of a system that had been created in good faith. I, however, knew that this man was a hero.
And, because garbage men in Kyoto have the best union in the whole world, Our Hero was suspended, with full pay, while his case was investigated.
A fire had destroyed all the records more than five years old, but it's suspected that Our Hero had been barely working for much longer than that. On the existing records were notes Our Hero had submitted which gave various different reasons, from various different doctors, for why he couldn't work.
When the bilingual news tried to interview some of Our Hero's co-workers, no one knew who they were talking about.
Our Hero has since been fired from his job... I hope that he's OK.
** I'm told that one of my Weird Bush Uncles has a Filippino mail-order wife, but that's a different story, and I've never met either of them, so it doesn't count.
*** I truly don't understand why Canada's immigration laws are as tough as they are. Canada needs immigrants! It's all those inefficient, sparsely-populated areas that are making Canada such an expensive place to live. And, as for motivated populations versus those that are not, well, I don't think that anyone I know will ever have their job stolen by a Polynesian.
**** I like Japanese people, but they are also very much prone to forgetting how lucky they are. Folk tales are interesting, but they hardly qualify as a natural resource. Nor do so-called foods that were vomited up from the ocean. Had it not been for a few random accidents of history, Filippino people could very well be buying kidneys from Japanese people today.
